Dockside Chat - Home Owners Association

Ok, I have had this lot in a neighborhood for approx ten years. Pre-Katrina it was a very nice neighborhood, but after Katrina happened the regulations were flipped around completely and the neighborhood isn't what it used to be. Houses had to be built 15ft off the ground, so I decided to not build a house there due to the crazy regulations.. Currently theres only about 5-10 houses max in the whole neighborhood, and about 50 vacant lots.
When I bought the lot, the previous owner of the lot did not tell me there was HOA in the neighborhood etc..... then about 5 months ago, after 10 years of ownership I get slapped in the face with a $3500 bill and a court notice. Well, I went to court because I thought some of the charges were unreasonable. Out come was I had to pay the $3500. To let you know what charges I thought were unreasonable was charges such as gate fees, they had a $28,000 yearly gate maintenance charge for the entire neighborhood. The gate does not have an attendant, nor does it work half of the time. They said lighting costs monthly was ~500$, and the last time I was in the neighborhood, there weren't even really any street lights. I don't know how lighting could cost so much when I figured the owners paid for light posts in their yard. My current house i have a street light post put up, and I pay 30$ to the power company monthly for that street light that's in front of my house. Today I got slapped in the face with another HOA bill that is $500. Well over and all I'm sick of these outrageous HOA bills for a neighborhood that I don't even live in. What do you guys suggest I do?? I've had the property for sale for about two years with no buyers.....

Does it list the HOA restrictions on your deed?

Lower your price?
I hate HOA's too!

Disclosure should have let you know there was a HOA. If the previous owner omitted that, they may be culpable. As far as what's happening, document, document, document. Write certified letters to the company that administrates the HOA(or the president of the HOA if there is no such company)about the landscape and street lights, along with the gate not working. If you can document it and have all this in hand, it will help if you go to court again. Sounds like there's good reason no one is buying houses there....a $28K gate maintenance fee? That's freaking rediculous.

If you want to fight it, you have to band together with your neighbors and replace the HOA Board of Directors, whoever that is. You should be able to demand the property owner mailing list from the management company. If they resist use land records. Contact each owner and get an email address. Use email to band together. You have the right to inspect the books for the HOA which should be a good first step. You should also verify the Board was properly elected, and is not scamming people.

If you don't want to fight it, you may be able to abandon the property with a quit claim deed to the HOA or stop paying taxes and let it go to tax sale.

Ask for proff of charges. They should send you copies of all the bills!

You know, after reading this -- and a few of the other threads lately -- about HOAs and such, you, as i did, can know that these "associations" are just more bad than good. Yeah -- ok, you won't get Harry-homeowner leaving his horrible boat in the driveway or some such petty crap... but in the end you have a group of people, with little (if any) training operating the neighborhood you call home. Often the biggest investment people make.

This only goes to reaffirm my position that HOAs are not and will never be for me.

so in 10 years you never had to pay any HOA fee's?

... What do you guys suggest I do?? .....

Hire a lawyer.

Hire a lawyer.

And then learn, "It will cost you more to fight this" followed up by, "It will cost you more to be right".

Take it from me... the only likely way is if you band together with other like-minded people. They are fighting you with your own money.

Several officers of Homeowners Associations have been charged with theft and fraud for fasley obtaining fees from property owners for personal gain. This seems to be more and more common. I would also have a little chat with the local district Attorney and see what they have to say. HOA should be properly disclosed at point of sale and listed in the Realtors listing descriptions. If not, there was an effort to hide that fact. Sometimes property owners find themselves on the short end of the desl and need to get out at any cost. Not everyone is fond of HOA terms and avoid them in a search for real estate, (much like a swimming pool) not for everyone.

Ok guys, thank you all for the responses. Upon signing for the property years back, the realtor and the previous owner did not tell us that there was hoa. After losing the court case, I looked at the lot deeds and there is HOA listed, but only at a $10 a month fee. This current president is trying to charge me $500++ per year. After all the years of owning the property I have never received a single bill/invoice from them. If I recieved an invoice of some sort that told me I owe them XXX amount for HOA fees, sure I would have paid it, but I never did receive one. I'm a small business owner and much of you guys know what the routine is..... getting up at 4;30am, not getting home till dark 7 days a week so I don't have much free time. But tomorrow I'm going to be making a call to the local DA to see what he can do about these insane charges. I will also be contacting the current HOA president to get mailing addresses of other lot owners in the neighborhood to try to vote this guy off his power trip, cause clearly the deed only states $10 a month. Another thing that is funny to me is the current president of the HOA committee owns CAR STEALERSHIPS, now isn't that something??

You might want to get a copy of the by-laws, etc.

Ok guys, thank you all for the responses. Upon signing for the property years back, the realtor and the previous owner did not tell us that there was hoa. After losing the court case, I looked at the lot deeds and there is HOA listed, but only at a $10 a month fee. This current president is trying to charge me $500++ per year. After all the years of owning the property I have never received a single bill/invoice from them. If I recieved an invoice of some sort that told me I owe them XXX amount for HOA fees, sure I would have paid it, but I never did receive one. I'm a small business owner and much of you guys know what the routine is..... getting up at 4;30am, not getting home till dark 7 days a week so I don't have much free time. But tomorrow I'm going to be making a call to the local DA to see what he can do about these insane charges. I will also be contacting the current HOA president to get mailing addresses of other lot owners in the neighborhood to try to vote this guy off his power trip, cause clearly the deed only states $10 a month. Another thing that is funny to me is the current president of the HOA committee owns CAR STEALERSHIPS, now isn't that something??


As the President to produce records that he was elected in accordance with the Bylaws. There should be a Board, not just a President. Sometimes HOA's become dormant for years. Then some jackass on a power trip comes along and attempts to re-activate them by appointing himself. Most HOA's require an annual meeting. If one has not been held and owners not notified, that could be a problem.