Small Community HOA - Not Actively ran by Trustees

My community was well established, so I don't have any experience in this area, but I hope the following can be of some use.

To begin, you'll probably need an attorney to guide you through all this, so you may as well start and sit down with one to go through the documents you do have and determine what this is. You may find things are just too unstable and it may be better to cut your losses and walk. If you'd like to create a working HOA, at least you'll have a better idea what this is (maybe there's more information in those documents you really need to be aware of).

You know the gravel road is HOA property (such as it is), but someone has to be willing to oversee maintenance of it and other common areas. You can't do it by yourself, so your next step is to sit down with all your neighbors and see where they stand (some might not give a damn, so you may as well find out who they are). Start knocking on doors and see if you can call a meeting somewhere. It may be no one's paid HOA fees because the developer didn't do jack with them anyway and some may not even want an HOA, given all the bad press they get. If that's the case, all of you need to talk to this developer and find out once and for all what he intends to do with the community (because clearly he doesn't know and might not care beyond getting the houses sold). Among other things, you need to find out where your money went - and I might be inclined to say to his face if he's not making any effort to set up a functioning HOA, he owes you a refund. Is there an HOA budget? Let's see it. If no one wants the HOA, what is the developer going to do about the common areas? Is he talking to the county about taking over the road and if so, where will that money come from (expect a bump in your local taxes if they do).

That's a start, anyway. If the man makes promise after promise, get them in writing - in fact, from this point on, don't do anything without it being in writing in case things get hairy and you have to go to court. In the meantime, you didn't say if you've ever lived in an HOA before - if not, or even if you have, some education may be necessary on how they're set up, developing a transition plan for when the developer turns the community over to homeowners, etc., etc., etc. I often refer people to the website of the Community Association Institute - they do have their issues, but I do like the education materials they make available for HOA board members and residents, as you can get some insight on best practices to run your community. Keep on returning to message boards like this one and use the search functions to look up issues you might be curious about. Some folks here provide great examples and the others a horrible warning - you'll learn the difference soon enough.

Good luck!

Thank you for your reply.

The H.O.A. has not been turned over to the homeowners but the "trustees" have not actively done anything since before I moved into the neighborhood. I believe that if our roads were not as bad as they are then there would be no complaints but because the developer who is also the trustee did not set up correct drainage for the roads homeowners are no questioning what the H.O.A.'s actual role.

The "trustees" also cannot provide documentation as to how much money they received in dues and they stated they never set up an account for the dues to be deposited. So I am guessing that there might be some fraud involved but because

we do not have an active board and no one in the neighborhood has done anything or questioned what the H.O.A. provides I am starting from scratch and way out of my league but no one else is stepping up to correct this situation.

It is a confusing mess and my husband and I are thinking of paying for a consultation from a real estate lawyer to see where we stand.

I appreciate any information provided and really appreciate your time.

Thank you!

sell and FLEE now

before y'all are involved in the foreseeable 'turnover disaster'