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trustees, hoa out of control

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rdking1

Junior Member
What is the name of your state?Maryland.
At our annual hoa meeting in may the hot topic of our roads was front and center. None of the appr. 3 miles of roads owned by the homeowners are paved.
A proposal from a paving contractor to have certain areas paved was also discussed. We quickly realized that we would not have enough money to do any paving. It was decided at this meeting to try a different type of gravel in selected areas to see if it would hold up any longer than what we had used before. Then we also decided to meet later in the summer to discuss the findings. The work was done around the end of May. In August the president was notified and asked when we would have the meeting. To which he replied, he did not think it was needed. Now end of september, the hoa presidents driveway gets paved by the same contractor that HE, had give us an estimate for our roads. Two days later a letter shows up in our mailboxes from the local post office informing us that if the roads were not repaired they would not be able to deliver the mail any longer(the president and her are on a first name basis). Now a call is put out by the trustees to have a special meeting to discuss a "special asssesment" for road paving. Much less than half of the property owners showed up at the meeting! Sparing all the details, it was decided by the folks at the meeting to make the assessment voluntary. The amount was $400 per property owner. We would need 50 of the 76 different owners to pay the assessment. The president said his contractor would do the work for $20,000. It was decided to get one or two more bids. Also decided on at the meeting was, if we did not get enough money from the assessment there would be no paving. We had appr. $9500 in the hoa from normal yearly dues, it was decided at the meeting not to touch this money because of a small bridge we have that is in danger of collapse and repairs will have to be made soon. Also there is the matter of snow removal and other road maintenace. Well last night we get home and there is a sign up informing us paving will begin tomorrow. So we are shocked, since I know for a fact we did not collect enough money. Guess where the difference is coming from? $6800 from hoa dues, leaving us with $2700. I get on the phone, who approved this? The president signed the proposal on Sunday. Guess which company we are going with? I talk to three other "trustees", have any of you guys or ladie seen the proposals or any type of warranty information. Nope! Where is the president? He had to go to the hospital and we can't get in touch with him to find out where the estimates are. Call from contractor on Monday that he will be starting Tuesday at 8:00am. He will need half the money now and payoff when its complete. No trustees had the guts or interest to tell him to hold off a couple of days. so as i write this the work has started. What can i do, is there legal recourse or should i just sell my house and get out before my head explodes! Thanks, sorry for the length of this
 


seniorjudge

Senior Member
rdking1 said:
What is the name of your state?Maryland.
At our annual hoa meeting in may the hot topic of our roads was front and center. None of the appr. 3 miles of roads owned by the homeowners are paved.
A proposal from a paving contractor to have certain areas paved was also discussed. We quickly realized that we would not have enough money to do any paving. It was decided at this meeting to try a different type of gravel in selected areas to see if it would hold up any longer than what we had used before. Then we also decided to meet later in the summer to discuss the findings. The work was done around the end of May. In August the president was notified and asked when we would have the meeting. To which he replied, he did not think it was needed. Now end of september, the hoa presidents driveway gets paved by the same contractor that HE, had give us an estimate for our roads. Two days later a letter shows up in our mailboxes from the local post office informing us that if the roads were not repaired they would not be able to deliver the mail any longer(the president and her are on a first name basis). Now a call is put out by the trustees to have a special meeting to discuss a "special asssesment" for road paving. Much less than half of the property owners showed up at the meeting! Sparing all the details, it was decided by the folks at the meeting to make the assessment voluntary. The amount was $400 per property owner. We would need 50 of the 76 different owners to pay the assessment. The president said his contractor would do the work for $20,000. It was decided to get one or two more bids. Also decided on at the meeting was, if we did not get enough money from the assessment there would be no paving. We had appr. $9500 in the hoa from normal yearly dues, it was decided at the meeting not to touch this money because of a small bridge we have that is in danger of collapse and repairs will have to be made soon. Also there is the matter of snow removal and other road maintenace. Well last night we get home and there is a sign up informing us paving will begin tomorrow. So we are shocked, since I know for a fact we did not collect enough money. Guess where the difference is coming from? $6800 from hoa dues, leaving us with $2700. I get on the phone, who approved this? The president signed the proposal on Sunday. Guess which company we are going with? I talk to three other "trustees", have any of you guys or ladie seen the proposals or any type of warranty information. Nope! Where is the president? He had to go to the hospital and we can't get in touch with him to find out where the estimates are. Call from contractor on Monday that he will be starting Tuesday at 8:00am. He will need half the money now and payoff when its complete. No trustees had the guts or interest to tell him to hold off a couple of days. so as i write this the work has started. What can i do, is there legal recourse or should i just sell my house and get out before my head explodes! Thanks, sorry for the length of this

Standard answer on HOAs:

There are thousands of posts similar to yours here.

My advice: Run for the board. Political power is great.
 

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