Reluctant volunteer positions?

Our declarant has been bobbling the ball since sept 08 and has most recently dropped it. Late bills, non-payments, possibly no reserves...They assumed management responsibility duties in 08 and it's speculated that they have not done much in terms of responsibly managing the property and our funds. I speculate because we really have no idea what's going on. We've been trying to gain access to our info for quite some time. The only valuable information we get is directly from our service providers(lawn care, trash, utilities...)

We're a group of 9 owners (with no board representation) and I saw that another just moved in this past weekend. So up to 10 on a 14 unit, partial condo development. There's a potential for 22 according to our documents. Since about may 09 my wife and I have sort of rallied the owners to make it easier to share information and disseminate what each other learns and knows in relation to our association which is in other's hands. That's been great! We know all but the most recent neighbor. We have, I feel, a pretty good relationship with all the neighbors. The snafu is, they see us as leaders of the association. They automatically come to us for everything. Well, we have no board of directors and really have no idea who our new declarant is so it seems natural for them to hold us in some sort of leadership role since we took the initiative when we discovered things had gone sour. Did I mention that the original developer/declarant recently assigned their rights to a new entity? They appeared to just brush their hands of the situation and their development. Kinda scary. Through our legal representative, we've been assured that this new entity has all intentions of setting up a meeting with the owners. (Our first association meeting since the first conveyance, over 5 years ago. We're not holding our breath.) The intention is to give the owners access to association financials and perhaps to elect board members. The idea of continuing as a volunteer knowing there is a messy situation at about to get more messy takes the appeal away from living in this development.

I guess I don't know what the question is that I would ask here. My wife and I have discussed this several times and although we like the area and the home itself, we have no desire to spend half the time we have been spending trying to deal with this mess with a severe lack of resources. It's really quite stressful. Sleepless nights, stressful evenings, lack of productivity at work...If this mess went away and we could just send our dues in every month and occasionally attend a meeting, we'd be set.
I see some threads on here that paint a far worse picture than what we're experiencing so that kind of helped put our situation in to perspective but this isn't why we moved here. We moved here because everything seemed fine at the time and we liked the idea of not having to provide services on our own to our property.

I apologize if this seems vague. I could explain everything but I try to throttle back on how much time I stick in to this mess. If anybody has ideas about how to address the volunteer issue with such a small group yet maintain the great relationship we have, that'd be great.
As far as the situation we're in...ugh! Sorry to those that are worse off that we are.

John in MN

I am trying to envision 10 units of a 14 unit partial condo. Are all the units' built or are there still some under construction? Sounds like your former declarant went belly-up so I wouldn't count on there being any reserves. My guess would be that "the association fund" is broke. Since you have contact with all homeowners and many vendors getting a picture of income (homeowners dues) versus expenses should not be too difficult unles some homeowners are not paying and not telling you.When did this new declarant take over? I know you would just like to sell and get out at this point but it may be a hard sell all things considered. And I don't know about everywhere but where I live all condos require a resale certificate be given to the buyer before the sale is final that includes financial information. Maybe that would be a way to get it. Ask for a resale certificate.

Helen,
This is a good idea if it works Helen. From what has been posted there seems to be no where or no one to direct any correspondence to. Not that should keep you from trying but as the written act is bound to mean something at showdown time if this "whoever" has no organization in place to conduct association business. I would believe that is a requirement to run a business or in this case a corporation. It is hard to imagine a developer would put himself on the line and not carry out his responsibilities and these people, it seems to me could come back on him for all kinds of stuff. What would they do if the terms of purchase and any warranties were violated? Someone has their neck out it appears to me. IMHO

I also know that we have to file every year with the secretary of state as a nonprofit corp They ask who is filing this info its called registerer or something I have listed me as this person and a lot of times I am contacted through this by various entities from mortgage companies forclosing to even the police dept. I don't know if this applies to this particular situatuion being still under declarant or if the new declarant is just to recent to have that filed

The vague parts seemed to become apparent.

The legal rep is ours. He's pro bono but has been instrumental in escalating our issue to the next step; beyond what we could do by ourselves. He's only on the line to assist us in gaining owner control of the association. Unfortunately, he was unable to get the original declarant to budge. We had several letters sent to the original declarant demanding action in accordance to our documents to no avail. They have done nothing. Many, many blantant violations of our documents and the state statutes. However, our rep is not signed on under this pro bono work to deal with those violations.
He's our face to the, now new, declarant, who took the reigns less than a month ago. Nobody has heard much of or from the new guy. The only thing we know is that he's named as a former partner with the declarant when the development was formed back in 2003.

By partial development I mean that there are 14 units built in 2 buildings. Townhome style condo. There's a possibility of another set of buildings to be constructed according to the plat. I may have been wrong on 22. It's probably more like 26.

We're more than interested in seeing what the newest owner has as far as documentation and intend to find out. He just moved in, though, and appears to still have a garage full of boxes. If I just moved in, I wouldn't want to be bombarded by the neighbors with this stuff just yet.

We're fairly confident our reserves are gone. (If we've learned anything about the original declarant, it's that they avoid dealing with requests for information when that information is negative.) More reason for us to back out of an official volunteer position. Why take that on with such a small group when/if we ever become an owner board? What happens if we have to double the dues payment? I can see the relationships with us and the neighbors and among the neighbors become volatile.

The neighbors have been great in standing behind us and each other when something needs to be done. I agree, though, making decisions has been more than difficult when, for one, we're very inexperienced and, two, not in a position to make decisions that could affect association funds. Any nobody wants to go out of pocket for any of this which is understandable.

The problem with trying to get all correspondence to one place is that there are several service providers who refuse to give us information since we don't know the account number. As mentioned previously, gaining info from the original declarant hasn't worked. We have found that requiring the declarant to provide something...anything...means nothing to them. They simply have not budged. They have definitely put themselves out on the line and exposed their intentions?/shortfalls. We have plenty of documentation to escalate again but at what cost? Is it worth throwing more money in to a pit, or absorb any losses and start from scratch?

Thanks everybody! My time is up for now.

I was trying to briefly(roughly) explain the situation behind my initial request. I simply cannot share everything right now. When I do people automatically jump to "why not get on the board?" Well, when you have no way to communicate with the declarant or their representatives, let alone set up a meeting to transfer board powers from them to owners is, dare I say, impossible. How do you enforce CCR's against a declarant who won't respond to direct requests or questions, in accordance with the CCR's, from majority owners, an attorney via certified mail, regular mail, phone, email...

We speculate that there is no reserve fund. Our board was formed and has since comprised of the developer and his wife since the beginning. They have not communicated with us regarding any of our concerns. No meetings in their 5 year reign.

The reason we know services are behind is from contact with the service providers directly.

Our documents clearly state that meeting should be held at a minimum annually with the homeowners regardless of declarants involvement. The declarant/BOD should have minutes of their monthly meetings.

The sales office hasn't been staffed for over a year and the phone number listed to call only leads to voice mail.

To sum it up. There is no owner communication with the original declarant/developer. At any rate, they're currently out of the picture.

The state statutes align quite closely with our association documents. Lawsuits cost money that we may not have. And what would we gain from a tapped out developer? Unless there was criminal activity. I agree in absolute proof and documentation. I believe it's imperative. At this point it's all best guess speculation. Books have not been thrown.

"This is the mindset that far too many board members have which evolves into not wanting to uphold the CCRs restrictions and oftentimes even not wanting to go after delinquencies. These are not the type board members a community needs. The members of an HOA need to realize that the BOD members have a job to do and gov. docs. to uphold. Any actions they take should be in the best interest of the assn and they cannot let friendships get in the way of doing their duty to the assn. If your friends and neighbors cannot understand this, then so be it. If remaining friends with everyone is more important to you, then please do NOT seek a position on the BOD. And, if you're not willing to do your share by volunteering to hold a board position, then please be very careful about the accusations you make regarding how the assn is being run."

That's definitely a way to put it. We're not even to the point of an owner board and we've already become complacent? We're debating whether or not to pursue(or let ourselves be volunteered) a board position. We know that the BOD would need to uphold the documents and have no doubt that it will eventually be done. With all that our association faces, we're not sure we want to be a part of that. Yes it will be challenging and people will get mad.
The accusations/speculations have nothing to do with the current owners. As far as I know, we have done nothing in violation of the documents and will continue to assume that unless a clear, documented, proven violation occurs. The problems all stem from the declarant.

Again, Thank you all for your input. In one way or another, it will prove valuable.

John,

Well, the only thing I can suggest is that IF there is a state agency that regulates developers (in AZ it's the Real Estate Dept) then I would suggest contacting them and seeing what they can do.

As far as having an annual members' meeting, generally that's mostly for the election of board members. And, as for members having the right to see financial statements, well, there may not be any. If the board consists of the developer and his wife and if the assn isn't being maintained properly as you allude to he may not even be bothered with preparing financial statements. Yes, it is true that you most likely have the right to ask to see and/or copy assn records (financial statements included), so make that request, in writing. Then when the developer does not submit the requested records you will have proof that he has violated either state law or the gov docs -- or both.

As you know, while the declarant is in control there really isn't much the members can do except to file a lawsuit IF he is breaking any state law and/or gov doc covenant. If you go that route, make certain you have documented absolute proof (see above para)!

Good luck!