HOA help/advice legal

Hello,

I am a long-time lurker seeking advice regarding my HOA. My apologies if this topic has been addressed before or if I made any mistakes regarding rules.
I will try to keep things as brief and anonymous as possible, as there are many details that I have not included.

I purchased a newly renovated unit in an HOA back in 2015 as a first time home owner. It was an estate unit that was purchased by the "self-managed" board and they resold it to me for profit. I never received any bylaws or financials during my close (I know, amateur mistake) and had no idea what they even were/ their purpose until later on. Within the first few months, during winter time, I noticed water intrusion into my unit. I am on the top floor and I assumed it could have either been the roof or humidity behind the walls from the pipes. I immediately advised the board. The board said they would take care of it but nothing happened. It kept leaking so I just put a bucket where it leaked and carried on with my life. There were so many other CEs that needed repair (boiler) that this small leak seemed unimportant by comparison.

Fast forward next winter, the small leak turned into a big leak and now I had a lot of water coming in. This time, I demanded a repair and the board hired a roofer to patch up the roof. The patch up didn't last very long and by the summer was eroded. So I asked the board for a roof replacement, to which I was denied. I asked if a special assessment for a roof could be made and was also denied. By now it was fall, and it had started raining and more water was coming into my unit and destroying my property.

At this point I had called the city inspectors to inspect, with the hopes that it would pressure the board to conduct a proper a repair because I realized the board was not going to listen to me. After weeks of demanding and contacting the building's attorney, I finally got access to the minutes and found out the board was given notice that the roof and facade needed replacement decades ago. The board finally decided to hire an engineer and they determined the roof and the facade needed replacement and started special assessments. They spent the next several months looking for bids, with no results. By then it was winter again, and even more water was coming in. I now had visible mold growing in my unit. The board told me to just deal with it. Unsatisfied with this response, I decided to hire an attorney and start working on my demand letter.

In august of 2019 I wrote a demand letter to the board (nothing was fixed yet, I still had water intrusion). I also asked the board for the bylaws and access to the financial records, which I was denied. I also asked for an audit, which was denied (the building has never been audited before). All this escalated to the point where I had no choice but to sue the building. The property damage was too great, I had no governing documents and was completely kept in the dark about the building's operations.

The building ended up replacing the roof in November (it literally took 1 month to do), but now the building is insolvent as there are no reserves and no cash. Unit owners are still being assessed thousands of dollars every few months to fix the facade. Up to date, we've had 3 years of non-stop special assessments and there is no end in sight. There are still over 30+ city violations (roof/facade/mold) and fines because nothing was done up until this point. This situation has pretty much pitted me against everyone half the people the building (those board members and owners for 2+ decades). The newer batch of owners with mortgages are just going with the old board's ways for some reason. The rest of the owners are either landlords or apathetic retirees. I feel like I am alone in this uphill legal battle against a board.

I wanted to know from experienced board members or people who have had similar experiences what your thoughts are. I can provide additional details upon request. Any advice, whether legal or just not, is appreciated. Thank you for your time.

Gary

I'm very sorry this has happened to you. Most of us aren't attorneys and may not live in your state, so your best bet is to continue working with your attorney. Sadly, this is heading to a lawsuit that will cost every thousands of dollars with even more special assessments, so this may end with you selling the p!ace are loss to stop the money bleed.

I suspect your neighbors (including the board because they've also homeowners) call into three general camps and give identified two of them. There are the greedy ones who want to keep assessments as low as possible, the apathetic group who are probably praying no e of what's happened to you won't happen to them, and what I consider the beaten down bunch. These may be people who was the problems and tried to warn the board and everyone else to address the problems but were ignored or slapped down eventually those folks have up and either left or are now waiting for the other show to drop, feeling frustrated because they don't see a way out or can't afford to move on.

All of these people will need to face reality sooner or later and have to do what's necessary to fix the p!ace and set assessments so that they keep up with the date of inflation. At this point you may need to decide if you want to stay and fight, move on or live with it. Life is too short to be miserable, so if it were me I would consider using the board for breach of fiduciary duty - to let code violations like up is inexcusable. You could ask they've ordered to buy the place, but they probably don't have the money.

Maybe this warrants asking the court to put the community into receivership, but you should know that's the nuclear option. The court would assign a receiver to take over the board's duties and set assessments to pay the bills and address the building's problems the receiver only answers to the court, so homeowners, including you, would have no way in his the association is run. Your assessments would have to increase A LOT to pay routine expenses, fund reserves and fix the code violations, as well as the court costs and December's fee. It will not matter if your on a fixed income and you can forget about anyone wanting to buy a home in a community where they don't have any say in how it's run.

I wish I had other suggestions for you, but if what you've said is true, it won't end well for anyone. You may be better off getting out. By the way, the community bylaws may have been filed with your county recorders off, so if you still can't get them, try going there and getting a copy. If there's a neighbor who you do get along with, you might also ask him or her if you could photocopy them. Don't forget about the CCRs.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

Melissa,

This sounds like a condo ... if this is correct, would not the "owner" be forbidden from performing work in the exterior?

Hello,

Thank you for your responses. Everything I said was true, but the whole truth is much more sinister regarding individual members.

Melissa - I demanded an assessment in 2016 and it took over a year for them to start assessing (after I had access to the minutes and found out about the facade). There is much more to the story that I have not included, which includes a director who has complete control over the hiring of contractors and only hires expensive contractors who his private company works with. The contractor prices are very inflated (I've asked other owners about this and many agree) but people are either in on it (the greedy owners Shiela mentionned) or powerless (the new owners, landlords and retirees). I suspect many things but have not included them because I don't have any proof.

Please understand that I am not complaining about the special assessments, I am actually very happy these are finally happening and repairs are being made. What I am complaining about is how maintenance was deferred by a board that has been in place for 2+ decades. There are 4 new owners who have to bear the burden of decades of negligence
and pay full price for the capital repairs, which leaves me confused as to why they are siding with the old board.

I chose to sue also because there is still water intrusion from the facade and mold continues to grow in my bedroom. I really don't have the funds to fix an entire roof or facade, that is why I didn't hire anyone. Plus, its not my responsibility to repair CEs.

Like I said there are other reasons I am looking to sue, namely to obtain governing documents and access to financial records. I am also suing for injunctive relief for an audit of the books.

I know you believe that suing the hoa is suing yourself. I've read so many threads where you advised against it and I've deeply reflected on your perspective. This is honestly the last thing I wanted to do but I felt like I had no choice because of the statue of limitations. Had I not taken legal action, this board would have been happy watching me suffer and not do anything, as they have done the first two years of me living here, and I would have missed my chance at even repairing my unit. Thank you for replying to me Melissa as you are one of the people I wanted to hear from here.

I am not talking about the façade. I am talking about the INSIDE of your unit. Basically the place where your getting the water intrusion for the mold to possibly form. It can be looked at your not taking steps to mitigate your damages. So you may have to do something a bit more than just put a bucket under it.

What this sounds like is a typical water dam situation. You can read about them on "This Old House" website. They are a better resource to explain how this happens and possible solutions to present to your board. I would always present resolutions to the board than just the problems. That way you can work toward getting the situation you want.

We have a historic house here they call "The house that cries". Basically they can't keep paint on the home. It is a brick façade home they have to keep painting every few years as the paint just chips off. I bring this up because the house also has a bedroom that does the same thing yours is doing. There is a water stain in top corner of the master. It's caused by it's flat roof design and damming the water. Water goes to least resistance. Which is behind the wall/ceiling. It may be a serious construction design issue with the roof. So just slapping more roof shingles or tar isn't going to resolve it. Just be aware that this expense can be much larger and repair more intrusive that is really needed.

It's best to go into this best educated on how to resolve the issue than throw more fire on it. Work towards finding a contractor that can handle the work or understands what needs to be done. Who knows, it may be a simpler fix and doing the other repairs are doing more damage than good.

There are some "Façade" screws that can be installed. That was done on an episode on This Old House with house in Boston. Yes I am a HUGE fan. You can tell they are installed by seeing "squares" on the outside of the façade. They may have stars or other decorations. They are there to install the façade back to the structure. The expense isn't that bad but again the intrusion into people's homes can be.

Melissa -

I see how it could be looked at not taking steps to mitigate my damages. In fact, the board replied to my suit blaming me entirely for all the damages to my unit and the CEs, saying the exact same thing.

The house that cries does describe a very similar situation of what I am going through - The water intrusion began in just a corner but has over time expanded to flow down the entire wall, affecting two separate rooms.

I have tried my best to mitigate, as there were 6 visible points of water intrusion, all which I had put buckets to catch the water leak. Since the roof had been replaced, these leaks have completely stopped. But there is still mold growing from the water coming from behind the walls, caused by the facade, which I cannot stop. The best I could do was cover up the mold and contain it.

There has been an open city violation for mold since 2018 and by law the building is required to remediate it. This has not been done yet. This process would require hiring mold specialists, moving out, finding storage for my stuff, alternate living arrangements, etc. This could only be done once the facade was fixed and water stopped coming into my unit. And I cannot do anything about the facade as it is a CE.

Thank you for proposing your peaceful resolutions but I am not sure what more I reasonably can do.

JohnC46 -

I have thought about it... it would be very difficult given the current state of everyone
hating my guts but it is worth a try.

I am a lawyer and have sued an HOA.

Suing an HOA is NOT suing yourself:

* Insurance proceeds often cover a large part of the HOA's costs and any financial payment to a plaintiff.

* It can get a bad board to shape up.

So you sued the HOA and won (either a judgment or settlement)? If your neighbors don't like it, so what? Are you getting adequately compensated for your financial losses?

I'd do as I am doing: MOVE.

Who pays for the insurance Paul? The HOA. Where does that money come from? The membership. Plus if you sue what is it for? It's best to sue for actual damages. Which could be the repairs made more than forcing them to make the repairs needed. The latter may not be funded.

George how do you know how the building is constructed? The building I referred to for the Façade repairs are like brownstones. All sharing 1 wall and in a row. Roofs do vary in their construction. There are different designs. Doesn't mean that this construction isn't flawed and needs addressed by an expert. The conditions the OP is describing sounds like an ice dam situation considering it happens in the winter. Nothing wrong with looking up some video or advice on a website that deals with such construction.

Usually all a court would award would be actual damages. I was able to get punitive damages, though.

The membership does pay for insurance but in any event it's certainly unjust for one member to bear losses that would have been avoided if the board had acted properly.

MelissaP1, while I think very highly of you and certainly respect your view, may I ask the following:

What if you were driving and a county police car rammed into, injuring you and destroying your car? Would you not seek damages from the county or the county police department? Damages may indirectly come from county taxpayers, but would you just not do anything if you were harmed like that? Same in a HOA situation.

That is exactly my point, Melissa - I don't know - which means - neither do you - until the OP provides more information.

Thank you for your advice Paul. No doubt it was a very difficult but valuable lesson to learn. I will try my best to seek justice once the lock down is over.

GeorgeS21 -

Melissa was correct on how the building is constructed. It is a brownstone where everyone shares a flat roof and the back half
of the owners all share the facade.