HOA NIGHTMARE(Georgia)

I know nothing about Georgia law, but in Kentucky, the role of the developer is generally stated in the by-laws and the Deed Conditions, Covenants, and Restrictions (CC&Rs), or some other similar governing document of the Homeowners Association.

In our case, for example, the developer is not required to ever turn over the HOA to the homeowners until a certain percentage of the development is complete. Off the top of my head I can't remember what that amount was, it may have been like 90 or 95%, something high like that. Sometimes local zoning boards dictated what the earliest a developer can turn over the development.

We managed to negotiate an early turnover for everything EXCEPT new building construction approval/control, so we were up and running as a board and self-managed HOA way earlier than normal. But that is certainly not always the case.

Part of the problem is that the developer has certain bonds tied up in infrastructure, as surety that the roads will be completed when the developer is gone, that sewers are properly built to code and working properly, that way the city or county does have to come in and clean up or pay for a mess a crappy or sloppy developer has left behind.

Since that is $$$ tied up, one would think that a developer would want to be sure the development progresses in a timely fashion to the point where they can finish the roads/sewers, etc, and get there money back.

But, with the economic and construction slow down that has hit the nation, I'm guessing some developers could get hit with unsold and undeveloped lots, slowing that process down considerably. Many have more than one development going on at a time and it's going to get tricky for a lot of them to balance that cash flow to get developments completed.

Hope someone can help you who is more knowledgeable about Georgia laws.

Michelle,

You might want to check your state laws. There may also be time limits on developer control.

For example, here in Connecticut, developer control must end two years after the developer stops building or stops offering units for sale, so it cannot go on indefinitely.

I'm not familiar with Georgia law, so I don't know if your state has something similar or not.

You might be able to Google for your state laws, or you can use the "Library" tab at the top of this page and look for state information about Georgia. You might be able to get to your state laws that way.