Attorney fees passed to homeowner

-- Is there a provision in your Declaration stating that the HOA's attorney fees specifically for amending may be passed onto the owner who initiated the petition to amend? I doubt it.

-- Assuming no such provision exists, then the Board needs to recognize that a lawful vote to amend occurred. This vote is the voice of the corporation, and the Board needs to respect this. The Board is obliged to arrange for an attorney and special assess owners as needed to pay the attorney.

-- The Board probably should immediately inform owners of any pending special assessment to pay the attorney, and the reasons for this special assessment. It's possible this could change some people's vote, and additional steps may be necessary.

-- Keep in mind that an attorney may review whatever was voted on and deem either the proposed amendment or how the voted was conducted legally impropr. The attorney will advise the board what its options are subsequently.Depending on what exactly the "policy change" is, and because the covenants on amendments were not followed, the "policy change" might not be enforceable in a court of law.

For me to comment intelligently, you'd have to quote here the covenant that speaks about fences and then quote what exactly the board did.

Are you planning on running for the Board? If not, I really do not want to get into this right now.

No money in your reserves??? What kind of HOA do you live in?? Any amenities etc? Even non managing HOA's that have no amenities or responsibilities have some amount of money in reserves.

No common areas whatsoever but the developer intended on having an hoa but failed to follow through.

We have zero common areas. We have 42 homes on 4 acres each with private wells and septic systems. There is nothing shared. No curbs, no sidewalks and no street lights. The streets are public.

I think the developer realized an hoa was unnecessary and decided not to form one.

Agreed. I live in a very contentious subdivision because the hoa was not established by the developer. It was started by homeowners after the fact because by right it should have been established beforehand. Hiring the property management company has been where most of the money has gone. We have no amenities or common areas. Come January we will have funds again.

Do tell what the proposed change is.

Yup.

My take on this is that before you try to change any restrictions, you need to know where you stand legally - and that means talking to a lawyer.

You're trying to operate as an HOA, but if your CC&Rs were never recorded, none of the provisions may be legally in force. If they're not, this means the "HOA" has no authority to collect assessments or to enforce your covenants.

There may be other issues as well. Among other things, HOAs carry various kinds of insurance: general liability, employee dishonesty (protects your financial assets in case your MC takes off with them), and D&O (legal protection for board members in case they're sued by the membership). The D&O insurance is especially important for board members - otherwise they put their personal assets at risk if they are sued, and I for one would *never* serve on an association board without this. But your "HOA" has to have a basis in law (eg., your CC&Rs probably need to be recorded and Articles of Incorporation filed) before you can get this insurance - otherwise it's every man for himself.