New to Condo life, lost and clueless

BrendaS2,

First and foremost is for you to get a hold of your deed, and governing documents called a POS. or prospectus. Perhaps your closing attorney has a copy, or it should be on file with your county registry of deeds office. The POS should outline everything on election procedures, responsibilities of owners, responsibilities of the HOA BOD, responsibility of Developer while the community was under it's control and oversight.

You state you own a standalone house. Is your home called a "Villa" and detached where all the land around it is considered common area and maintained by a Condominium Association (COA)? Or do you own the land around it, do you have property. Sounds like you are living in an Homeowner's Association (HOA), not Condo. COA's have dwellings that are attached, either stacked units on top of each other, or attached side by side in clusters called buildings. So, for clarification, which one are you in, HOA, or COA?

In an HOA and COA fees are collected to cover the maintenance and replacement costs for what is called the Common Elements. These are things that every one has access to use freely, such as roadways, sidewalks, clubhouse, amenities, street lighting, etc. What are you currently paying, meaning you state $200.00 so what how much of increase is the President suggestion. Developer's often low-ball the budget to entice prospective buyers. Construction costs have risen substantially in the last 3 years so your maintenance fees may or may not be enough to adequately cover the budget.

I don't want to fuel your fire, but the Board cannot deny you access to review association records such as budgets, audits, minutes, agendas from meetings, that kind of stuff. Something of pending or very sensitive legal info may be off limits until resolved.

There are different kinds of Board of Director's (BOD) meetings. Some BOD's are only required to meet once a year for an Annual Meeting. Some meet much more frequently. Those that do may have closed Executive/Workshop meetings, and a monthly Open Meeting. In every association I know of, when a BOD votes the meeting must be duly noticed to the community with an agenda. Those are called Open Meetings of the BOD. No votes can occur behind closed doors in Exec/Wrkshp meetings. Not sure how it works in your state, or in your association. You're going to have to do some research on that.

Don't be scared, your headed in the right direction. But be prepared to save for a rainy day, get involved/volunteer to form a Financial Committee and get officially appointed by the Board to head that up. You've come to the right place and will get lots of help from HOATalk members.

With 23 completed out of 28, (82%) I got the impression this was a transition meeting since after the board was elected Brenda said: "we had a board, a box full of paperwork and the developer left." Also with these new board members throwing around a dues increase and a special assessment. Doesn't sound like declarant control to me.

Paul and Gerald, she said: a standalone house one of 23 completed out of 28 total. That is more than 75% sounds like that may have been the transitional meeting.

Sounds like she is worried about an increase in dues AND an special assessment to initially build a reserve fund.

RobertR1: As an FYI, and for what its worth, when we purchased in our association it was explained to us that banks or lenders will look seriously at the way the association's funds are being managed. They will especially look at whether special assessments are a common occurrence. If they are continually being levied against members, the bank/lender questions the fact that the Association is not able to manage the annual budget successfully. Better to raise the annual assessment fee by proof of increased expenses, than to levy a special assessment so often they become 'part of the plan' and routine. Might be something for your Board to consider.