Author Topic: Incompetent HOA management  (Read 1991 times)

hoping2retire35

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Incompetent HOA management
« on: October 20, 2016, 10:06:51 AM »
My rental unit has an hoa that takes care of pretty much all exterior work. they are 30 yo units so we have been doing some updating in the last few years which means fees are $200 a month. Normally I would just pay it monthly since that is simple but because I have been in rapid debt pay down mode I have forgone doing this and just made sure I was current before our yearly meeting. Our last manager would send a late notice at the beginning of each quarter; jan, april, july, oct.

Well it is about that time of year and I have been suspicious of our past and current manager's record keeping and general ability to do their job, sooo, I emailed and asked for a current statement of my balance; $800. which I guess is correct if he is only counting since july....

Morally I would not live with myself for not paying the additional 1600 but in either case others may also be 'current' but really have not paid, which is a problem. I should I best go about presenting this to the board/other property owners?

marty998

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Re: Incompetent HOA management
« Reply #1 on: October 20, 2016, 03:36:49 PM »
We get an annual set of accounts listing the names of every owner and the payments that they have made.

If we do not pay our dues each quarter we enforce late fees and legal debt recovery proceedings.

Depending on the laws of your state, by delaying your contributions to the end of the year you are running the risk of that + credit hits + it means your scheme has less money to pay it's bills on time (insurance, electricity, maintenance etc).

You are in the wrong... Personally I don't believe it is a great idea for you to be going around saying "look how bad the manager is, he can't figure how far behind I am in my payments".

hoping2retire35

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Re: Incompetent HOA management
« Reply #2 on: October 21, 2016, 06:02:45 AM »
They cannot access our credit. There is no mechanism for late fees. It is really not worth pursuing until the amount goes over ~$5,000. Yes I realize it seems hypocritical, but the point remains. At some point someone dropped the ball, we need to figure that out.

I could always send a bigger check and just say I was paying ahead and see if he finally realize that I was actually much more behind. Then maybe just wait until the annual meeting to say anything.
"So we should have collected $xx,xxx, but there are only $6000 in late dues, but for some reason we are actually $xx,xxx-13,000(whatever amount)." I guess the other problem was I am not sure who was to blame for this so I didn't want to come out and just blame him.

How we have been allocating capital expenses has usually been to go to the meeting in late fall and decide how we will allocate the additional revenue (continue to update the siding, upgrade landscape, delay repaving...) So most of the money is spent in the first part of the year. I guess I have lost our HOA some interest though.

You pretty much gave me the reason I was hesitant to go to the board, they would just be pissed I told them I hadn't paid yet instead of paying attention to the greater issue.

Jack

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Re: Incompetent HOA management
« Reply #3 on: October 21, 2016, 07:18:30 AM »
Pay it up to be current (according to your correct records, not theirs), then complain. If they question why you were behind in the first place, whether you tell them the truth about your debt strategy or lie and tell them you had forgotten and just recently happened to notice is up to you.

thedayisbrave

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Re: Incompetent HOA management
« Reply #4 on: October 26, 2016, 09:13:49 PM »
I've never understood why people purposefully refuse to pay the HOA fees or in your case, pay them late as a "strategy."  You do know the HOA can foreclose on your property, right? I wish I had that kind of time to scheme up a way to not pay fees that I knowingly signed up for and then try to point fingers at other people.

hoping2retire35

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Re: Incompetent HOA management
« Reply #5 on: October 27, 2016, 07:45:36 AM »
barring something happening in the next couple of days, i'll be current monday. If something does happen then for sure on the 11th when I get my next paycheck.

FYI, tons of CC debt driving us crazy meant lots of money lost to interest. Mostly 0% now. should be totally gone by this spring. I never enjoyed paying this way but considering our situation I found it necessary.

Several big issues that are not being properly handled so I have been considering nominating myself for the board(done it before, not very enjoyable but necessary) which made this a little more precarious.

 

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