Property Owner wants to donate unit

I am the VP of a rather small homeowners association (16 units) and we are in the midst of trying to find a management company that will manage us. However, we have a situation where a company that owns a unit in our association would like to donate the unit to Habitat for Humanity. Is there a process for us to go through before we sign off on the unit to make sure the monthly dues will be paid on time by the charity? Please help!

I would assume it would be the same as a corporation owning the unit. Naturally, your covenants would dictate whether it could be rented, etc and whoever occupied the unit would be subject to your covenants.

Unless your documents give the HOA the authority to approve buyers, I don't think that the HOA would be involved. This is a title transfer just like any other title transfer. All you can do is require that whoever the current owner is follows the restrictions in your documents.

I wouldn't assume that Habitat for Humanity will in turn donate the unit to a poor family. First Habitat does not donate the homes. They sell them to the new owners with a 0% interest loan. Second, they work hard to ensure that the person is in a position to pay the loan and maintain the property. The whole point is to lift someone up.

It is quite likely that Habitat will in turn sell the property and use the proceeds to help build another house where they are building. At least in this area the various chapters like to build in a given neighborhood thus creating a community of owners in like situation. This has been shown to increase the overall success of the operation.

Regardless, you can not control who owns the unit. You might want to consider waiving transfer fees in support of the charity. Especially if the charity plans to use proceeds to build elsewhere.

I've heard that Habitat for Hummanity is buying up foreclosed homes and selling them to low-income families at reduced rates -- 2% or less. I also heard a home bought this way was just forclosed on for non-payment of assessments. I don't know that they keep up with the owners to insure they are paying the assessments. Actually it's not their responsibility but I do believe they should be careful when selling the home to a low-income family to make certain the family can afford the assessments.