BOARD CHARGES LIGHT BULBS

DawnL6 (South Carolina)
Posts: 226

Posted:

I know it is possible,but is it fair?
The association raised regime,to $298,with a special assessment of
$3,000k again this past july,but the board of directors, charged each owner for 2 light bulbs for outside of the units
at $40 and some owners $60.
This is condominiums in SC.
The documents state the association is responsible for outside maintenance of common areas.
Double Dippers?
Double charging

GregoryT1
Posts: 315

Posted:

hi Dawn,

Are you saying special assessment and also each unit got a bill also for the light bulbs? If that is correct that is double payment.

LetA (Nevada)
Posts: 2,679

Posted:

Does each unit have two light bulbs or does each unit have a different amount of exterior bulbs? It seems fair
to charge each unit individually if the amount of light bulbs vary per unit.

DawnL6 (South Carolina)
Posts: 226

Posted:

Yes,each unit got billed,and I'm nor sure if some units had 3 bulbs,but I had two charged.
The 3 bedrooms may have 3 bulbs,but regardless, they were charged $60.
In my opinion, that's double dipping.

CathyA3 (Ohio)
Posts: 6,299

Posted:

In my condo community, the association is responsible for exterior maintenance, but unit owners replace their own light bulbs since those exterior lights are powered by electrical lines serving only one unit (in other words, they're defined to be part of the unit).

I'd be more concerned that the association is paying for something that's unit owner responsibility. Usual advice: read your CC&Rs. We don't know what yours say.

DeanJ
Posts: 1,786

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By DawnL6 on 09/13/2024 4:32 PM
I know it is possible,but is it fair?
The association raised regime,to $298,with a special assessment of
$3,000k again this past july,but the board of directors, charged each owner for 2 light bulbs for outside of the units
at $40 and some owners $60.
This is condominiums in SC.
The documents state the association is responsible for outside maintenance of common areas.
Double Dippers?
Double charging

Your situation is your board is struggling financially. The cause is always previous boards who failed to maintain adequate reserves. In your situation, it is likely the board did not pass a large enough increase.

It is likely you are correct the light bulb charge violates the declaration. You should respectfully in writing advise the board this charge is improper with the declaration section provided.

If the ypersist, I would file a small claims action against the HOA because they will continue with other Mickey Mouse charges for stuff if you don’t.

DeanJ
Posts: 1,786

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By CathyA3 on 09/14/2024 3:50 AM
In my condo community, the association is responsible for exterior maintenance, but unit owners replace their own light bulbs since those exterior lights are powered by electrical lines serving only one unit (in other words, they're defined to be part of the unit).

I'd be more concerned that the association is paying for something that's unit owner responsibility. Usual advice: read your CC&Rs. We don't know what yours say.

Cathy, I was once in a condo where the electrical service to exterior lighting was the responsibility of the owners, but the fixtures, wiring, photo cells and lamps, are the responsibility of the HOA.

SheliaH (Indiana)
Posts: 6,964

Posted:

In my community, this is homeowner responsibility. Over the years, people have installed their own exterior lights, like my neighbor's motion detected ones, but they're subject to approval by the board, especially if installation means drilling through the brick fronts or siding, which is association responsibility.

If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it. Marcus Aurelius

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Dawn

Your post can be confusing and hard to read.

Are your saying the HOS raised the dues (Regime Fee)?
If so, what was the fee before?
Are you saying the light bulb charges should be paid by the HOA, not the owner?

CathyA3 (Ohio)
Posts: 6,299

Posted:

Frankly, light bulbs are chump change. Condo associations can and do pass charges on to homeowners. Our bylaws (yes, bylaws) give us discretion over whether or not to include utilities such as trash collection in our assessments. The previous board decided that too few owners were recycling (*), so they passed those charges to the owners in order to save a few bucks.

(* Incorrectly, as it turns out, but that's another discussion.)

And if that frosts your berries, consider this. Many condo boards are discussing raising the deductible on our master insurance policy in order to deal with the problems in the insurance market. This helps keep premiums down. It also discourages filing many small claims, which can result in an insurer dumping the association altogether. But here's the thing: unit owners' HO6 policies are written so that there are no gaps or overlaps when put together with the master policy. If the association raises the deductible, the owners' HO6 policy has to pick that up (because owners pay the association deductible if their is a claim). That's a few more bucks than some light bulbs, and the board has complete discretion over whether or not to do this.

If someone who's looking for reasons to gripe about their board, that's something to get charged up about. Won't do any good because that's how insurance works, but that's never stopped anyone.

SheliaH (Indiana)
Posts: 6,964

Posted:

I agree with Cathy and Dean. You've had several posts about things your board did and didn't do, starting with the sale of a house (that sounded like you also tried to buy it, but your offer was declined and you're ticked you off because you think there was foolery behind the deal). You may be right, but what else will you do besides come here and ask cryptic questions with little or no details? Especially the ask for legal advice- most of us aren't attorneys and what's true in our state may not be the case in yours.

If you're really unhappy with your board, you already know what and your neighbors must do - rally together and confront the board to be more transparent about association affairs or risk being voted out or recalled. That takes work and won't happen overnight,and if you succeed, you'll need a slate to replace them (maybe you will need to be one of them).

If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it. Marcus Aurelius

DeanJ
Posts: 1,786

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By CathyA3 on 09/14/2024 12:07 PM
Frankly, light bulbs are chump change. Condo associations can and do pass charges on to homeowners. Our bylaws (yes, bylaws) give us discretion over whether or not to include utilities such as trash collection in our assessments. The previous board decided that too few owners were recycling (*), so they passed those charges to the owners in order to save a few bucks.

(* Incorrectly, as it turns out, but that's another discussion.)

And if that frosts your berries, consider this. Many condo boards are discussing raising the deductible on our master insurance policy in order to deal with the problems in the insurance market. This helps keep premiums down. It also discourages filing many small claims, which can result in an insurer dumping the association altogether. But here's the thing: unit owners' HO6 policies are written so that there are no gaps or overlaps when put together with the master policy. If the association raises the deductible, the owners' HO6 policy has to pick that up (because owners pay the association deductible if their is a claim). That's a few more bucks than some light bulbs, and the board has complete discretion over whether or not to do this.

If someone who's looking for reasons to gripe about their board, that's something to get charged up about. Won't do any good because that's how insurance works, but that's never stopped anyone.

Cathy,

The board has a duty and is required to follow the declaration, if the board isn’t going to follow rules, why should the homeowners?

Too many boards have what I call cost creep. They set an imaginary / dishonest budgets and then start passing HOA expenses directly to the owners. $40 to change a light bulb on a 100 unit complex is a $4,000 expense the board lied to the homeowners about and in the end the homeowners are paying it anyway.

LisaB21 (Texas)
Posts: 97

Posted:

What was the 3K assessment for? They should have told te homeowners what the spend was for when they passed it.

DawnL6 (South Carolina)
Posts: 226

Posted:

We have 240 units.
The special assessment was for structrual issues.The board said buildings were unsafe.
I can't hardly shut my doors and windows,due to damage,and no work has been done on my building yet.
Probably wont.

LetA (Nevada)
Posts: 2,679

Posted:

IF these light bulbs are in an elevated position it is quite possible that maintenance of them are the HOA's responsibility
which is you the owner and yet be billed individually for each bulb replacement. This is typical of general maintenance for
items like this i.e. light bulbs. It would be a waste of HOA funds to replace every light bulb all at one visit. Generally
HOA boards choose to replace light bulbs as needed basis.

DawnL6 (South Carolina)
Posts: 226

Posted:

The bulbs were for front outside,but not directly to our unit.

They are in the common areas,and maint installed.
Thanks for your kind comment,as you know,their is some smart assessment on here,that you will have to ignore.
They'll troll on

LOL

CathyA3 (Ohio)
Posts: 6,299

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By DeanJ on 09/14/2024 3:51 PM

Posted By CathyA3 on 09/14/2024 12:07 PM
Frankly, light bulbs are chump change. Condo associations can and do pass charges on to homeowners. Our bylaws (yes, bylaws) give us discretion over whether or not to include utilities such as trash collection in our assessments. The previous board decided that too few owners were recycling (*), so they passed those charges to the owners in order to save a few bucks.

(* Incorrectly, as it turns out, but that's another discussion.)

And if that frosts your berries, consider this. Many condo boards are discussing raising the deductible on our master insurance policy in order to deal with the problems in the insurance market. This helps keep premiums down. It also discourages filing many small claims, which can result in an insurer dumping the association altogether. But here's the thing: unit owners' HO6 policies are written so that there are no gaps or overlaps when put together with the master policy. If the association raises the deductible, the owners' HO6 policy has to pick that up (because owners pay the association deductible if their is a claim). That's a few more bucks than some light bulbs, and the board has complete discretion over whether or not to do this.

If someone who's looking for reasons to gripe about their board, that's something to get charged up about. Won't do any good because that's how insurance works, but that's never stopped anyone.

Cathy,

The board has a duty and is required to follow the declaration, if the board isn’t going to follow rules, why should the homeowners?

Too many boards have what I call cost creep. They set an imaginary / dishonest budgets and then start passing HOA expenses directly to the owners. $40 to change a light bulb on a 100 unit complex is a $4,000 expense the board lied to the homeowners about and in the end the homeowners are paying it anyway.

We don't have any evidence that the board in the original post is not following the declaration. We have no idea what the CC&Rs say, or if they were amended at some point. Or if the board is messing up. As we can see from posts from some of the other condo owners, their communities handle light bulb replacements differently. We need to know how this community is supposed to handle it before we can say it's being mishandled.

The OP is not a disinterested party but does have some mistaken ideas about how condos work. So I take any insinuations of board misconduct with a large grain of salt until we see some solid facts supporting that viewpoint.