Tag: Association
Not all information needs to be shared
Sebastian F. I live in a townhome in a community burdened with repairs that have lead to several special assessments. Although we have a lot going on in our community, neither our management company nor our board of directors share important community information with the homeowners. It seems that the community newsletter or the association website would be great places
HOAs must maintain common areas
J. Russo: I received a violation letter from my HOA for installing holiday decorations at my townhome. Now they are telling me if I don’t take down the decorations they are going to fine me and have them removed. Can an HOA keep homeowners from installing holiday decorations and do they have the right to remove them from my property?
Rules should be uniformly enforced
I received a violation letter and a $50 fine from my association for parking my jet ski trailer in my driveway. The violation letter states that the trailer is not an “approved vehicle” and could not be “stored” in my driveway. This violation and fine is the first I am hearing of this rule. I also have reviewed our association
How to select a competent vendor
Kevin H. I recently joined the board of directors for my condominium association after we were billed a large special assessment resulting from crooked and/or incompetent vendors. Now, it seems that another special assessment may be necessary to repair the damage to the buildings caused by these vendors. What can our HOA do next time before selecting a vendor so
Vendor fee is not standard practice
Cindy M. I am a board member at my association and I received a call from one of our vendors that we have had for nearly 10 years informing me that the management company started charging an annual fee to verify their insurance and license so that they may become a “preferred vendor.” They were told that once they paid
Can homeowners associations stop noisy retailers?
I live in a community adjacent to a small commercial center with several retailers, including a dry cleaner and several restaurants. The dry cleaner is a fairly new tenant and the noise of the machines creates a nuisance during daytime hours. One of the restaurants has a bar that is open really late on the weekends, creating a nuisance at
Tips to increase your HOA value
There is obviously very little I can do about the recession and depreciating home values, but are there things that I could be doing, or our neighborhood can do to increase the value or appeal of our community? How can we set ourselves apart from all of the other communities through the valley? David B. Home values are on everyone’s
How to find the right managers for your HOA
Dr. HOA, After nearly seven years with our current management company, our HOA is in the process of looking for a new company. It seems like many of the companies offer the same services. Do you have any advice on what we should be looking for and how to differentiate one company from another? We want to make sure the
My HOA needs some help with its pool security
DR. HOA, On Memorial Day weekend, there was an incident at our community’s pool: Two adult men who were blatantly intoxicated got into a fist fight, and the police had to be called to break it up. Our association’s answer was to hire full-time security to harass residents who use the pool by checking identification to make sure we live
A Question of HOA Legitimacy
Dr. HOA, I am trying to find out what the law requires for an HOA to be legitimate. I live in a very small community where the HOA does practically nothing, but demands $85 per month. We are having a lot of vandalism issues, and they do nothing to help fix the problem. I don’t even think this HOA is
As Featured In:
