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HOA at wits end, members not participating

Started by MichaelaG • 34 replies • 1219 views

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MichaelaG (Georgia)
Posts: 27
Posted:
I bought a house on a lake in July and loooove living here.

The lake was dug in the 50's and the 22 adjoining houses formed a voluntary HOA, who would take care of the lake, clean up etc. It's a +5 acre lake, so, not very large, but nice. Lots' of wildlife.

In the meantime, most of the original home owners have died and children have taken over and they simply won't participate or pay into the HOA. That's been going on for many years and the members of the HOA don't know what to do.

They had the first meeting in years (in the past there were maybe 3 of the board members in attendance and nobody else) this past weekend. 1st since I moved in. 8 people there, which was a high attendance. Even though everyone was notified. Simply no response.

The lake is supposed to get dredged every 50 years, but there's simply not enough money. The few people that pay in cover the taxes and there's not much left.

To make it even more complicated: One side of the lake belongs to 1 city and the other side to another city. Neither one wants to be involved and points fingers at others. One of the cities has a business that's draining stuff into the lake and none of the city leaders want to do anything. I've twice seen an oil sheen on the lake.

What are our options? Disband the HOA (it was set up very informally, described on the original plat map, but nothing formal), in which case ownership of the lake would go to each adjoining parcel up to the middle of the lake, within their property lines? And then get code enforcement or even the EPA involved to force each homeowner to pay their share for clean-up?

If dredging costs 100K, I'd be fine to pay my 1/22nd of it. But how can we force other adjoining residents to take care of theirs, if the HOA has not been formally filed?

Would love any suggestions. I'm in Georgia

JohnT38 (South Carolina)
Posts: 1,631
Posted:
I don't understand the comment about taxes. What are these for?
MichaelaG (Georgia)
Posts: 27
Posted:
property taxes for the lake itself. It's a separate parcel
JohnT38 (South Carolina)
Posts: 1,631
Posted:
That's crazy that only some people pay the taxes for the Lake but it can still be used by those who don't. I wonder if threatening to not pay the taxes would help wake them up since the lake affects the value of the homes. I'm not saying I would ultimately do this but sometimes a good bluff goes a long ways.
AugustinD
Posts: 5,144
Posted:
-- Have you checked to see whether any covenants are recorded for this land and the lake? If there are, the county clerk will likely have them. Call and ask. Then post any covenants you find here.

-- If there are only covenants and no articles of incorporation, then this is not a HOA in any legal way. It's a group of neighbors chipping in, possibly pursuant to covenants.

-- Do you have a mortgage, and if so, did the lender require a survey of your property?

-- You say "one side" of the lake belongs to one city et cetera. You also say each household may own the lake from its shoreline to the middle of the lake. I think you need to get some clarity on who owns what. You may have to talk to a real estate attorney.

-- I would immediately contact the Georgia Environmental Protection Division and see what they say about the apparent pollution. For contact information, see https://epd.georgia.gov/

-- Eight households of 22 showing up to a meeting is outstanding participation compared to the many HOAs discussed here at hoatalk.
MichaelaG (Georgia)
Posts: 27
Posted:
Augustin,
excellent questions.
From what I'm hearing from the HOA board members (who are only members, because nobody else has been willing to step up. So, they've been at it for 20-30 years or so , by default, and they want to walk), this was set up as an informal HOA by the original owners, nothing official. Just to make it easier on everyone to have 1 entity take care of everything.

There are covenants, that were set up with the original plat in 53 or '55. I can't lay my hands on it right now. Need to go to the court house to get a new copy. It's maybe 7 or 8 points, stating that adjoining houses need to be at least +2000sqf, are only for residential, no motor boats allowed on the lake etc. There was a road around the lake, that each owner was supposed to take care of.

In 1965 they incorporated and created Lake Herschel, Inc., according to the secretary of state website. That is the ownership entity of a part of the lake. 2.5 acres or so. Someone else owns 1.7 acres and other owners have their parcels run into the lake. I think a next step would be to push one of the officers to request copies of the incorporation paperwork from the secretary of state. it doesn't look as if any of them have any of that, as it's been so long ago and INC/HOA has changed people since establishment.

I do not have a survey. Just went by the tax assessor's website, which is not always right, but good enough for me, as I have 2.3 acres - more than enough ;-)

I was just googling my county and lake maintenance (open space) and came up with something about a lake needing to be maintained by an HOA or otherwise all of the owners would get ownership to the middle of the lake and then each would be responsible. This was in subdivision code about 'open space', which this lake would fall under.

8 owners showed up after many years. Those are people that own and live. Most of the other houses are now rentals and the owners are somewhere else and tenants don't care. All of those lots initially had docks, of which most of them have rotted away. People have chainlink fences in the back of their yard, to keep dogs or kids out of the lake. It's so sad.

It's such an incredible asset to have. I have rebuilt my dock and bought a little kayak to row around. There's a big white heron, turtles sunning on tree stumps, fish, hawks. I want this lake to thrive and do whatever we need to do.
MichaelaG (Georgia)
Posts: 27
Posted:
And I'm a total novice to HOAs or lakes or anything like that. But I'm a doer and don't sit back on issues. So, any suggestions on what route I can take will be appreciated.
MichaelaG (Georgia)
Posts: 27
Posted:
John,
supposedly, the HOA board members have threatened for years, but are not getting responses. And because they're not an official HOA, they can't do anything, it seems.
MichaelaG (Georgia)
Posts: 27
Posted:
I just found the original plat, from 1953. these are restrictions, not covenants:

1. all lots or parts thereof shall be used for residence purposes.

2. The cost of any residence constructed on any lot or part thereof shall not be less than $ 9,000 based on today's construction costs.

3. No docks or similar structures shall be built nearer to the damn wall than five feet - nor shall automotive traffic be allowed upon the dam wall.

4. The present owner reserves the right to raise or lower the level of water in the lake site and also the height of the dam so long as he or his heirs remain the owner of any lot of property bordering thereon. If and when all lots have been sold, then and in that event control of raising or lowering the said water level and height of dam shall be vested in the owners of the several lots on said property site each property owner having voting right proportionate to the square footage of property based on this plat.

5. The driveway as set out herein shall remain open at all times. However, the property owner has a right to change location of drive through his property.

6. After July 1, 1954, each owner of a lot or lots or parts thereof as set out in this plat across which runs the private driveway as set herein shall maintain said private driveway across the respective property in a good passable condition (based on its condition as of July 1, 1954) any other two property owners have the right to notify, in writing, said delinquent property owner of this failure of maintenance and request that he rectify this failure and upon a failure by said delinquent property owner to repair his portion of said driveway within 30 days after such notice the said two property owners giving such notice shall have the right to repair said driveway to a good passable condition and the cost thereof shall be a lien against said property on which said repair was made and in favor of the parties paying the expense thereof.

7. No motor boats hall be allowed on the lake without written consent of a majority of the property owners and said lake shall be maintained as a private lake for the exclusive enjoyment of property owners and their guests.
AugustinD
Posts: 5,144
Posted:
MichaelaG, thank you for elaborating. Maybe the following will be helpful; maybe not.

-- Have you gone to https://ecorp.sos.ga.gov/BusinessSearch and put in the name of this (for profit) corporation? If you do, it comes up. This past August the corporation was "administratively dissolved" due to a failure to file its annual registration and a bit more. From experience in another state, I suspect it would be easy to resurrect the corporation.

-- I can appreciate that there was some informal agreement among owners to 'take care of everything.' But so far, I see nothing that one owner can use to legally force other owners to pay up.

-- Your county's tax assessor has a decent online satellite map of the lake, but from experience with other tax assessors, the boundaries on all the properties are crudely drawn on the map and likely not all that meaningful. The plats would be the authority for property boundaries, as I think you know.

-- Putting in the name of the corporation at the tax assessor site shows the corporation owning two parcels that appear to cover most of the lake. Like you said, one parcel is located in one town. The other parcel is in the other town.

-- The taxes for both parcels are assessed to the corporation, which indicates to me the corporation owns most of the lake.

-- At each parcel's sub-site at the county assessor site, one can pull up a map showing a satellite view of each parcel. The west parcel pays about $105 per year. The east parcel pays about $16 per year. It appears the property taxes have been paid for both for 2019.

-- Some of the lake's acreage may belong to individual land owners, as you seem to indicate. As I noted above and as you know, tax assessor maps are not meant to be a legal tool for boundaries.

-- I think it is fair to conclude that the (currently dissolved) corporation owns the lake or at least most of it. In my experience, even though the corporation is currently dissolved it still retains legal ownership of the lake. Do not let an attorney tell you otherwise. I have been through that drill.

-- I agree you need to go purchase a copy of the Articles of Incorporation from your Secretary of State's office and see what these say.

-- At the moment, I do not like the chances of these Articles of Incorporation saying anything that, say, legally obliges the neighbors to chip in.

-- I also want to see what the plats say about who owns the lake.

-- This may be the stuff of a professional title search?

-- If there are covenants that speak to maintaining docks and similar, and these have obviously not been enforced in years, it may turn out they are legally abandoned.

-- Some folks here at hoatalk have more experience with lakeshore property and may have much more to say.
MichaelaG (Georgia)
Posts: 27
Posted:
Thank you so, so much! You've found out a lot.
I've actually just emailed 2 of the officers that the inc is administratively dissolved, having seen that on the SoS website as well. I asked the president to get copies of the original filing documents, because he doesn't have any and isn't aware of any. But There should have been some, when they originally filed to incorporate.

That Lake Herschel Inc functions as the informal HOA, so, I'm hoping that there's something in those documents.

You've brought me much further and got my wheels turning and there are now further things we can explore. Thank you
AugustinD
Posts: 5,144
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By MichaelaG on 12/17/2019 4:44 PM
I just found the original plat, from 1953. these are restrictions, not covenants:
[snip for brevity]
7. [snip ...] said lake shall be maintained as a private lake for the exclusive enjoyment of property owners and their guests.


A few observations:

-- For all intents and purposes, I believe "restriction" and "covenant" are synonymous here.

-- I believe Restriction #7 above is likely powerful. Whoever owns the land on which the lake sits is legally obliged to keep it "maintained" for your and your neighbors' "enjoyment."

-- If the chain of title for the lake shows that the bulk of the lake belongs to the corporation, then in theory you could legally demand that the corporation maintain the lake.

-- Do you think the corporation actually purchased the land shown on the tax assessor site, maybe for a nominal purchase price of $1? I mean, the tax statements for each parcel show a certain amount of acreage. The satellite map shows a certain amount of geographical area as well. You might want to search the deeds at the county clerk and confirm whether the corporation has a deed to this land. I bet it does.

-- But who is the corporation? It is not any kind of HOA recognized under Georgia's HOA statutes.

-- Now the Articles of Incorporation may be key. Could the Articles of Incorporation assert that the lake is owned 'in common' by all the lots on the lake's shoreline? I am thinking no. I believe it takes a lot more to legally bind owners to a 'commonly owned' piece of land (or lake).

-- You should still call the County Clerk and see if there are any covenants recorded there that are separate from the plat. I am betting not, but you should check anyway.
MichaelaG (Georgia)
Posts: 27
Posted:
The "HOA officers" are the officers of the INC , so, I think they use the names interchangeably. They likely set up the Inc originally to serve as HOA.

I will check with the clerk of court in Fulton and see, if they have anything else.

I really hope that those articles of Incorporation shed some more light on things.
AugustinD
Posts: 5,144
Posted:
The Georgia Property Owners' Association Act is O. C. G. A. sections 44-3-220 through 44-3-235. See the link at https://www.hopb.co/georgia. This is Georgia's HOA statute (non-condominium HOAs, to be exact). Georgia's nonprofit corporation statute also often applies to HOAs, but not in the OP's case. It might be worth reading the statute's sections that talk about the creation of an entity that will be subjet to the Property Owners Association Act. This would seem to be sections 44-3-222 and 44-3-235 .

By my reading and from experience, a 100% vote of the owners of the property to which the current covenants apply would be necessary to establish a HOA subject to the Georgia Property Owners' Association Act.
MichaelaG (Georgia)
Posts: 27
Posted:
Awesome! I will go through that in the morning, when my brain is fresh ...lol.
Maybe there's something in the original articles, that specifies that each resident has a share or something, which would imply that there was 100% vote in favor.
AugustinD
Posts: 5,144
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By MichaelaG on 12/17/2019 5:57 PM
Maybe there's something in the original articles, that specifies that each resident has a share or something, which would imply that there was 100% vote in favor.


I was just reading Georgia statute O. C. G. A. 44-3-227. It talks about corporations that are "for profit" and that meet other criteria being covered by the Georgia Property Owners' Association Act. It also talks about how "shareholder" is interchangeable with "member." So I think what you wrote above is quite possible. I also keep in mind that this corporation formed in 1965 pre-dates by apparently decades the Georgia Property Owners' Association Act. Back in 1965, people in your lake community may have been tweaking things, using the statutes in existence in 1965 (which ultimately morphed to the Georgia POA Act?), to ultimately have what today would be a HOA. Exactly as you have been trying to explain.

Right, don't let your head explode.
MichaelaG (Georgia)
Posts: 27
Posted:
My wheels are always turning and since I tend to wake up around 5am, my brain doesn't function the best at night. Add to that that English isn't my native language and legaleze isn't so easy for me to read.... I'll rather look at it fresh ;-)
MichaelaG (Georgia)
Posts: 27
Posted:
Got the formation documents, but they're kind of sparse.

They do show that the inc was established for "...preservation, maintenance and approval of Lake Herschel to make the subdivision surrounding the lake a more beautiful, wholesome and otherwise desirable place in which to live, and the performance of any and all act necessary, convenient or expedient to the accomplishment of the foregoing...."

"The corporation, upon the vote of the majority of its trustees then in office, shall have the power to do and perform any and all of the power conferred by this charter, or the laws of the state of Georgia, and likewise shall have all other powers, privileges and immunities which, under the laws of the State of Georgia, now or hereafter may be invested in similar Corporations"

"Any member of said corporation, his heirs, successors or assigns, shall be entitled, upon dissolution of said corporation, to have said property returned to such member, his heirs, successors or assigns"

=====
So, what I need to do now, is to go to the courthouse and look at the title transfers into "Lake Herschel, Inc' in 1965 or before and then we have proof who the various members or shareholders are.....

Yeah! Thank you so much for your help and pushing me in the right direction
AugustinD
Posts: 5,144
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By MichaelaG on 12/18/2019 7:31 AM
So, what I need to do now, is to go to the courthouse and look at the title transfers into "Lake Herschel, Inc' in 1965 or before and then we have proof who the various members or shareholders are.


It is the county clerk (not the "court clerk" et cetera) that will have deeds. Where I am (which is not Georgia) the courthouse and county clerk are often very close to each other geographically. Once at the county clerk's, one can typically research how title passed from one owner (or owners) to another owner (or owners). Hopefully there is a computer that the county clerk staff just sits you down at to do a search of a digital database of deeds. Then yes, start by putting in the name of the corporation. You may have to try variations on the spelling. You can also try the names of officers of the corporation. Often staff are very happy to help. I think helping members of the public with title searches is often part of their job description.

From what you wrote, at this point I am thinking the corporation was set up such that it does not have any legal power to collect money for the costs of maintaining the lake. Yet somehow, the corporation acquired title to the land on which the lake itself sits.

The OCGA property owners' association statute does have directions on how to make your community subject to the statute so that you all could become a bona fide property owners association (incorporated). But I think this will require all current owners to agree to this. It might take several months of lobbying, at a minimum.
AugustinD
Posts: 5,144
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By MichaelaG on 12/18/2019 7:31 AM
"Any member of said corporation, his heirs, successors or assigns, shall be entitled, upon dissolution of said corporation, to have said property returned to such member, his heirs, successors or assigns"


What seems to be unclear is what entity exists that would be legally obliged to maintain the lake pursuant to restriction #7 on the plat. Right now, and pursuant to Restriction #7, that would seem to be anyone who owns the land on which the lake sits. But it seems there is no legal rational way to hold the owners of this land accountable such that the costs are divided in a fair way. I expect you will have to pay an attorney. No doubt the attorney is going to want to see much of what you found so far. Doing one's homework in advance of a meeting with an attorney can save time and money. You may want to organize your findings in a notebook. Then write down your three main questions. Then seek a real estate attorney, now armed with your findings and questions. This should save time and money.

If the attorney agrees to review the situation, I am betting just the review will cost $1000 to $5000.
MichaelaG (Georgia)
Posts: 27
Posted:
Fortunately, title searches is something I know. As a real estate investor who works mostly in 120 year old neighborhoods, I'm used to working my titles back for many years to find any potential pitfalls before I buy. Here in Fulton county all of our grantor/grantee indexes are in the courthouse and I'll try to make it there today. Maybe those deeds give more details.
MichaelaG (Georgia)
Posts: 27
Posted:
I did get the deeds for all of the portions of the lake deeded to Lake Herschel, Inc.

There was the case of this real estate investor in Florida, that ended up buying a lake in a subdivision at tax sale. He put a 6' wooden fence around the lake and painted it pink. Would that possibly be an option to do with those homeowners that are refusing to acknowledge the HOA? Might sound mean, but maybe something like that could force the issue.

It's more than not putting money in.....some of them have had big trees fallen into the water and they're rotting away. Some have trees, that are dead, that are threatening to fall. They're certainly not doing the maintenance, as is required per restrictions/covenants.
MichaelaG (Georgia)
Posts: 27
Posted:
So, wouldn't point 7. require the homeowners at least to take care of the part behind their property? So, could they be taken to small claims court for letting docks rot away and trees die?
AugustinD
Posts: 5,144
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By MichaelaG on 12/18/2019 11:42 AM
There was the case of this real estate investor in Florida, that ended up buying a lake in a subdivision at tax sale. He put a 6' wooden fence around the lake and painted it pink. Would that possibly be an option to do with those homeowners that are refusing to acknowledge the HOA?


First, wouldn't putting up a fence all around the lake be trespassing on various parcel owners' property? Second, I for one do not acknowledge "the HOA" or so far, any corporation or other organization that has any legal muscle to make demands of individual parcel owners.

I think one owner could take another owner to court to maintain her or his portion of the lake. This would be one owner enforcing the covenants against another owner. Subsequently there might be a debate about what "shall be maintained as a private lake" means. I think rotting docks is something that one owner might be able to go to court over. I am less sure about whether letting trees die is a failure to maintain the lake.

I am surprised lenders have not got into the picture, requiring a "lake maintenance agreement" or some such before approving a loan on a home purchase there. As a realtor, you probably know way more than I do on this.

Just my thoughts. I think I am likely just about over my head at this point. Querying a real estate attorney might be the next step.
MichaelaG (Georgia)
Posts: 27
Posted:
So, the plot thickens:

2 days ago I got a call from the Secretary of Lake Herschel Inc. I had left her a message days before, saying that the corp is dissolved according to the secretary of state. I told her that I've been working on getting original documents. She told me that she has everything, but never read through them and doesn't know what she has. She was just supposed to hold on to them.

I asked how come that the president told me that they have nothing and that he had even laid out his own funds to hire an attorney. She said that he never asked her and that they so rarely have a meeting, that it never came up and they never talk. Mind blown!

I guess there's some fault on both ends, but I don't understand why the president supposedly hired an attorney, without even talking to the secretary to see what she has/knows. And if he really hired an attorney, why wouldn't the attorney have asked for the original paperwork or asked him to get it?

She was going to give the paperwork to him and tell him that she told me about them, so, he can't just ignore them. He had suggested for us to meet today, but haven't heard a thing. Is probably annoyed by me pushing to get this figured out. I have to walk on egg shells, as I don't want to alienate him. I've often found guys in my generation (baby boomer) getting their ego hurt, if I come up with ideas that they might have not and then they rather cut off their nose to spite their face.I don't want his position, don't want credit for doing something or whatever. We're all on the same side and want the lake to thrive.

I don't think there's anything shady that was done. Just not being as on top as they should have been and letting it slide for too long.

Once I get to see some of the other paperwork, I'll come back here and give more details and see, if anything jumps out that may give us more rights. Thanks for all of your help. You've been awesome, Auguste
MichaelaG (Georgia)
Posts: 27
Posted:
I meant, AugustinD
MichaelaG (Georgia)
Posts: 27
Posted:
So, now I'm totally perplexed.

After I got all of these documents together, HOA president never took me up on wanting to meet with me and seeing those documents. I confronted him a few weeks ago, stating that he obviously isn't interested in seeing what I've found, after I spent hours in the courthouse putting it all together. He had said previously that he had been given no paperwork. And I had found out that the secretary had all of the documents and she then turned it over to him.

Well, a couple of weeks ago, in our text exchange, he claimed that he never told me that he didn't have anything and that he'd spent the past few weeks putting a new corporation together and doing all kinds of things. I told him that the minute the old entity dissolved (which they didn't reinstate) the lake properties all reverted back to the previous owners and that I'm out.

So, I got a letter today from the president, along with all neighbors, I assume, stating that a new corporation has been started, called Lake Herschel Association and he's the president and no VP, secretary or treasurer at this point, but is looking for volunteers. And that one person decided that they're out and he's returning this year's membership fees and if anyone would like to see the text exchange he can show it to them.

I wanted the HOA to exist and was all gung ho to do my part, but how can an HOA president just start a new association, when previous documents show that all land(water) reverts back to the original owners? Wouldn't he have to start having new deeds back into the new corporation? This just doesn't seem right
AugustinD
Posts: 5,144
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By MichaelaG on 02/12/2020 10:46 AM
So, I got a letter today from the president, along with all neighbors, I assume, stating that a new corporation has been started, called Lake Herschel Association and he's the president and no VP, secretary or treasurer at this point, but is looking for volunteers. And that one person decided that they're out and he's returning this year's membership fees and if anyone would like to see the text exchange he can show it to them.

I wanted the HOA to exist and was all gung ho to do my part, but how can an HOA president just start a new association, when previous documents show that all land(water) reverts back to the original owners? Wouldn't he have to start having new deeds back into the new corporation? This just doesn't seem right
I do not see any documents that persuade me that this 'association/corporation' he claims to have established has the legal power to force anyone to pay anything. I would not call him a HOA president. At most, he is presiding over some corporation he may have registered with the state.

At this writing, I do not see a corporation listed at the Secretary of State site by the name you gave today. Ask him for proof he has formed a corporation. Ask him for the Articles of Incorporation and the Bylaws. (The Georgia Secretary of State does not require filing of the bylaws.)
MichaelaG (Georgia)
Posts: 27
Posted:
You're so right. It just looks so weird. The letter head states 'Lake Herschel Association' , but then he attached a letter to Secretary of State, asking to reinstate 'Lake Herschel Inc' (which still shows dissolved). He's also talking in the letter about reestablishing Lake Herschel Association llc. He's either totally confused (a pilot in his 50s, so, I hope not) or he's just trying to pull something.

But I would think, that at the point in time that the entity was dissolved, the lake pieces reverted back to the owners and he can't just reinstate as if nothing happened. That's what the original documents state. So, I don't know if administratively dissolved is not really dissolved.

He's asking for volunteers and states that he'd gladly give up his post, so, I don't think he's trying to do something shady. But he also won't accept my help. I can't be an officer, because I simply wouldn't know what to do and communication with him is non-existant.

I'm at a loss.
AugustinD
Posts: 5,144
Posted:
If the guy is not requiring anyone to pay anything, but merely asking for contributions, then maybe like you, I cannot see that he's doing anything blatantly unlawful.

As I think I mentioned above, I understand dissolved corporations can be lawfully resurrected.

But even if this corporation never dissolved, I am still not persuaded that it had the power to force people to pay anything towards maintenance of the lake.

By all indications, you appear well-qualified to serve on the board of this corporation as a director or officer or both. I hear you that the guy is unfortunately shutting you out. I guess I would be a bit pleased that at least he seems to be taking steps to maintain the lake. You could try to clue him into the part of the Property Owners Association statute's sections that talk about the creating an entity that will be subject to statute. This would seem to be sections 44-3-222 and 44-3-235 .
MichaelaG (Georgia)
Posts: 27
Posted:
Actually, he's not taking care of the lake. Nobody is taking care of the lake. All he does is complain that people aren't paying into the HOA, so there's no money to take care of it. That's what made me try to help him find a way that people can be pushed. He cries that he has no help, but he doesn't really want it either.

I am now also concerned, because part of the dam is on my property. Noone takes care of it. I don't know what my responsibilities are, if the HOA isn't doing anything. What if the damn breaks, due to negligence of he HOA. Will I get sued, if there're repercussions? Will the HOA get sued? I don't know how dams work. Everything is overgrown and I think there's supposed to be a spillway on my side. There is one cleaned up spillway on the other side of the dam. There's an indentation on my side, but it's all overgrown. I guess, it would have been the HOA's responsibility to keep this clean. I simply don't know enough and hate, that I just haven't been able to get answers and everything I've said has been dismissed. I guess he also dismissed the secretary and CFO.

There aren't any houses south of the dam, so, technically, there shouldn't be any damage, if it did break.
AugustinD
Posts: 5,144
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By MichaelaG on 02/12/2020 12:36 PM
I am now also concerned, because part of the dam is on my property. Noone takes care of it. I don't know what my responsibilities are, if the HOA isn't doing anything. What if the damn breaks, due to negligence of the HOA.
Right now, I am more persuaded that, if the dam failed, you would be the one liable for any damage.
GeorgeS21 (Florida)
Posts: 3,808
Posted:
Joining late, and somewhat confused about the goal.

MG, If there is something that you can do about the dam, to repair or clean, etc, why don’t you just do it?
MichaelaG (Georgia)
Posts: 27
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By GeorgeS21 on 02/12/2020 4:56 PM
Joining late, and somewhat confused about the goal.

MG, If there is something that you can do about the dam, to repair or clean, etc, why don’t you just do it?

Because I have no idea what, if any is supposed to be done. That property was deeded to the association. Is it mine again? Maybe there's a spillway, maybe there's not. The ceo is no longer talking to me. I've never lived at a lake. This is all new to me and I'm fumbling my way through this.

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