AdamR1 (Maryland)
Posts: 1
Posts: 1
Posted:
Good afternoon,
I'm VP of a new construction townhouse and condo (legally all condos) community HOA in Maryland. The community is still in development (a little less than half completely built) and has people living here for a little over a year.
The developer, without notice, and again a year or so after people moved into, decided to pay to have large street lamps installed on our street, 2-3 feet in front of our town houses (which have practically no laws). This is a private road and not required. Previous to the large street lamp each unit had a small lamp post that provided ample illumination.
We're still trying to get a fix on whether or not these posts are a part of the original design plat.
The problem is that these posts are insane. They are putting them 2-3 feet in front of peoples homes and they're the same height as everyone's bedroom windows, forcing these rooms to have a huge lamp post in view during the day or a huge light at night that needs to be covered. The owners who are directly affected by this are very concerned about resale value.
Our HOA is set up very weirdly. Every 4 sets of townhouse buildings and 2 condo buildings makes its own condo association. The president of each of these associations sits on a Master Association board. The developer is currently the president of the master association. The individual condo associations have little/no power and must get everything approved by the Master Association (which has not formed yet since less than half of the condo associations have not been stood up yet, so it's basically the developer unilaterally making decisions).
So, Maryland's Condo Association Act says:
f) Authority of council of unit owners to grant specific easements, etc. – (1) The declaration or bylaws may give the council of unit owners authority to grant easements, rights-of-way, licenses, leases in excess of 1 year, or similar interests affecting the common elements of the condominium if the grant is approved by the affirmative vote of unit owners having 66 2/3 percent or more of the votes, and with the express written consent of the mortgagees holding an interest in those units as to which unit owners vote affirmatively. Any easement, right-of-way, license, or similar interest granted by the council of unit owners under this subsection shall state that the grant was approved by unit owners having at least 66 2/3 percent of the votes, and by the corresponding mortgagees.
Now, if that's the case, then he *should* have gotten permission to do this. We're trying to track down where in the bylaws any extra authority to do stuff is given to the developer, but having read the condo association law it doesn't seem like this sort of clause would be legal?
Of course the developer needs free reign on the land he still owns... but does he have the power to arbitrarily build in areas that have been legally turned over to the HOA as common areas without going through the HOA's process?
Any info you guys can provide would be great, thank you!
Adam
I'm VP of a new construction townhouse and condo (legally all condos) community HOA in Maryland. The community is still in development (a little less than half completely built) and has people living here for a little over a year.
The developer, without notice, and again a year or so after people moved into, decided to pay to have large street lamps installed on our street, 2-3 feet in front of our town houses (which have practically no laws). This is a private road and not required. Previous to the large street lamp each unit had a small lamp post that provided ample illumination.
We're still trying to get a fix on whether or not these posts are a part of the original design plat.
The problem is that these posts are insane. They are putting them 2-3 feet in front of peoples homes and they're the same height as everyone's bedroom windows, forcing these rooms to have a huge lamp post in view during the day or a huge light at night that needs to be covered. The owners who are directly affected by this are very concerned about resale value.
Our HOA is set up very weirdly. Every 4 sets of townhouse buildings and 2 condo buildings makes its own condo association. The president of each of these associations sits on a Master Association board. The developer is currently the president of the master association. The individual condo associations have little/no power and must get everything approved by the Master Association (which has not formed yet since less than half of the condo associations have not been stood up yet, so it's basically the developer unilaterally making decisions).
So, Maryland's Condo Association Act says:
f) Authority of council of unit owners to grant specific easements, etc. – (1) The declaration or bylaws may give the council of unit owners authority to grant easements, rights-of-way, licenses, leases in excess of 1 year, or similar interests affecting the common elements of the condominium if the grant is approved by the affirmative vote of unit owners having 66 2/3 percent or more of the votes, and with the express written consent of the mortgagees holding an interest in those units as to which unit owners vote affirmatively. Any easement, right-of-way, license, or similar interest granted by the council of unit owners under this subsection shall state that the grant was approved by unit owners having at least 66 2/3 percent of the votes, and by the corresponding mortgagees.
Now, if that's the case, then he *should* have gotten permission to do this. We're trying to track down where in the bylaws any extra authority to do stuff is given to the developer, but having read the condo association law it doesn't seem like this sort of clause would be legal?
Of course the developer needs free reign on the land he still owns... but does he have the power to arbitrarily build in areas that have been legally turned over to the HOA as common areas without going through the HOA's process?
Any info you guys can provide would be great, thank you!
Adam