Minnesota, I recently purchased/built a new home in a large (several thousand homes/many builders) planned community that has 2 associations for everyone. The master association covers everyone, and then each little sub community (based on builder phases basically) has a sub association. I was moving out of a sitituation identical to this that had 2 associtations, so was aware of how it worked, and specifically asked about and looked for it in the contract to make sure I could stomach it.
The contract/purchase agreement I signed had us being part of association M(master) $18 a month and association A(sub association) $24 annually. Even the day of the final walkthrough and closing, another copy of paperwork given to me showed the same thing, but at the time of closing I found out that they screwed up and my sub association dues were now going to be $27 a MONTH, over a 1300% increase.
Why? Because the orginal and subsequent contracts had the fees for phase 1 which had no common area to maintain, and the association I was actually going to be part of had not been formulated yet. Phase 2 apparently had/has approximately a quarter acre of common area to maintain that apperently costs $13,000 a year to water, mow, and manage. (ridiculous, but another issue for someone else to deal with hopefully)
My purchase agreement says we will use the National Arbitration Forum to resolve any conflicts. I don't think I should have to pay anymore than that of phase 1 residents (currently $24 annual), which is what my contract stated/states, for as long as I live here. For that matter, I sort of feel like for the life of the home it should be that way, but realize that may be a bit far. I do feel it will hurt resale somewhat, having to tell someone 27 dollars a month goes to mowing that little patch of land for a half hour every week in the summer.
The builder(large, long established) offered up to pay for 1 years difference. Since we plan on being here 15 years at least, that still leaves at least $4000 dollars unaccounted for outta my pocket book.
A) Am I stuck with arbitration(not really opposed to it, but it's not exactly free either, of course court is probably more)?
B) If I go to arbitration, shouldn't I win without much question? Isn't a contract a contract still?
C) Since they basically violated Minnesota law in regards to Association disclosure statues, is this something I could take to a State agency(Attorney General or something), and possibly get some help?
Thanks for any help.
Please only legal opinions or repsonses of anyone who has experienced a similar situation.
The contract/purchase agreement I signed had us being part of association M(master) $18 a month and association A(sub association) $24 annually. Even the day of the final walkthrough and closing, another copy of paperwork given to me showed the same thing, but at the time of closing I found out that they screwed up and my sub association dues were now going to be $27 a MONTH, over a 1300% increase.
Why? Because the orginal and subsequent contracts had the fees for phase 1 which had no common area to maintain, and the association I was actually going to be part of had not been formulated yet. Phase 2 apparently had/has approximately a quarter acre of common area to maintain that apperently costs $13,000 a year to water, mow, and manage. (ridiculous, but another issue for someone else to deal with hopefully)
My purchase agreement says we will use the National Arbitration Forum to resolve any conflicts. I don't think I should have to pay anymore than that of phase 1 residents (currently $24 annual), which is what my contract stated/states, for as long as I live here. For that matter, I sort of feel like for the life of the home it should be that way, but realize that may be a bit far. I do feel it will hurt resale somewhat, having to tell someone 27 dollars a month goes to mowing that little patch of land for a half hour every week in the summer.
The builder(large, long established) offered up to pay for 1 years difference. Since we plan on being here 15 years at least, that still leaves at least $4000 dollars unaccounted for outta my pocket book.
A) Am I stuck with arbitration(not really opposed to it, but it's not exactly free either, of course court is probably more)?
B) If I go to arbitration, shouldn't I win without much question? Isn't a contract a contract still?
C) Since they basically violated Minnesota law in regards to Association disclosure statues, is this something I could take to a State agency(Attorney General or something), and possibly get some help?
Thanks for any help.
Please only legal opinions or repsonses of anyone who has experienced a similar situation.
