dont belong to HOA but have to pay them

my case is a little diffrent, i dont belong to a HOA but my water
comes from their well, i moved here 6 yrs ago,i was never told i had to
pay a water bill to them until weeks after we closed on our house.my deed shows we have our own well and was told by the real estate lady that we had our own water well, which i found out after we closed that i got my water from a subdivision well, HOA.the people who collected the money for the water bill "was on the board" now retired but still live here,had told me that since there are only 12 homes on the well, paying the bill on a certain date was not a big issue and that a few people had even waited to pay anything until they sold their house. i had paid my water bill when they called and asked for it, which was only
a few times a year. there are a few of us that were told the same thing.
i had not paid that much to the water bill for the past couple years for that reason. now new people from other states have bought homes here and have decieded that the HOA needs to be revamped. Reminder there has never been "meetings" no booklets no contracts nothing for the 6 yrs i have lived here.
i never sighned a contract given any type of booklet given any type of information before during or after moving here.
now the 'new board members' are telling me that i have to bring all my past due payments in full or they will put a lean against my property send me to collections or cut my water off and force me to drill a well.one of the board members sent me a 'coupon in the mail saying the water bill is now 80.00 a month no longer 40.00.
i need to find out what kind of protection i have and figure out if they can put a lean against my property. Please help me.

She says in her original post that she was told and understood that she has her "own well" - not getting water from the community well. Yet, she gets a water bill from the HOA. So this is very confusing . . .

Someone (BOTH realtors) dropped the ball in not advising the home purchaser that there would be a water bill and an association that governs the water. That would be standard disclosure.

She needs to read her bill and see WHO is submitting a water bill to her!

ok let me try my best here,
on my deed and on my surveyor's certificate it shows that i have my
own well, i was told before i bought the house i had my own water well.
nothing was ever disclosed at the closing about any HOA.
after we moved in, we meet our neighbors and they told me that we were
hooked up to the HOA's water well but we were not a part of the HOA,and that i would have to pay them 40.00 a month, i kept telling them that my deed and surveyor's say i have my own well.They kept saying back oh no your on the coummity well.
My neighbor/board member had some out buildings on my property and they said as long as they could keep them there they would pay my water bil, i just kinda left it as that, the moved the buildings last year, but none of the 'new board members cares why i haven't paid because it was not in writing and now the neighbors say they never made the agreement. I did sometime pay them (the old neighbor/board member) the 40.00 because i felt it was easer for me to do so instead of fighting it. we dont have any club house or anything like people do in the city, we live in the country we have just water. I HAVE NEVER BEEN SENT A BILL FOR THE WATER,FRM THE OLD MEMBERS OR THE NEW ELECTED MEMEBERS,JUST A DEMAND AND THREATS as of yesterday,there are only 12 homes on the well. I was threatend that my water would be shut off if they did not get some money on the back payments.
i am so upset i dont know where to turn,
i called the court house and they said it would not be listed in my deed anything about HOA.
thank you thank you thank you for ALL YOUR HELP.

for those who have never lived in rural areas, let me help clarify (or confuse). Tara may very well have been told "You have your own well", and she does. But that does NOT mean that is where her water comes from. There could be a well on her property, ready to pump, but not hooked up to any lines. Or, there could simply be a well on her property, with no pump, etc. It is very possible, and likely, that she got a house "with a well", but her water lines were connected to some other source (for whatever reasons.. convenience, nitrates in the well, lack of pump, mud, taste, etc.). I have had two homes with wells, but never used them for personal water source. The previous owners at Tara's may not have either.

The first thing we need here is to trace the source of the water: where does it come from? Her well, or the HOA well?
If from the HOA well, then Tara may be up a creek regards to payments. If she used the service, the court will find her liable for the charges, regardless of proper billing, etc. by the HOA. Tara, you may get a reduction in the amount, but likely, if you get water from the HOA, you will owe them money.

I live in a sub that has a artisan community well. We (all 250 homes0 have water lines that come into our yard, where there is a hook-up valve and we are responsible for all pipes from there on, plus inside the house. And if we don't pay our bill, the water can be shut off by the HOA. We also take care of the beach, roads, 12 bridges, community center, outlots and community gardens.

BUT . . . I get an official invoice every year from the HOA Secretary. There is a Board and it meets monthly. I can go to the meetings, if I want, and speak at the Community Input portion of the Board meeting. There are Annual Members meeting where elections take place. We are all given the bylaws.

Tara needs to backtrack and find out more information. She should be very clear on WHO is billing her, and what the powers of the HOA are, and how she can approach the Board. No judge in the world would make her pay a "verbal" bill. WHO is going to place the lein on her home if she does not pay?

Tara:

It not only sounds like the Realtor mislead you but where was your closing attorney during all of this. Upon closing full disclosure should be given. Nonetheless, if a service is provided by and through the HOA not only can they lien but if necessary and if they have the capability they can turn the water service off to your home for non-payment.

Check with your closing attorney & your state laws as well. Good luck to you.

what kind of lawyer would i contact to find out my righs?

Tara - most likely you are "automatically a member" because you receive the water!

Ask for the bylaws. They must be organized somehow, either with the state or with your local municipality, so they have rules and you should have them.

Insist on paper invoices written on the HOA's official stationery. You deserve a written bill!! Tell them your lawyer advised you to get a bill that clearly states the days you have paid for. ANY time you give them money, get a receipt.

You need a good real estate lawyer to help you out with this. You were mis-led on your purchase of this home. Look in the yellow pages for a lawyer, but be sure it is a real estate lawyer.

Good luck.

WOW WHAT HELP I AM GETTING HERE
THANK YOU ALL AND EVERYONE
I just have one more question tho,
what is CC&R?
I know this is no laughing matter but i find it kinda funny
that i have never meet any of my 'neighbors'/HOA members or anything ever
before, there is only one person who i have had contact with and he is the one who is threating me.
we all have acerage between us, i have 15.5 acers between me & my hat'en
neighbor!!!
I have to say that at the start when my neighbor told me i was on the community
water, i was pissed, thinking that i was mislead by someone, but what was i to do?
i don't mind paying any and all parts of my bill, i just dont want to be harrassed and threatened using 'their' HOA rules and regulations.

all your help is deeply appreacated.
thank you all again.
i will call my local court house tomorrow and try to find out about the bylaws.
update tomorrow, stay tuned LOL

This is the response i got when i asked why i was sent a coupon book saying it was for homeowner dues,being i had never before received a bill or nothing ever, and i said that i had been told over and over again by him and everyone else i didn't belong to their HOA. I had snt back an email saying he didnt have to be so rude.

from one of the board members that just moved here 2 yrs ago from a near by
big city.

It's sad that one has to piss people off to get them to pay attention and get involved. I could care less about professionalism and all that happy horse shit. I care about getting everyone to our Association meetings and getting this water district re-organized and compliant. If anyone has a problem with it, they can attend meetings, have their say, and have their vote.

We all have known from day one that dues pay for water. We have records to show that you guys know this, because you used to pay your water bill (dues). The association raised dues from $40.00 to $80.00 at the last meeting. You owe $40/month for January, February, & March 2008. April begins the increase to $80/month. You guys also owe for all of 2007 ($480.00) and part of 2006. We will let you know as soon as we are able to update the books.

We need to see this so-called contract about paying for water whenever you guys sell your property. Should you choose not to attend any meetings, then you only hurt yourselves and remove your voice and vote from the process. This could leave you guys drilling your own well in the near future. We do not want you to have to do that. You guys owe a lot of back water payments. We are in the process of determining how much and will send you a bill. Should you decide not to address that issue, we will have no choice but to take further action, i.e. collections, leans on your personal property, etc.

Time to start investigating your own well, the water quality and how much to get hooked up to it. Could be alot less headache than being at the whim of people like the board member who sent that email. Also check into who owns the water rights in the area if applicable. You may have your own well but if they own the water rights that may be why the previous owners hooked up to their well instead.