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AlohalaniG (Texas)
Posts: 1
Posted:
Hello!

For the past 30-35 years owners of multiple lots have been charged only one assessment fee per year. This year, the Board sent out invoices charging an assessment fee per lot. The assessment fee is ridiculously low and I am in favor in increasing it. However, previous attempts at increasing the fee have failed to obtain enough votes. It seems to me, a shady way for the Board to collect more fees, while circumventing the majority vote. The neighborhood is not an affluent area and there are many seniors on fixed incomes, who prepaid their dues decades in advance, when they acquired their property.

When I emailed the Board requesting an explanation, they responded that they are enforcing Paragraph 11 of the Deed Restrictions (please see below). The Board argues that only the first buyer, who initially purchased from the Developer, could benefit from only being charged one assessment. As I continue to debate this with the Board, they have now proposed, that if I replat my lots into one lot, I will then be charged one assessment. According to the Deed Restrictions, I don't see how this is required.

Can I please get your opinion? Thanks!

11. An assessment of $X per lot per month shall run against each lot in XXX for membership in and for the maintenance of the private parks, beach areas and rights of way, according to rules and regulations of Seller. Where one owner owns more than one (1) lot, there will be only one (1) assessment for such owner. Provided, however, that if such owner should sell one or more of his said lots to a party who theretofore did not own property in XXX, then said lot or lots so transferred shall thereafter be subject to the assessment and to the lien herein provided. The assessment is hereby secured by a lien on each respective lot, and shall be payable to the Seller in XXX, Texas, or to such other persons as Seller may designate by instrument filed of record in the Office of the County Clerk of XX County, Texas. These payments shall be included with the usual monthly payments for the duration of the “Contract and Agreement”. Thereafter, the assessment shall be payable
yearly at the rate of $X per lot on May 1st, of each successive year.
SheliaH (Indiana)
Posts: 6,964
Posted:
If your question is about a legal interpretation of this, you need to see a private attorney since we aren’t attorneys. Even then, if someone were to go to court over this, a judge may decide one way or another.

Having said that, I agree every lot should be subject to a fee because association services have to cover the entire community. If you have, say, 100 lots and a service for all of them costs $100000, but you only collect assessments totaling half of that because some people only pay $50 when they own two or three, that’s a deficit and very unfair.
You may think this is the Board’s fault, but in fact, this is on the homeowners because they can always vote to amend the documents – why else do you think previous attempts to increase the fee have failed? Especially if many of the homeowners don’t have a lot of money to begin with and many of them are senior citizens on a fixed income who probably couldn’t afford a major fee increase. Depending on what the assessments cover, I’m sure those costs have increased in a big way and it has caught up with you.

If you’re on the board (or even if you’re not), consider running some numbers on some of the services and demonstrate how 1987 dollars simply won’t cover 2017 costs because they haven’t kept up with inflation? Present that to the board as well as the homeowners and let them know that if you don’t change the way assessments are charged and the association has a major expense down the road (and it will), the alternative will be to charge everyone a really, really hefty special assessment to cover the charges – and there will be no kicking the can down the road because it will have to be addressed immediately? Think a special assessment will work for a homeowner whose primary income is Social Security? I doubt it. If they want to keep things as is, perhaps you need to take another look at the documents and amend them to make certain services homeowner responsibility instead of the association. Pay a special assessment or budget homeownership properly – those are your choices.

If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it. Marcus Aurelius
PitA
Posts: 1,416
Posted:
Provided, however, that if such owner should sell one or more of his said lots to a party who theretofore did not own property in XXX, then said lot or lots so transferred shall thereafter be subject to the assessment and to the lien herein provided.


SIMPLE
TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059
Posted:
You may need to have a conversation with your attorney to break it down into plainer language.

I believe that the passage was initially written so the developer only had to pay for one lot (vs. all the lots they owned). However, it also appears to say if a lot was sold to someone already owns property, then the lot is not assessed separately. It might be possible (and you really need to check with an attorney on this) to sell one of your lots to your neighbor who then sells it back to you to keep from paying assessments on each lot.

I'm not an attorney.
I didn't spend a lot of time on this.

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