Over Throwing the Board

I live in a very small townhouse community of only 20 homes. We are a self managed HOA. I found out last night from the Secretary of the HOA that 9 homes in the community have not paid thier dues ($130 a month) in almost a year! We are a new complex, just over a year old. When the Builder turned over the HOA to the Owners there was no meeting to elect Officers... we were just all mailed a notice that told us who these people were. Even after this happened there was never a meeting of the residents in the community.

So now, the Secretary shows up on my doorstep in tears, saying that we are close to being out of money, and that she can't get the other Officers of the Board to meet for over 3 months... (I am not a Board member), she is forced to go door to door to those units who are paying their dues to get some help to take some action. The real kicker is, the President of the HOA is 8 months behind on his dues!!!

I am at a loss... is there anything immediate we can do? If your own President isn't paying the dues, does he forfit the job? Or do we have to go through all the proceedures to replace him?

Any advice?

Wendy

Wendy, your Board is not doing their job. I would get up a petition to call a special members meeting in accorance with your By-laws. The purpose would be to consider and vote on removal of each Board member after giving them the opportunity to explain why they are in arrears on their assessments and advise on what actions they have taken to collect delinquent assessments. The petition for a special meeting should also include electing directors to replace any Board members removed for the remainder of their term.

Your Board should adopt Rules and Regulations on delinquent assessments. Following is an example:

Rules and Regulations on Delinquent Assessments

Assessments are delinquent when payment has not been received by the due date. A 10 day grace period is provided for receipt of payment after which the property is assessed a late charge of $10.00 per month.

Assessments may include, but are not limited to, the annual (regular) assessment, special assessments, late charges, interest, fees, fines, attorney fees, collection costs and court costs. All costs related to a delinquent account shall be assessed to the property and paid by the owner. The Declaration (Covenants) establishes that an assessment is a continuing lien upon the property and a personal obligation of the owner.

The annual assessment is determined by the Board of Directors as part of the annual budget. The annual budget is ratified, or vetoed, by homeowners at the annual meeting. If the members veto the budget, then the prior budget, including the annual assessment, remains in effect until a new budget is approved. The annual assessment may be paid on a quarterly basis with payments due on the first day of each quarter beginning January 1st, April 1st, July 1st, and October 1st. Assessment payments shall be applied to the oldest assessment first and progress toward the most recent assessment.

Statements may be provided by mail, e-mail, or coupons as a reminder to homeowners of the amount and due date of a quarterly assessment. Nevertheless, it is the responsibility of the homeowner to remember to pay by the due date even if a statement is not received. An owner may request consideration by the Board of Directors to defer payment due to extenuating circumstances.

An account delinquent over 10 days will be charged $10.00 each month it maintains a balance over $10.00. If a check is returned the account becomes delinquent plus there is a charge of $35.00 for the returned check.

An account delinquent over 70 days shall be provided a warning that a lien will be recorded on the property if payment is not received within 30 days.

An account delinquent over 100 days will have a lien filed with the Douglas County Clerk. The lien amount will include a filing charge of $100.

An account delinquent over 130 days shall be provided a warning that the account will be referred to an attorney for collection if not paid within 30 days.

The Association shall make a good faith effort to resolve disputes first with the Owner. If resolution is not reached the Association stands ready to go to binding Arbitration under the Uniform Arbitration Act. The parties are herein forewarned that if court proceedings are necessary to resolve a dispute, the court shall award to the prevailing party reasonable collection costs, attorney fees, and other costs.

Does your by laws have any articles covering this .If they do your by laws rule .If they are not informing you on things you should know they are in the wrong .First if you have by laws read them 2 or 3 times know where you stand if they are not abiding by your by laws check to see if there is a law saying you can impeach or remove them with a 2 thirds vote .If you want to make a difference run for office. Again i urge you to read your BY LAWS they rule .
George

Thanks everyone for your helpful replies. I am in Georgia. I spent all day Saturday reading our Declaration and ByLaws. It does allow for the removal of Board Members through a complicated process of Voting, appeals, re-voting bla bla bla. But I want to assert that the Board is invalid. According the Declaration the Builder was able to appoint memebers of the Board until 75% of the property was sold to Owners, once that happened, there should have been a meeting to nominate and vote on members - this meeting never happend.

We had an imformal meeting on Sunday with 7 paying families, and we all agreed to call a Special Meeting to address the Boards validity, an audit of the budget, and get answers to what action if any, has been taken to collect payment.

It just sucks that I spent my entire weekend mad!

Cynthia,

There are procdures in our documents on how to collect assesements starting at imposing a late fee of $15 a month, all the way to Forclosing on the home. Problem is, we do not know if anything has been done to attempt to collect the assesments. Since the President and Treasurer are both delinquent on payments, my guess is that not much has been done. Emails and phone calls have been repeatedly ignored by the President of the HOA. I swear this man fell off the earth!