HOA is not resolving property damage issue...

[rikks]

We rent a condo here in Los Angeles and are bound to the HOA rules. A guest of our daughter ran into the gate to the parking lot months ago, and the issue is still not resolved. The HOA refuses to communicate with anyone but the owner of the condo. Charged her over 600 dollars for the gate which we now have to pay. This gets better... The person that caused the damage refuses to pay the full amount and only gave us 350 dollars which we're now looking at recovering in small claims. Better still, the HOA stated that they "may need to replace the gate at some point in the future". It's as if they have an open ticket here. The thing was repaired and works fine. We are very concerned because a replacement would be thousands of dollars. The whole thing is frustrating. The HOA has never contacted the driver of the car that broke the gate which makes no sense to us. Our property manager (who works for the owner of our unit) refuses to help us and forbids us from contacting the owner of the property. It's just aweful. We feel terrorized in a sense, as if the HOA can do whatever it wants and force us to pick up the bill. The incident happened in July and it's very troubling that we've never revieved anything stating that the matter was resolved. One last thing... Our lease was for one year and expired months before the accident happened. Don't know if that makes a difference or not. Finally... what if anything can we do to close the case on this thing?

 

[swalsh411]

I'm not sure exactly what you're looking for here. You can't force them to send you something that says "the matter is resolved". Pay the $600, keep records of the payment, and then if they sue you for more defend yourself. In the meantime. sue the person who caused the damage if you think it's worth it over $250. This is not that big of a deal and you shouldn't let a damaged gate or an HOA "terrorize" you.

 

[FarmerJ]

Treat any attempt to make you pay more than the original repair cost as something they will have to sue for since you have paid the repair cost once you can fairly argue `thats it no more, your not obligated to pay for future repairs, if it was not repaired right the first time its the HOA problem and no longer yours ( they were the ones to arrange for repair, not you ) as far as daughters friend owing you more , keep encouraging her to pay more , even if you sue in small claims theres the deal of getting paid. Your a month to month renter then ?? ok so be it , if you dont want to seek a longer lease again with the PM then dont , there are some advantages of being a month to month renter.

 

[rikks]

I'm not sure exactly what you're looking for here. You can't force them to send you something that says "the matter is resolved". Pay the $600, keep records of the payment, and then if they sue you for more defend yourself. In the meantime. sue the person who caused the damage if you think it's worth it over $250. This is not that big of a deal and you shouldn't let a damaged gate or an HOA "terrorize" you.

Since they included the statement saying that they may need to replace the gate, we've been under the impression (for good reason) that if and when they decide to do that we could be hit with a bill for 7 or 8 grand.

Large rolling gates with sensors, motor drives and track are big bucks.

That's a big deal for us, and we love our place.

Personally, unless there's personal injury involved, I've never seen anything like this before. I mean, it's property. Fix it and it's over.

 

[rikks]

Treat any attempt to make you pay more than the original repair cost as something they will have to sue for since you have paid the repair cost once you can fairly argue `thats it no more, your not obligated to pay for future repairs, if it was not repaired right the first time its the HOA problem and no longer yours ( they were the ones to arrange for repair, not you ) as far as daughters friend owing you more , keep encouraging her to pay more , even if you sue in small claims theres the deal of getting paid. Your a month to month renter then ?? ok so be it , if you dont want to seek a longer lease again with the PM then dont , there are some advantages of being a month to month renter.

Your reply was really helpful. Thank you.

 

[ecmst12]

Why was this not reported as a claim to the driver's insurance company? THEY should have paid for the damage, not you. Certainly if they try to bill you for anything more, you need to direct them to the driver's insurance.