Unauthorized lawn service

We are an entirely new Board of Directors after years of inaction by previous Boards which almost lead us into receivership last summer. We (a few volunteers and myself) saved the homeowners from that by going door-to-door collecting proxies from hundreds of homeowners (440 single family home subdivision). The past Boards contracted services from their friends (many of whom are local law enforcement). There was never any bidding, and we were being charged for excess services at a high rate.

The new Board got all new contracts with new vendors for our few expenses (attorney, insurance, property manager, etc.) however we left the 2017 lawn care contract in place, despite it being tied to the last Board and was easy cash (paid too much and they covered areas outside of HOA owned/maintained common areas). That contract expired this past fall as the landscaping season ended. The "contract" literally was a one sentence signed document indicating the lawn care provider will continue mowing the subdivision as per the year prior. This was authorized by the signed by the last property manager and the lawn care provider (both friends) since we didn't even have a Board at the time (previous Board had all resigned). We do not even have documentation of the original contract.

Fast forward to this month: a Board member met with our property manager and the former lawn care provider to do a drive though of our subdivision where the Board member got a better understanding of all the excess areas that had been serviced by the lawn care provider for years. The Board member indicated we will look for three bids for this season and left it at that.

Yesterday, the former lawn care provider, unbeknownst to the property manager or the Board, mowed the subdivision and will be charging us for this despite no contract being in place and no one authorizing him to do so.

I brought this to the attention of our property manager and indicated that no check should be issued to the lawn care provider until this is discussed at the next Board meeting (May 1). He replied with this message.....

"Hello, I have been made aware that the common areas have been mowed by LAWN CARE PROVIDER and there is some hesitation in paying him because there is no contract. Assuming this is accurate, please consider the following. If this is not accurate, disregard it!

We are already one week past when every other account of ours has received the 1st mow, it’s just that time and it needs to be done.

I believe the task of securing a vendor was on a board member and that has not been done. That’s fine, but we still need to keep the common areas up and the property looking good, that means somebody has to mow it. I see nobody better than FORMER LAWN CARE PROVIDER. He has been with the community for years, the pricing very reasonable and he does a good job. Why would we not pay him per mow until something is secured whether he gets the contract or not? It’s a win for everybody.

I have managed properties before that of been in this position and every client has always had the property maintained outside of a contract by some vendor, paid per mow. Before I go to much deeper into this, I am asking you to consider paying FORMER LAWN CARE PROVIDER and his crew per mow until the board secures who they would like to do the work. If you are refuse please let me know so I can move forward from there.

One other piece of information I would like you to consider is good landscaping companies already have their entire season and schedules filled. I’m not saying it’s impossible to add your account or anything, but we signed all of our landscaping contracts while snow was still on the ground to secure good vendors. I urge you all Secure something ASAP.

Looking forward to the direction you would like to go with FORMER LAWN CARE PROVIDER."

Property manager is former cop and former lawn care provider is currently law enforcement, hence their closeness.

How would you proceed?

I just want to add that I think you are right to be concerned about the manager hiring a friend without taking bids and there should be a policy written for the future.

Ok, I misunderstood. That does make a big difference but I wonder why he went ahead and mowed. Maybe he had an indication from the manager that it was his for this year. If he is contracted every season and he was not this year, then I don't think you owe him anything. If there is any doubt and his intentions were good, it might not be worth the battle, especially since he did do the work.

Adam

Did the mowing need to be done?

Not liking the present provider is one issue but until you get another provider in place how do you expect the mowing to be done?

You may have to dance with the same partner until you find a new partner.

Adam

It appears you never fired the landscaper and he was just going on as usual.

I went through something similar. You need to fire the lawncare person ASAP. It needs to be clear, concise, and clear. Signed preferably. Plus get on the ball of hiring the new lawncare.

My ex-president and the lawncare guy were friends. Plus his pot dealer. It didn't help the lawncare guy was also a member of our HOA. They had signed a contract years ago. Normally they go from April till October. This time it went from May to October because of some mistake made. I had to go find the original contract. Which left me paying BOTH lawncare people for the month of May.

I don't believe it's the job of your Property Manager to be signing any contracts with vendors. That's a board job. The MC just cuts the checks and maybe keeps the paperwork. So it's time to severe that line as well. The MC is a contractor to the HOA not the other way around.

Adam,

You need to read the actual contract.

Sometimes, they auto renew or require x days (up to 90) to terminate.

If you don't have a copy of the contract, ask the vendor for a copy of the previous contract.

In my opinion, since there appears to have been no definitive end to the contract (based on your last posting) I'd pay this one mow but state that their services are no longer required unless a new contract is in place.

I brought up the idea of "auto renewal" to our PM on the phone earlier today. They (the PM) do not have the original contract of 2016 which would indicate/not indicate such verbiage. From my recollection, I once did see this contract and don't believe there was an "auto renewal" clause in it.

I agree with that approach as well. They should get paid for what they did nothing extra. However, if the person becomes difficult then may need to change that game plan.

It took me lot of time to find our original contract with the lawn care person. They should have a copy if you can't find one. Otherwise, I would be suspicious of the agreement if it existed. Another change I would make with the MC.

Our HOA apparently got involved in a lawsuit during the turn over period with a lawn care company. Over 25 years ago. The developer signed a contract with a lawn care company but then hired someone else. The original company sued our HOA for like 40K. It eventually got settled. (Not sure how). The effects were still felt 20 years later in our HOA. So it was entirely VERY sensitive subject time when I took over the HOA and fired our lawncare.

Been where your at. It does get better. That is because after I fired the Lawncare (He was allowed to re-bid), we now have it set up to renew every year. We still have a 3 bid process in place. However, one of those bids is taken by the existing lawn care. Which allows us to give them a raise and/or liked them. We never do recurring contracts. 1 year only.

I think you should pay the lawncare company for the work they did. Then fire them. Then fire your property manager. All ASAP.

Fire our property manager? I just renegotiated our rate down to $1,000 monthly. I live in a college town and there are just a handful of PMs available, all of which would be considerably more expensive than our measly $95 a year dues could afford.

I agree, hence I don't think firing our PM will be considered. I just hope the PM doesn't bow out of the contract if we refuse to pay for this unathorized lawn care service.

It could be this landscaper is doing you a solid by getting on your good side and laying out some chicken feed to get back your business.

Melissa

The majority of HOA managers and HOA management companies know a hell of a lot more than the Association and Board of Directors they represent. I am sorry to break this to you, but that is a fact. I speak from personal experience. You may have been involved in one or two HOA's, where I have been involved in over 120. So, I have pretty much seen everything.

Number 1 Richard NOT all MC's are created equal nor do they all have to have certifications to be one. I can't assume every MC knows what they are doing just because they say they are an MC. Some states require certain qualifications to be met. Others it can be someone just willing to take on the job. Which in this case it kind of sounds like this Retired Police Officer felt they could take on. There is no mention if this MC has a business license or what experience/qualifications they have.

Genos -The OP's stated that the MC had the ex-lawncare mow the property. The issue is that it was without the approval of the HOA board. Now the HOA may be on the hook for paying for that service they did NOT approve nor requested. The MC acted on their own.

The choice is to pay the bill and fire the lawncare. They also may have the MC pay the bill out of their own pocket for not consulting/approving the work first.

Our ex-president had a loosey-goosey situation with our lawncare before I took over. Lawncare guy would decide he wanted to plant a tree and then send us the bill. Had to nip that in the bud. (Forgive pun). The board has to decide if they want the tree first before lawncare just goes out and buys it. The lawncare guy would get mad since we would not pay him back for the tree he bought. I was like you acted on your own without approval. It's NOT ask forgiveness but permission state in a HOA.

Adam,

Great. MC admitted mistake, took responsibility and identified (internally with MC) how to correct. This is a great MC.

I still think you should pay the invoice as the MC was looking out for the best interest of the development and it was an honest mistake.

Typically a landscaping contract will say and at the end of its initial term (say one year) it automatically keeps going unless either party cancels it with 30 days written notice.

Good job, Adam. It's a start.

Good advice, but we are single family homes. The only areas that will be mowed will be our nature trail, around our front entrance signs, and along a sidewalk which parallel to a common area. The only weeding that will take place is in front of the front entrance signs where is rather bland with just mulch. If he can mess that one up, I'd be impressed!

You have two things to do here. Competitively bid this out. That will take time and while both cops, they're not wrong. can you get an alternative? Does this person do a good job? is it market rate?

From a practical perspective, I doubt the provider would do that service if he or she wasn't sure they were going to get paid. They gave you a needed service. You're better off paying them. Just make it clear that the service will be upon request in the future.

Should you choose to keep current landscape company, have them provide a contract.