Dealing with a bad HOA
Having a Homeowner's Association can be a great experience for some groups. The reason for this is that Homeowner's Associations provide services to the community that you would otherwise need to do for yourself. The services that they provide can be a great ease off your back. For example, most Homeowner's Associations provide snow removal in the winter, which means that you as a resident do not have to worry about removing snow during the winter. This means no more getting up early to shovel the sidewalk and clear out the driveway before you can leave for work. Homeowner's Associations can also provide landscaping for the common areas. In order to provide these services your homeowner's association charges all of the residents a monthly fee, which is called dues. All of these dues go towards paying for the services that the homeowner's association provides, but the money also goes towards the upkeep of the common grounds, such as tennis courts or swimming pools.
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However, even though the intent of a homeowner's association is good this does not always happen. In some cases, as a resident you might get a homeowner's association that is bad. What happens in these cases is that the board of the homeowner's association is supposed to provide all of these services for the residents, but they do not care about providing the services or they have hired a property management company to handle the services. No matter what the case with a bad homeowner's association the services that are supposed to be provided are not being provided, this makes the residents feel that they are spending this money each month in vain.
One of the main reasons that homeowner's association boards can get so bad and out of control is because the board has the complete power to do what they want. This means that if the board does not like what is going on they can rewrite the laws to suit their needs. In most cases, the board is going to need to get homeowners approval before they can change the bylaws, majority of the homeowners have to agree to the changes before they can be made. However, because the board needs to be able to run the show there are things that they can do to make the changes necessary that even if the homeowners don't agree with those changes. Even though the board has the power to make changes without the homeowners, approval this does not mean doing that is going to be acceptable. In many cases, boards that are making these unilateral decisions are doing so because they are power hungry and do not care what is best for the homeowners. All that they care about is doing the things that they want to do when they want to do it.
If you have a board that is considered power hungry, there are a few things that you can do to make some major changes. One of the things that you can do is write your complaints down and submit them to the board in writing. Although this does not guarantee that the changes will be made, it does help to voice your opinion about how things are going and what you would like to see happen. You can also attend board meetings where if the board allows you to speak you can talk about what you do not like and what you think should be changed.
Chances are that writing a letter or attending board meetings is not going to make much of a difference. The last option that you have is when it comes time to elect a new board you can run for one of the positions. Being on the board will allow you to help make the changes that you see best for the entire community. It will also show that you are determined to make your voice heard. All too often people complain about what is going on, but they do not take any steps to help remedy the situation.
