What Recourse?

Started by JohnP7 • 5 replies • 1369 views

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JohnP7 (North Carolina)
Posts: 2

Posted:

What recourse does a home owner have in this situation?
We live in an fairly young HOA community with a new board since the duties have recently been turned over from the management company. Essentially it seems the Management company is in charge which seems to be the source of the problem. We have a few offenders of the CCRs in the community in which one is a board member. It seems that no matter how many e-mails from home owners or complaints from other board members are made no serious action is being taken. The most the management company seems to be doing to these habitual offenders is sending them warning letters. One home owner is even going as far as parking his vehicles on his lawn which seems to be out of spite since neighbors have complained about his trailer being parked on his driveway which is not allowed and is clearly stated in the CCRs. After numerous e-mails to the management company no serious action has been taken in 6 months of dealing with these issues. Than they wonder why many home owners bother to follow the CCRs or pay their dues. So what recourse do the home owners have against the Management Company which seems to be the snag in taken serious action? They won't even allow the homeowners who are in default to be taken to collections. This HOA is in the state of NC.

JohnB7 (South Carolina)
Posts: 176

Posted:

Run away before the 'special assessments' begin.

Well run self managed HOAs are good, political circle j***ks are your wost nightmare.

HaroldS (Arizona)
Posts: 906

Posted:

JohnP - first you say your HOA has been turned over from the management company and then you say the management company is running the show. I assume you mean your HOA has been turned over from the developer. If so, and you are using the same management company the developer was using, first order of business for the new board is to fire that management company and search for another that will work for you.
Developer management companies are notorious for being beholden to the developer - and sometimes are even subsidiaries of the developer.
But actually if this management compnay is not enforcing the CC&Rs, it could be your board is not strong in stating what they expect the management compnay to do. Any management compnay is an employee of the board, and takes their cue from what the board wants. It is as simple as that. Harold

RogerB (Colorado)
Posts: 5,067

Posted:

John, I suggest it starts by your Board establishing Rules and Regulations for Enforcement of Covenants and Rules and Regualtions and Regulations on Delinquent Accounts. These should be provided to the management company. If your community manager does not follow those guidelines the management company needs to be replaced.

Three things to remember when filing a complaint are: 1) it must be established as a violation; 2) it sometimes takes awhile to correct a violation of an unwilling homeowner; and 3) you often have no knowledge of what actions are being taken.

Your recourse is to take your complaint to the Board and ask them to consider replacing the management company. BTW, your statement "They won't even allow the homeowners who are in default to be taken to collections" lacks credibility. The management company has no authority to prevent enforcement against delinquent homeowners.

JohnP7 (North Carolina)
Posts: 2

Posted:

Thanks for the replies. I am friends with most of the board members so I have better knowledge than most of what's going on and plan to run myself for a spot on the board in the upcoming elections, since I am unhappy with the course of actions thus far. My only assumption of what is happening is the management company is leading the board to think that they have more authority than they really should as the management company seems to be where the buck stops with most of these issues. As far as the management company goes, yes they are the same company that the developer used. I apologize in advance for my lack of knowledge as I am new to this whole HOA thing.

GloriaM (North Carolina)
Posts: 829

Posted:

John:

As Roger stated there is probably a lot going on behind the scenes that you do not see. The management company does not rule the board; the board are the decision makers.

If the MC is writing letters (as you state in your post) then the next level would be enforcement and that DOES take the BOD to enforce. The MC can only write the letters, especially here in NC the NCPCA only gives the BOD the authority to fine after a hearing is afforded to the Owner.

As you state you are new to this HOA thing, there is a lot legal issues that the MC must follow therefore you may not see the results quickly. Like the old saying goes, "the wheels of justice turn slowly"

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