ESCROW HOA dues?

Started by JanetC10 • 15 replies • 395 views

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JanetC10 (Ohio)
Posts: 5

Posted:

Hello,
I have owned my condo for 3 years and have been waiting to experience the things other owners have been complaining about before just believing things, as you are never going to please everyone.

Now that I have experienced them, can I escrow my HOA dues when finding out many unethical things the Board is doing?

They do not follow their own rules. We have not had financials posted for Sept/Oct/Nov/Dec 2024, but because everyone was asking for them, they posted vague financials for Jan on Jan 8th! The rule is that the financials are to be posted by the 15th of the month for the previous month.

Our vendors do a crappy job all around. Our VP's church people do the "cleaning" which is not done well. The landscapers are a joke, they ruin the landscape and never fix what they do. They cut bushed and shrubs with non-sharp implements which shred the stems. They cannot make a straight line to edge things.

How can we fight this?

Janet

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,062

Posted:

Hi Janet,

Sorry to hear about the issues you are encountering.

Your first question: can I escrow my HOA dues when finding out many unethical things the Board is doing?

Sorry, the answer is NO. Pay your assessments in full and on time.
See: Owner Grievances And Withholding Maintenance Fees from an OH legal firm

Here is a newspaper article from FL: Can you withhold HOA fees when you're unhappy with the board?

Your second question, How can we fight this?, is easy to answer.

You fight it by getting involved. Gather other members who agree with you. Get several individuals willing to run for board seats at the next election. Encourage everyone to vote and, if allowed, collect proxies to cast votes for those who can not attend the next annual meeting. IF you are successful in seating enough individuals to have a controlling vote on the Board of Directors, you will be the ones making the decisions for the Association.

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By TimB4 on 02/23/2024 1:14 PM
Hi Janet,

Sorry to hear about the issues you are encountering.

Your first question: can I escrow my HOA dues when finding out many unethical things the Board is doing?

Sorry, the answer is NO. Pay your assessments in full and on time.
See: Owner Grievances And Withholding Maintenance Fees from an OH legal firm

Here is a newspaper article from FL: Can you withhold HOA fees when you're unhappy with the board?

Your second question, How can we fight this?, is easy to answer.

You fight it by getting involved. Gather other members who agree with you. Get several individuals willing to run for board seats at the next election. Encourage everyone to vote and, if allowed, collect proxies to cast votes for those who can not attend the next annual meeting. IF you are successful in seating enough individuals to have a controlling vote on the Board of Directors, you will be the ones making the decisions for the Association.

Sound advice.

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

RE: JohnC's "sound advice." He knows what he'a talking about since he was successful in uniting with other owners and campaigning to remove a lousy Board.

I too have done the same: joining with like-minded neighbors and campaigning.

Let us know if you want details

TerriS6 (California)
Posts: 3,284

Posted:

The whole answer is pay everything “under protest.” This is an historic method of preserving your rights. Then you will have to take action - in small claims court if your state allows it to get a refund.

DeanJ
Posts: 1,786

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By TerriS6 on 02/23/2024 7:19 PM
The whole answer is pay everything “under protest.” This is an historic method of preserving your rights. Then you will have to take action - in small claims court if your state allows it to get a refund.

Good luck getting a court to order an HOA to return money to you in Ohio.

JanetC10 (Ohio)
Posts: 5

Posted:

Thank you for your responses!
The biggest issues for being able to get enough people on the Board to make changes is that the current Vice President has been such for over 12 years now and bullies the rest of the members to voting how she wants. There is a rule that no Board member can run more than 2 - 2 year terms. However, if no one else runs then she can stay on automatically. She grabs all the proxies for the renters and controls the renters as well. She grooms all incoming owners/renters from the moment they come, then finds out things about them and holds those things over them. When I first came she tried to win me over but I saw through her crap. She showed me actual police reports she gets (illegally) on people.
I am one of the few that she cannot bully or control. She hates me and spreads untruths. Finally a couple of the current Board members are willing to go against her, but one is 87 and they simply do not have enough votes on the Board to make a difference in anything. They say she now has said she is VP AND Treasurer (only because she bullies the President into doing her bidding). Our accountant does what she wants as does the legal firm. I do not know what hold she has over them. We have written our grievances to the law firm, who then simply forwards them to the Board because the firm actually defends them. I ran last year and was going to again this year, but she also controls who counts the votes - most people complain, but just won't do anything about it. Last year the ballots were different colors! All the people who told me they voted for me, and my own ballot were the same color, then later the attorney that had the stack of votes, had NONE that were our color. Pretty sure that is illegal. No count is given as to who received how many votes. They destroy the ballots.

Thoughts?

Janet

JanetC10 (Ohio)
Posts: 5

Posted:

How do you denote that you are paying "under protest"? Do you write on the check? Yes, we have to write checks to pay our HOA fees. The only reason I get checks now.

JanetC10 (Ohio)
Posts: 5

Posted:

I would love details for how you have accomplished this.

We are a 55 plus community and no one wants to step up to do anything.

Janet

TerriS6 (California)
Posts: 3,284

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By JanetC10 on 02/24/2024 8:36 AM
How do you denote that you are paying "under protest"? Do you write on the check? Yes, we have to write checks to pay our HOA fees. The only reason I get checks now.

Yes. Write on face of check “payment under protest” and write a letter with your payment confirming which current and past payments are made “under protest.” You can likely find a statute including this principle but even if not it is an historic principle.

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

A HOA is only funded by it's members for it's members. How does withholding dues help your situation? Maybe step up and do something. Many of us did here and were successful. No court needed as others here will ill advise.

Protest is crap.

Former HOA President

TerriS6 (California)
Posts: 3,284

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By JanetC10 on 02/24/2024 8:39 AM
I would love details for how you have accomplished this.

We are a 55 plus community and no one wants to step up to do anything.

Janet

If you are addressing me, I can reply probably late this afternoon.

TerriS6 (California)
Posts: 3,284

Posted:

Quote:

This info is pretty generic since I'm in another state and don't know what your documents state. Also, don't know what type of development you have whether condo or other.

1. You have to establish that the law and your Declaration REQUIRE that the association is responsible for the maintenance and repair of all common elements within the community. In your claim, write down all the pertinent laws and all the language in your Declaration that proves the association is mandated to do this.
https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-5312.06
https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-5311.081 if a condo

2. Establish with receipts all the money you have paid to the association. Explain you made your payments under protest because the association failed to maintain and repair the common elements of your development.

3. Get copies of maintenance contracts outlining what work was supposed to be done. You could also provide copies of the association budget showing what was supposed to be spent.

4. Provide proof that maintenance and repair were not done even though you paid, and enumerate any damage that was done to the common area or private property, and ask for a refund.

5. If the total you are asking for is within the small claims court limits, you can take your claim there and the judge will decide if you are due any refund.

Counties usually have a small claims advisor who gives free advice. You can check your courthouse website.

TerriS6 (California)
Posts: 3,284

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By JanetC10 on 02/24/2024 8:34 AM
Thank you for your responses!
The biggest issues for being able to get enough people on the Board to make changes is that the current Vice President has been such for over 12 years now and bullies the rest of the members to voting how she wants. There is a rule that no Board member can run more than 2 - 2 year terms. However, if no one else runs then she can stay on automatically. She grabs all the proxies for the renters and controls the renters as well. She grooms all incoming owners/renters from the moment they come, then finds out things about them and holds those things over them. When I first came she tried to win me over but I saw through her crap. She showed me actual police reports she gets (illegally) on people.
I am one of the few that she cannot bully or control. She hates me and spreads untruths. Finally a couple of the current Board members are willing to go against her, but one is 87 and they simply do not have enough votes on the Board to make a difference in anything. They say she now has said she is VP AND Treasurer (only because she bullies the President into doing her bidding). Our accountant does what she wants as does the legal firm. I do not know what hold she has over them. We have written our grievances to the law firm, who then simply forwards them to the Board because the firm actually defends them. I ran last year and was going to again this year, but she also controls who counts the votes - most people complain, but just won't do anything about it. Last year the ballots were different colors! All the people who told me they voted for me, and my own ballot were the same color, then later the attorney that had the stack of votes, had NONE that were our color. Pretty sure that is illegal. No count is given as to who received how many votes. They destroy the ballots.

Thoughts?

Janet

The accountant and law firm obey the one who signs their check. Don't take it personally.

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

Sorry, Janet, I missed your request for details about How JohnC and a group, and a similar group of owners & I got rid of bad boards.

The whole key in my experience and recalling John's is there needs to be a group of like-minded owners who're willing to put candidates up for election and campaign like crazy to get them elected. The group can be quite small. Our first group was about 10 ownnrs, mostly fairly new ones, who became acquainted via their work on 2 HOA committees. We had maybe another 10 shy supporters. (Our HOA is 200+ Multi story condos)

But this means you. must become friendly with others, especially some who're willing to work and to serve. You might start out by carefully & correctly requesting the membership list of your HOA and making a flyer to distribute at doors or to mail to Owners. The latter is important if you have a lot of off-site owners (as my HOA has).

Let me one know if you want more -- gathering a core group is crucial.

JanetC10 (Ohio)
Posts: 5

Posted:

Hi

Thank you for your response!

We had an election last night for 3 openings. 3 people ran and they allowed write in's as well for some reason. I had a list of things I wanted to get "clarification" on from the Board and instead, the Election Committee decided to ask me to observe the tallying of the votes to be sure no funny business was going on. I am trying to figure out exactly what that was about. I know in part it is because I have been one of the most verbal owners. I figure they were trying to distract me from the meeting as well, because they were doing it in the corner of the meeting room while the Board meeting was taking place. I said fine and ripped my list of things off my notepad and handed it to another owner I trust. Only 1 of the 6 committee members even knew the process of tallying. The one who has done it for years and I basically guided the rest of them. There were 2 current Board members that were re-elected and I did manage to get one of "us" elected as well, who is Not a "yes person".

I have been working diligently on empowering others to run. I still work at a hospital and have a large family to keep track of, so my time is limited, but finally I am getting others to take baby steps forward. What I was not prepared for was how many people lie to your face.

I would still love to hear any more feedback as to what others are doing.

I have some ideas like, a private Facebook page and starting a newsletter for "owners". Biggest issue is that there are not alot of people that are computer savvy.

Thank you! I will probably start new subjects here to ask other questions, but if you want to respond here that is fine too.

Janet

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