HOA Board

The HOA is responsible for the repair of the exterior buildings as needed. I have sent two letters to the officers (President of the board and the Treasurer) over a two week period to the HOA (e-mail and certified letter) about a repair to a small section of siding (wood) on the side of my building (end unit condo) exposing some insulation that has been caused by external forces that is also spelled out very clearly in the letter. I don't want insects/rodents or moisture, mold, or rot to get inside. I have not received a response to the letter nor a call to tell me as to what the plans are for fixing this problem soon. As far as I know, the HOA has not even inspected the issue. I will be sending a final (3rd) letter this week. I am not delinquent in any HOA fees and they have been less than professional in this matter by just ignoring the situation. After the third letter is sent, I will arrange to have the repair made and bill the HOA for the repair. Or consider filing a small claim against them.

The above is not uncommon for this incompetent board.

What would anyone else recommend?

I know this is hard for you to comprehend, but why not a simple acknowledge that letter and/or email was received and the Board is looking into the matter. That too much to ask?????

If you touch this wall or try to have a contractor fix it, there are liability problems. The HOA can make trouble for you. You are in a situation where you are forced to 'get tough fast,' meaning threaten a lawsuit, starting with a demand letter. I would be furious that I had to make such a threat to fix a serious, no-brainer infrastructure problem. Unfortunately, with boards run by amateurs and the management sometimes being not much better, one is often stuck with this. Send something like the following to the HOA's legal, registered agent (usually the management company) by certified mail:

Dear Board of Directors,

Pursuant to CC&R ___, the HOA is responsible for repair of building exteriors. I have written you on ___, ____ and ___ about a large hole in building ____. I believe said hole will admit, or has already admitted, mold, rodents and insects. These can only be remedied at enormous expense and inconvenience to many. Please let me know by August 7 of your plan to repair this hole.

Sincerely,

John Smith
Member, ____ HOA
23 Main Street,
____, GA ____
Phone:
Email:

After the HOA ignores this letter, report back.

I am not so sure that it should take 15 or 16 days to find a licensed electrician or company to take a look and advise, not in this city anyway-they come within 2-3 days. At least acknowledge the homeowner and advise what you are doing or will do. Don't ignore it. I have already sent the last letter today (4 sent previously-certified mail/FedEx to the HOA and management company to forward on) and I have asked for a return response this week. In the meantime my siding is open! If it were the board officer's condos (in the same community) it would have been fixed by now from experience. This board does not care about owners and treats owners as renters. Professionalism does not take much time, phone call etc.

I'd wait a while before suing in small claims court. Lawsuits will poison your relationship with the HOA-even though it sounds like you have the right to pursue things that way- and there will be time in the future when you'll need to be on the board's good side.

You should have at least a year after this before the statute of limitations runs, anyway. (This isn't legal advice, but no need to rush into a lawsuit.)

I agree the BOD should have at least acknowledged the problem and say we are working on it. Look up benign neglect.

This board is very neglectful, unprofessional and they do not care about the property or the owners. We have had internal owner problems getting the officers off the board for some time now.

Are you sure your using the correct addresses to communicate? Some board members don't want to be contacted directly. They prefer the MC to handle the issue if there is one. Plus does the HOA have an official address? Ours was just a box attached to the wall of the mailbox building. We used the clubhouse as the official address but mail was picked up by our Treasurer/accountant.

It just seems strange your letter hasn't even been returned unopened or notified it's been delivered/signed for if it was registered mail. That usually just takes 5 days to get a response even if the letter is sent back unsigned.

Yes, all of the addresses are correct. The Board lists their mailing address and e-mail address in the newsletter for contact. In addition, it was sent to the board's e-mail and the Treasurer acknowledged it and I am sure it was forwarded from there. It was also sent to the management company that they have and it was forwarded to the Board also. The certified letter status indicates that it has not been picked up or signed and will be returned to me by the 3rd of August. The address is correct but I am checking with the post office. None the less it has been received by the board at lease two times in writing.

I am trying to get this done in the correct manner by giving the HOA several notices of the problem. They have received enough notice over 10-15 days to have acknowledged the problem with a plan. I don't want to make the repairs to my siding myself and pay for it but I also do not want the mold, moisture, rodents, and insects inside of the insulation of my end unit condo. I understand that this may present a liability concern for the HOA if I do the repair but in the past I have had to do a very necessary exterior repair due to safety before when the HOA did not comply and I was granted my money back for it. I had lots of documentation to support my position. I will do it again if they do not respond accordingly.

Yes, I consider it a safety concern since the meter base is not fully attached to the building as was intended to be. Great suggestion that you provided. I will wait for a response from the HOA Board after four letters in 17 days. I gave them until August 1st to respond on this matter. I may need to reach out to the state building code inspector on this or whoever has the jurisdiction. The power company has stated their position on this matter.

This is not creating more problems for me or the other owner who want their property taken care of also. Every owner is already paying for repairs and upkeep when they pay their fees. My emergency is an emergency for the HOA whether they treat it this way is a poor. This could be a serious situation. The damage to the electric meter base has been caused by outside forces. The HOA board was informed when the siding opened up and the power company reviewed the matter on site. The HOA is required to repair this situation-they are receiving monthly HOA fees from owners. I can't tell them how to respond but not responding to an owner by telephone or by e-mail/writing to acknowledge the issue is unprofessional in any business-it is very easy to communicate with an owner who is concerned with the safety and care of the property who is a member of the HOA. So when to respond is a no brainer. Waiting for a board meeting is absolutely absurd-it is an emergency and it is not my responsibility to take care of it and it does not take this much time to evaluate and communicate a plan of action. It could be a very simple solution. If I took care of the repair without giving them notices which I have done, then they would say that I was in violation because owners are forbidden under the CC&R's to make any repairs to the exterior building surfaces and common areas or you can be fined! They should not be writing me a violation, I should be writing to the HOA Board. I can set a deadline and I have-I don't want mold, moisture or pests/rodents entering the side of the building into my end unit condo. If they do not respond and tell me what the plans are I will take it to the next level to get it done. I should not have to even send four letters to the HOA Board to get a response. Many HOA Boards operate poorly and there is no justification for it-we are not renters. This is how you destroy relationships in this setting with homeowners. Sometimes you have to raise the issue to get the attention of bad boards who fail miserably in their fiduciary responsibilities to owners and see nothing wrong with it.

We will never agree on this issue and how it has been handled. Having power in my home is not the core issue at hand obviously. What one person sees as an emergency may not be the same for the HOA Board or another person because they are not in the situation, but the property needs to be protected hence, again respond to your owners and acknowledge so determinations can be made timely or in my case before 17 days and beyond. Any issue regarding the electrical systems attached to the buildings that requires repair and for which the HOA is 100% responsible for is definitely an emergency and needs to be a priority with the HOA Board. This could be a potential emergency and the HOA would not know all of the facts until they take the first step to acknowledge the concern timely and examine the problem so a plan could be made. The power company did not turn the power off because it was not necessary at the time and until the electrician could review and make a recommendation for the repairs and depending what needs to be done, they may want to "drop service" while repairs are being made for everyone's safety and have given instructions for this. I have made efforts to mitigate the problem immediately because I reported it timely and certainly do not intend to not do something temporary about my siding since the Board has ignored this issue for over two weeks which is certainly not acceptable to me as an owner. It is not an inconvenience, it is the principle as much as it is a shame that an HOA board operates in this manner. If it was one of the board members buildings/condo, you can guarantee that it would have been taken care of timely as owners have seen in the past. There is no excuse that anyone can offer for the handling of this matter. After the final date in my letter, I will move ahead with whatever I need to do.