unfished home

Started by PhilipB3 • 10 replies • 1212 views

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PhilipB3 (Illinois)
Posts: 2

Posted:

the association that im part of consists of 12 lots. all have been sold and 10 out of the 12 lots have homes on them.
someone bought one of the unfinished lots about 2 years ago from the previous owner.
the covenants state that the owner has one year to complete the home once initial framing has begun. the home must also be a log home or log siding, simular to the other homes with the materials purchased from a specific builder.
the owner of the unfinished lot has gone well over a year since the start of construction. to date he has framed the home and put plywood up. none of the materials have come from the builder.
theres also a large steel shipping container cleary visable from the street. he was asked last year by the board to side it. this still remains to be completed. his association dues are over 6 months late.
the owner of the lot is cleary non compliant.
my questions are what actions should the board be taking to encourage him to come into compliance.

RobertR1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 5,164

Posted:

Phillip, Detail when you mean when you say, "in part your association consists of etc, etc."

Do your 12 lots form an association?

Don't be so quick to past judgement on this new owner. Assuming (a bad pracrice) you have a Board, has the Board made any contact with this owner? How did that go? Do you have any State Law that controls HOA's? Again I am assuming that is what you are.

It could be he run out of money, so do you think you can force him to complete the project or go to jail. I understand perfectly your concerns, but do you all know the whole story? As an owner of a lot he has a vote, just like you, he is an equal and should be given the consideration, in your case, a 1/12 interest.

I would suggest a Board member or two schedule a visit with him and talk about it. Don't put up fences until you know the story.

If, if doesn't cooperate, send a formal letter from the board requesting compliance by a specific date, if he ignores that, have a lawyer send him a formal letter requesting compliance and cite pertinent clauses. Give him a time line. Then take him to court.

PhilipB3 (Illinois)
Posts: 2

Posted:

robert, "putting up fences" has never been the boards intention. we have talked with him about the covenants along with the association dues.
to this date he has not done anything to correct the problems. we then tried sending him a letter. he would not sign for it. the builder had his attorney send him a letter as well.
the owner of the unfinished home reacted by placing an add in the local paper critical of the builder.
there are numerous other things that could prob be brought up too, but again, we feel the most relevant are the home being unfinished and failure to pay dues.
we could pursue legal action, as stated in the covenants, but we feel it is something of last resort.

AnnJ2 (Colorado)
Posts: 120

Posted:

In this economy you can't squeeze money out of someone who does not have it. If all and i mean all efforts to get this owner to comply with the covenants have failed I woudl suggest pursing the collection of the dues through legal means. this will put the lender on notice that their loan is not secured if there is a lender. If not then it might force the owner to take action to retain the property he has obviously started building on.

Just a thought could the owner be in violation of some portion of his purchase agreement that the builder could pursue as breech of contract?

SusanW1 (Michigan)
Posts: 5,202

Posted:

Does your local municpality have any laws about how long a home can be "under construction"?

RobertR1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 5,164

Posted:

Phillip,
Ann has some good reasoning, you seem to have made an effort, but before you do lawyer, get something on record, your Board meeting maybe, that you tried to mediate this with him. Have it somewhere written you tried, who tried and when.

Don't know is this will work, but he has to have a building permit, with town, county, check all these public records out with their departments. Check out county courthouse records of his lot, run his name thru court records for legal involvements. In short, once you exhaust all venues build as strong a record as you can, save you some lawyer bucks. Also ask around and see if there are similar circumstances in your area.

Don't be so defensive, that you react too quickly. You immediately reacted to my "fences" statement and completely ignored some other information I requested. Of course you don't have to answer anything, that is your election

RobertR1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 5,164

Posted:

Susan,
Glad you posted Susan, our postings must have been fighting to see who got posted first.

You won, please feel free to add. I know your advice will be sound. Not quite sure of the situation exactly, but suspect some underlying confusion or past history, we'll see.

MicheleD (Kentucky)
Posts: 4,491

Posted:

I dunno. It's time for legal action in some form.

Either from the developer (am I to understand that there has been no transition or turnover?).

One may not get blood out of a turnip, but a court can compel him to comply, or risk court sanctions.

MaryA1 (Arizona)
Posts: 7,043

Posted:

Phillip,

I agree with those who have suggested it's time to take legal action. If the developer is still in control of the HOA then he will have to take the necessary steps. However, if the HOA has been turned over to the members, then the BOD is resp. If you are still a bit leary about taking legal action at this time, then if your docs permit it, he should be getting violation notices with a penalty attached. This might cause him to wake up a bit. The fact that he won't sign for certified mail is meaningless as long as you have a record of the certaified letter being mailed. Make certain to follow the guidelines for enforcement of CCR violations and collection of delinquent assessments that should be outlined in the CCRs.

KirkW1 (Texas)
Posts: 1,665

Posted:

Hate to rain on the legal proceeding parade but....

1) At least in some areas judges won't look favorably on the requirement to buy house supplies from one builder.

2) Your judge may be quite understanding to the man running out of money.

3) Chances are that you will take a bad situation and make it worse then it is now. For some reason he hasn't proceeded to complete the house. Money is probably a large part of it. Once you start a court proceeding he will have to shift money over to defend himself.

Then consider what you will "win." You will win the ability to foreclose on a property with a half built house. And then the lender for the land will come and foreclose as well. And your house will definitely sit there unfinished for a period of time. In fact, my guess is that it would sit so long that before completion it will need to be torn down first.

MaryA1 (Arizona)
Posts: 7,043

Posted:

Kirk,

I wouldn't suggest the BOD start foreclosure proceedings, only that they send a violation notice with a penalty attached and a statement telling the member he has a right to a hearing with the board. This guy should be talking to the BOD and telling them the reason he hasn't completed construction w/i the period required. Perhaps he is having financial difficulties, or perhaps he's just being stubborn. If the former, then the board can work out a plan for him. If the latter, then they should just proceed with legal action and see what happens.

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