HOA responsibilities--what happens when not met?

[essbeeSF]

My mother has a condo in Bellingham, Washington. The association is small (only 10 units) and the HOA gets a lot of stuff done by members, like landscaping, to save money. However, we recently got a home inspection done and the inspector found a bunch of stuff that's the association's responsibility that they're not willing to do...at least, according to my mom. These are fairly major things, like fixing a leak in the roof and replacing rotted boards in her deck, as well as smaller things like trimming vegetation and painting exterior doors. My mother is the board Treasurer and doesn't get along with the President, so it's a pretty unpleasant situation all around and I only get her (probably biased) opinion of what's going on. It doesn't help that nobody on the board, as far as I can tell, has much in the way of interpersonal skills (my mom included).

I'm of a mind to send the HOA a letter, addressed to the President, asking/demanding that the specific items from the inspection be fixed by a given date. Is that reasonable? If we do that, what would be a fair amount of time to provide? And if the association doesn't fix the items by that date, what recourse do we have? Is it permissible to hire the work ourselves and bill the association for it? I didn't see anything in the bylaws or declaration that requires arbitration for disputes, but there's also nothing in there about what happens if the association fails to meet its obligations (no surprise there).

Thanks.
-susan

 

[Dave1952]

Get a copy of the current Declaration of Covenants, Conditions, Restrictions, and Easements (CCRs) and any other Bylaws or Rules. Your mother should be able to get these from the Board's Secretary. Read through and see what the HOA is obligated to do. Also glance through the last few years Board Meeting Minutes to see what the HOA has created precedents of doing.
I think writing a letter is premature, do your homework.

 

[LdiJ]

My mother has a condo in Bellingham, Washington. The association is small (only 10 units) and the HOA gets a lot of stuff done by members, like landscaping, to save money. However, we recently got a home inspection done and the inspector found a bunch of stuff that's the association's responsibility that they're not willing to do...at least, according to my mom. These are fairly major things, like fixing a leak in the roof and replacing rotted boards in her deck, as well as smaller things like trimming vegetation and painting exterior doors. My mother is the board Treasurer and doesn't get along with the President, so it's a pretty unpleasant situation all around and I only get her (probably biased) opinion of what's going on. It doesn't help that nobody on the board, as far as I can tell, has much in the way of interpersonal skills (my mom included).

I'm of a mind to send the HOA a letter, addressed to the President, asking/demanding that the specific items from the inspection be fixed by a given date. Is that reasonable? If we do that, what would be a fair amount of time to provide? And if the association doesn't fix the items by that date, what recourse do we have? Is it permissible to hire the work ourselves and bill the association for it? I didn't see anything in the bylaws or declaration that requires arbitration for disputes, but there's also nothing in there about what happens if the association fails to meet its obligations (no surprise there).

Thanks.
-susan

I also think that you should take a look at the budget for the condo HOA, which I am sure your mother can provide to you. Unless their HOA fees are enormous, a 10 unit HOA is unlikely to have the means to actually handle, financially, the things that you think they should handle. On top of that, major repairs that benefit only one unit, are generally not the responsibility of the HOA.

Roof - if its a five story building with 2 units per floor then obviously the roof would be the responsibility of the HOA, but they might have to issue a special assessment to the 10 units to repair the roof. If each unit has their own roof, then generally that is going to be the responsibility of the individual owners...with other combinations possible.

Decks - those are generally the responsibility of the individual owners.

Doors - those could be the responsibility of the individual owners if the exterior doors are not shared.

Your mother, as the Treasurer, should be well aware of what the HOA can actually do, financially. If she isn't, then she has no business being the Treasurer.

 

[STEPHAN]

Who did the inspection and why?

 

[OK-LL]

You are not a member of the HOA because you are not an owner; therefore, you have no rights and any letter from you would be ignored and rightfully so, and you would have no recourse. If your mom is the HOA Treasurer she is well aware of what the HOA can afford to do, and the process of submitting maintenance requests. She is likely versed on the governing documents (and if she isn't, she should be, to do justice to her position). In small HOAs, it's not unusual to find financial problems because the income base is too small to support the long-term maintenance items, particularly if they haven't been consistently saving up for them (roofing, siding, sidewalks & parking lots).