HOA NOT ACTIVE

I bought a house in 2006 that I was never told had a HOA I did not hear from anyone or learn of one for almost 16 months after moving in. Then while replacing a fence that had been hanging my very few nails and just plain ugly a person pulled up and asked if we had gotten permission to put this fence up. We had moved it to the edge of our full property instead of half cutting of our blackberries from pass byers. We informed this stranger that yes since we are on a corner lot we had contact the city to make sure what we was allowed to put up and that would not disrupt the site of drivers. That is when we found out about this HOA. We was given some directions on how and what we needed to do right away or we would be in trouble. A bit confused we started talking to neighbors about this HOA that we had not heard from or seen or been told about and found that it was an inactive HOA that they had not heard from, there was some that did know of them but stated for about three years it had been inactive, we found out about DUES at one of our neighbors and was told there was dues but no one ever got billed so most thought they had been done away with also. Within two months of meeting this stranger we was mailed a hearing about our fence demanded to go to a meeting. This is where we found out about a month before we put up the fence the old Management company that was handling this HOA was replaced with another Management company and not only did we need approval for our fence we also owed a very very large amount of money for past dues, it was stated then that things was going to start being active again. I contact the Realstate agent we bought the house from and that company is no longer around. With no billing or any word for 16 months my question is can they force us the homeowners these dues that no one knew of?

I would not pay any bill that was not generated by the official Treasurer or Agent of the HOA.

Let the burden of proof be on them.

In the meantime, contact your state Attorney General or the office that handles not-for-profits and let them know what's going on.

The liability here is immense and you need to protect yourself. Either this HOA exists or not, but you are not responsible for its bills if it does not.

I think I would canvas my neighborhood and make a list of names of all folks who had not been told about the HOA. Also ir appears you are under some restriction of a city or county regards your re-location of the fence. Pay that office a visit and see what they say and get names of people you talk to. If there is a city council involved, contact them.

I suspect you will open a can of worms or re-opem to be more proper.

Keep good records and when you know more, call a meeting of the folks that are presently being asked to pay arrears. Keep good records. Hard to guess, but I suspect you are going to find behind all this is your Home Owners Board of Directors. You need to protect yourselve and the more people support the better for you. You have a interesting experience ahead of you, so keep records, and marshall your troops.

MaryN,

Your comments here and other posts are well presented and considered. A new "face" blending in the mix around here is always welcome. We pretty much go along independently adding our opinions and at times get to the edge of the earth discussing some subject or other, usually a different subject than the initial post. You seem knowledgeable and IMHO (as we always admit) it is good you have decided to help. I hope you find it interesting and remember to always agree with me, unless you don't feel I am right.