Right To Rental Percentage

Look the real effect of having a high number of renters effects the ability to get certain types of loans or higher refinance costs. You may not be able to have FHA type loans if after a certain amount of rentals is present.

The truth is unless your HOA has it set up that rentals is to be reported to the HOA, your not going to get that answer. The HOA has to put in rules that says if you rent, you must report. Actually enforcing a rental cap is next to impossible to enforce.

Thank you, though it seems you are looking at this from a different angle. Perhaps I have misspoken.
My mission is exploratory and, if need be, evidentiary. After my post, I searched this site for possible previous answers, on a lark. I did find that I could attempt a reply from my lender, however, that would be out-of-date information; the rental situation is a dynamic rather than a static one. I have no concern regarding the ability or lack thereof for securing a mortgage. The epidemic stems from investors overbidding and paying in cash; in two instances, the purchases were over $100K. There must be a significant reason someone or something would be doing this; my guess is the frenzied upward spiral of real estate prices garnering them a high ROI while sheltering themselves with this foreign asset. It has placed rent on its ear here. Meanwhile, the invasiveness of these investors is being seen by my HOA as nothing but beneficial—they are also following the money, so to speak.
As mentioned, the scales are irrevocably skewed. This imbalance negatively affects the ability to allow effective voting; the majority (now investor-driven) will only lead to the community decay, literally & figuratively. To this point, our dues are being squandered on chasing down these absentee landlords for outstanding assessments and tenant violations (the latter, my HOA quite selectively enforces). Actual homesteaders do not even attend the monthly meetings, they are in such disgust of management. As to the recording system, they have openly admitted they are not enforcing lease documentation nor owner contact information. To me, this screams negligence. I wonder what other misdemeanors there are.

I do thank you for responding.

Unless your governing docs require approval of renters the association might not even know that information. In my last association I know some houses were rented, but owners did not have to report that to the association so there were no records to that effect. In most cities and counties ownership records are available on-line from the property appraiser, tax assessor, recorder's office or something similar. You could check those records to find owners with a different mailing address. In my state a small property tax break is given to owners for their primary residence, it is easy to find out which houses here have the homestead exemption which is a good indicator of owner occupancy. Maybe your state/city/county has something similar. You can probably assume that most non owner occupied properties are rentals, especially if they are owned by a corporation, although some could be second homes or family members using a home for free.

Great question - I've been concerned about the number of rentals in my community for years. However, as Melissa and Cathy have said it may be impossible to get that information. People don't always tell the truth about this stuff (oh, I'm not RENTING the place - those are my cousins who are looking after it for me.).

Even if they do, the percentage only becomes an issue if you have a rental cap and someone lied when requesting that the board grant a hardship waiver. And how do you prove that?

What you're running into is a numbers game (much like everything else in life). If you have more investor-owners, they can control who gets on the board, which could mean certain repairs don't get done (because it's expensive and cuts into profits), fund reserves (ditto) and rule enforcement doesn't happen at all because some of the biggest problem children also rent their units (as long as the check clears and I don't have to see the mess, let alone live in or around it, I don't give a flying you know what.)

So save your money on suing. You may be able to get the owners list, but that's about it. If you live next door to a rented unit that's making your life miserable, you might be able to take legal action against the owner, but that's a whole 'nother conversation. You could also to to the board about amending the documents to put in a rental cap, but unless you grandfather in the current owners, it won't pass (we tried this in our community and it still failed).

So what you do? insist on consistent and fair rule enforcement and Joan the owner's feet to the fire regardless of who it is. The responsible investor-owners should go along with this because they want to keep responsible tenants, while the others may get tired of letters ,fines, lawsuits or the threat thereof and go away or not but the house at all. Good luck - you'll need it.

Thank you SO much for getting my point! Yes, the investors do not care, that’s what we have all been struggling with. Many have just thrown up their hands. Silence is complicity. I’m new to the game and not so jaded that I don’t fight. I’ve never lived like this—always had a lovely free-standing home. At one point, I was in the country on 2 acres and no one to the East (ha-ha, on a Great Lake). Breaks my heart now; one sacrifice for another…
No one seems to understand what damage it does to a community to have absentees as a majority voting power. I tried to explain this to the Board, at a meeting and was unsuccessfully intimidated by one Board member, “Do you know how MUCH our properties have increased?!” This is the same disgusting one who bought elsewhere & is playing landlord while keeping his seat! There are no provisions in the CC&R’s addressing this oxymoron. I see this as the beginning of the end of people who have a genuinely vested interest running the HOA. To show their bias, I was sent a warning letter after an altercation with a different investor who was bent on berating me when I simply asked that his tenants make certain to close their garage doors (we have been plagued with break-ins due to this. I was also pro-tem Neighbourhood Watch re-organizer, which I have since abandoned of my own volition, not theirs). I later learned the one mouthing me about our “property values” responded “she wants to be judge, juror & executioner”. This is what we have become. Overcrowded units getting free parking and a host of other concessions.
Anyway, a burning question: Can’t an HOA be dissolved or lawfully mandated to do so, when the rentals reach a certain percentage? It would only stand to reason. Association dues are being misappropriated continually. Davis-Stirling has been gutted. CA’s AB3182 has opened the door WIDE to even more investors, which we sorely can not afford—literally. This has become an epidemic, countrywide. As with anyone seeking a healthy return, our rents are through the roof because of these buyouts. There is no upside for Americans wanting/needing stability.
Thanks Sheila!!

Alice

To your point about some assessor records being missing--

We investigated this subject several years ago when we found the assessor records for the rented property next door were redacted from public access. I do not now recall if the entire listing was not present or just the name of the owner.

The assessors office told us several types of records are redacted automatically or at the request of the owner. They include:

-peace/LEO officers of any jurisdiction, certain city/county/state/Federal employees/agents/officials. A neighbor is a Texas State Trooper, the equivalent of a CHiP. His name is not on the property records which the public may access.

-victims of domestic violence

-persons who have an outstanding TRO against a spouse or other person for personal safety reasons

-other persons with a proven or demonstratable reason to have their name redacted from the ownership records for reasons of personal safety of the owner or members of the family

-certain victims of criminal activity

I think there may have been a couple of others.

Ah, I see what you mean. Yes, not only owner names were missing, but the entire property address. I had no idea one could request redactions. Very wise, very wise.

AliceS5, rentals taking over a HOA/COA is a hot topic at this forum. As CathyA3 has pointed out often in the past, if the HOA has no rental cap (e.g. 25%, with a waiting list), and the percentage of rentals is high enough, the possibility that the owners could amend the governing docs to impose either a rental cap or, say, a one-year waiting period, is unlikely. For example, if 40% of your community consists of rentals, and the percentage required to amend the Declaration is 67%, then the chances of amending to restrict rentals looks to be low.

Within your responses here, would you kindly name the person to whom you are responding? Doing so makes it easier to follow what is happening.

Oh hello Augustin. This site is not very user friendly, as replies do not align like a conventional thread. The person to whom I was responding concerning my not understanding the workings of an HOA, was MelissaP1. I had also responded to someone else regarding missing properties on the assessor’s website; he have a nice summation of reasons for redaction, a request of which I was not aware yet is very much reasonable.
To answer your response regarding a rental cap, as some have mentioned, it is not being addressed by my HOA. At a meeting last year, I later felt we homesteaders were being placated, on site, not by public announcement, that documents were being prepared to alter the occupancy restrictions to 25% rentals. It never happened. They have expressed, in countless way, their bias toward investors, their properties and their tenants, to varying degrees of animosity and selective enforcement.
It’s simply a no-win, however, I was looking for grounds by which I could gain access to the numbers & see what can legally be done to re-create the standards which this and other HOA’s have been established. Pie in the sky 😢

Post-o. I meant that I think the OP should us an attorney even for "mere" IDR. The goal would be for the HOA to start enforcing the rental restriction. Of course, if the number of renters is already well over 25%, a lot of conflict is going to result. Which is one reason why an attorney should be used, AFAIC.

This is another topic to raise in IDR. In California, you have more power than folks in other states to force the HOA to enforce the covenants.

You should put together a survey and see how well that works.

This is why I am shaken, to say the least. We have no restrictions and the HOA is rebuffing any suggestion of doing so. With each new purchase, we, as homesteaders, sink deeper into an untenable situation. And each one will be grandfathered in, even if the HOA decides to amend the docs. I’m trying to get a foothold so I can get information we community members have as our right. As previously mentioned, the tip of the iceberg has just shown itself in that one of our current HOA Board members has been allowed to keep his seat after leaving his residence to now be the landlord of his property—no provisions in the CC&R’s for this either. Next year, I expect other investors will seek seats on the Board. We narrowly missed an AirBNB operator (violation) from being elected. I had forewarned both the ballot firm as well as our management company; neither saw a problem.

The HOA is likely rebuffing the suggestion of a rental restriction because - if it's true that your community is already around half rentals(*) - you don't have the necessary votes to pass the amendment. Trying to do so would be a waste of the HOA's legal dollars.

(* I'm going by the statement you made in your original post: "Presently, I know there is at least 51% (so I’d been told by a former Board member).")

Your Bylaws, Alice, probably do not say that Owners must live on your HOA premises to serve on the Board. Such service is "no problem" because it's legal. (This would no be in your CC&Rs).

I'm trying to understand what you're seeking. You dislike having so many renters in your HOA and I would too. During the Great Recession, we had about 42% absentee owners and many of us were plenty nervous. But I do not see how an IDR could help you feel better about this state of affairs in your HOA.

Look, given how hot the real estate market is, Alice, you might seriously consider selling and getting out. I know that's not possible for everyone in such a situation, but perhaps it could work for you.

It's not totally scientific, but look at the master list of owners and the listed address where their bill for assessments go. If it is not an address within the HOA
it is a good indicator it is a rental home.

Or, LetA, as in my HOA, our units might be 2nd homes, but not rentals.

I wish we had something like IDR in my state. If our boards won't listen to homeowners, their only option is going the legal route - which means that issues have to be severe enough to justify the expense, and complainers have to have the financial wherewithal to even consider this.

I will confirm it doesn't work. The problem now is client's are allowed to bring in an attorney to the fight, which mean the HOA now gets to arm themselves with their attorney.

Legally, it's still the required first step.

Kerry, with respect, this is NOT the Great Depression. Being in CA (beneath your name here), you should recognize that CA is a very greedy state (particularly SoCal) & we are being abused by laws that favour investors. They come in the form of Rezoning, ADU’s & Gentrification, to name a few. Please look into AB3182; it will open your eyes to this. In theory, it was good, but they didn’t cover the loopholes where people can come in, pluck up homes, turn them into overpriced & unmaintained rentals. Look closely.
Reading my initial post, carefully, should answer your question as to what I’m seeking—-information that is due to me by rights as a member of my HOA. I have repeatedly said the HOA has no restrictions on rentals nor restrictions on who sits on the Board, the latter of which is a new situation for them in that a sitting Board member is no an off-site, absentee landlord. Furthermore, what is NOT new is the violation of the current CC&R’s regarding the neighbour who has been running an AirBNB. If it weren’t for my confirmed suspicions, Management would never have had a clue. Unfortunately, they swept that and the evidence of its continuation, under the rug. She was even permitted to run for the Board!
In short, I needed to explore what those rights are so I can approach informed, as any prepared person effecting change or seeking justice. This is my home & deserves protecting or We will object to paying HOMEowner association dues. If they want to rename it PROPERTYowners Association, that’s a different matter. As it stands now, it’s looking more like a homeless-breached ghetto.

Alice,

How old are your governing docs, especially the CCRs and Bylaws? If you have older governing docs, from the 70's and 80's, its possible they have never been updated. While the state has said that rental restrictions can not go below 25% if docs are amendded, if they are not, the sky is limit. Then you have the enforcement part, who is going to accurately track rentals with the legal authority to do so. Without an enforcement mechanism, we are told to pound sand.

Let's say you are a self managed HOA, how does the board keep up to date with current legislation and if they do get the information, what do you think they do with it.

If you are currently at 51 or 52% rental, how do you think any association is able to change with the deck stacked heavily against you?

I have seen a lot of property reports and I have come across a homestead exemption. You can't get a loan with that recorded agaist your property.

We are a Democratic controlled state, but having a Republican controlled is not better better.

Why must we roll over and play dead?! I paid for my home and expect what HOA’s were created for. I’m being told the same thing about the modified monster trucks and cars illegally disrupting our lives because the police and the City will not enforce laws.
Passivity will be the death of us (and in some cases, literally has).

BTW, how can I stop future responses to my original post? Can’t tell if people here are pro-HOA or not.

Alice,

I didn't see it mentioned.

Ask to review (or obtain a copy) of the membership list with mailing addresses for the owners.
See what is provided.

Are you serious? At the risk & time to repeat what everyone knows as common knowledge, HOA’s were created to provide structure and cohesiveness in one’s community where homes are purchased as primary residences, thusly termed Home Owners Association, not Property Owners Association. Dues are paid by home owners to maintain the property and defend their rights across multiple channels. Sounds like you are either not acquainted with Davis-Stirling or you are trying to be argumentative.

Please do not reply further, as I am attempting to have all additional replies ceased.