questions about hoa responsibilities

From what I see here the majority of you are employed by an HOA.
The issue I'm having is when we bought our home it was very clearly advertised with no HOA. When we went to see the house it was in a subdivision, which hoa's are expected. The agent told me the builder went bankrupt. Since there were only 50 homes and zero amenities I bought her bs. She also said since it had potential for growth that put us in a good position for helping bring an HOA in.
Fast forward to closing, we are told our HOA fees are $450 a year. I said no we were told no HOA currently existed, the realtor wasn't present, actually never saw her after the initial showing. We nearly walked out. The closing people show us a promise for amenities in the future. Including a splash pad. Being that we and another family, the sellers had been at this for months we signed.

Move in. Get a letter a week later about the lawn not being mowed. Mind you we hadn't even moved in yet. Mow the lawn. Two weeks later we have mold. I had no idea what they were talking about scrubbed an area I saw had mold. Get another warning about mold. Locate this tiny spot and take care of it, all the houses get it.

Settle in. Start talking to the neighbors about the coming amenities. They all share their struggles and warn me if I fight the HOA they will attack me. So I bring it up on the community board. The idea of forming our own HOA, even have an attorney willing to do this and elections to be held annually and be completely volunteer. I got the majority to agree, I also found out they manage the adjacent neighborhood. Got those people on board. An emergency meeting was announced and the rep manipulated us by promising a park be built in June of 2016. Still no park. No nothing. We pay $450 a year and the fence is broken, the palm trees are down, they dump trash next to our homes and leave it. When we have neighborhood conflicts they say not our problem. The expense breakdown is lawn care and postage. Anyone who complains gets attacked with letters.

From what I've read they are in violation of their contract and our HOA exist for job creation. They don't even mow the lawn they mow around it, which causes bugs and snakes to come onto our property. What can I do? I'm tired of being stolen from so are all my neighbors

We are ALL volunteers in a HOA. You also are a member of the HOA. It sounds more like your having issues with the Management company than the HOA. The HOA is you and all your neighbors. So if the board who represents you and your neighbors isn't doing their job (volunteer) or have hired a Management company, time to think of removal.

Read your CC&R's and By-laws. Plus the Articles of Incorporation. It's time to get educated on what a HOA is and your role in it.

Noelle,

Is your development still being built out?

NoelleB,
Your post suggests the Developer may still be in control in order to protect their investment. If that is the case it may be difficult unless the Developer is willing to work with the homeowners.

What you can do is to learn from your mistakes. There is a saying "Buyer be ware". You obviously did not do adequate research before buying. Before taking any further action I suggest you begin by becoming educated about your community's Governing Documents, i.e.:
The Declaration of CC&Rs which set up the community and controls the Property;
The Bylaws which control the organization (HOA) which enforces the CC&Rs; and
The Rules and Regulations which further define restrictions in the CC&Rs.

Noelle

Texas has very stringent and mandatory requirements regarding disclosure of an HOA from the very beginning of the sales process, in fact the agent who took you to the development may have violated TREC (Texas Real Estate Commission) and other requirements by not doing so. I am very surprised you were not informed within a few days of the contract being transmitted to the title company. It sounds like the title company informed you at or near closing but, again under Texas law, you should have had a 10 day period early in the process to examine the association documents and cancel the sale with no penalty if you wished.

As an aside, if you are looking at a home in a new or fairly new multi-home development in the metro/urban/suburban areas of Texas, it is highly likely there is an HOA. It is even more likely if there are common areas and amenities.

I recall signing documents early in the process when the association documents were given to me for review, you should have had to follow a similar process.

Several have asked, is your 'association' still under developer control? The developer is bound by the governing document requirements but may put their own spin on aspects of managing the association. Another person who posted commented you may request to see the books and records of the association, that disclosure requirement is applicable to developer as well as owner controlled associations and is absolutely mandatory in this state.

Several have recommended you request copies of all the association documents for review. I agree with the others, obtain the documents and review them closely.

Christine,

Welcome to the forum.

Please read the posting rules. Mentioning of full names or the name of the Association is not allowed.

You may want to start a new thread (click on the words "add new topic").

Tim