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If the board is violating the by-laws, in this case also Texas Property code, is there a governing agency we can go to, or is the only possible redress in a civil court?
If its local property code you might call your town's code compliance office to discuss. You can also alert the other owners and creat a petition to recall the board members. If you meet petition requirements, there must be a mandatory recall election.
There are several issues, but this is the one we are working on now:
Sec. 81.209. CONDOMINIUM RECORDS. (a) The administrator or board of administration of a condominium regime or a person appointed by the bylaws of the regime shall keep a detailed written account of the receipts and expenditures related to the building and its administration that specifies the expenses incurred by the regime.
(b) The accounts and supporting vouchers of a condominium regime shall be made available to the apartment owners for examination on working days at convenient, established, and publicly announced hours.
If its local property code you might call your town's code compliance office to discuss.
Thank you it is a state code. We don't want to go to court. That is suing ourselves and costs us money both ways.
I feel like in other cases there are at least agencies to call that will bear pressure, if not actually having the authority to redress grievances. For instance, the BBB, AG office for other matters, but neither of those apply to an HOA regime.
I began by emailing our management company, whom we hired, but I would think they bear some responsibility for upholding the law and our by-laws.
What the overall situation is that we have a board of loony toons who have no interest in following any rules. They think they can just get the by-laws changed eventually to suit themselves, and are doing as they please in the mean-time.
I have very good cause to say they are loony toons. There was a long, bitter campaign and their newsletters to us begging us to overturn the prior board said things like New Leadership or Death!
And implied that the prior board ad committed murder of residents who 'spoke out' against them.
The cut off the water to sections where new grass had been laid. After installing locks, they just cut through them to continue to kill the grass. Insane.
Now that they are in charge, they won't water and my inquiries regarding that are met with long diatribes against the former board and how the grass dying is their fault.
But our first concern is our money. They are spending it in ways we don't approve of, and are violating the by-laws and property code by refusing to turn over invoices.
I live in the Houston area, I live in a home and deal with a HOA. I know what you're saying. There is an accounting and yes the HOA here does give a yearly accounting budget .. . But their expenses in some areas are unbelievable. The problem with ours is they manage multiple areas and not just ours. So when I call in a problem I get the main operator for all the areas and it takes her awhile to locate which area I'm calling from, then she consults a map to pinpoint the problem. It's a waste of my time calling in -
I've heard HOA's can steamroll over the residents and ruin the community.
I don't know a way to handle it. Maybe get to know one of the HOA members and bring up your concerns. Attend the board meetings. Write to them.
The problem with HOA's is they can change the rules anytime. They can raise rates. The only way I see out of a bad situation is move. That or sue.
I live in the Houston area, I live in a home and deal with a HOA. I know what you're saying. There is an accounting and yes the HOA here does give a yearly accounting budget .. . But their expenses in some areas are unbelievable. The problem with ours is they manage multiple areas and not just ours. So when I call in a problem I get the main operator for all the areas and it takes her awhile to locate which area I'm calling from, then she consults a map to pinpoint the problem. It's a waste of my time calling in -
I've heard HOA's can steamroll over the residents and ruin the community.
I don't know a way to handle it. Maybe get to know one of the HOA members and bring up your concerns. Attend the board meetings. Write to them.
The problem with HOA's is they can change the rules anytime. They can raise rates. The only way I see out of a bad situation is move. That or sue.
Yeah I don't want to move. The same thing could happen again. I chose carefully here. Asked a lot of people what the board is like before buying. It's been good for 12 years, and then the toons got in. Literally in part due to extortion and more.
Besides moving or suing, 'we' (which is less than half the numbers we need to get a new board) are left with doing what they did, leaving out the bad tactics. We have to convince people they voted for the wrong team and #comeback.
Sadly, in order to do that, we have to let them screw up (not that we could stop them anyway) and then have a lot to show people as to WHY they are a mistake and vote for the sane, competent people.
We lost the battle for the grass. The dead parts are dead. They are going to never stop blaming the prior board, so moving on.
They campaigned on saving us money, but they are doing the opposite. We have a right to itemized expenditures, not just yearly budgets and financials. As stated in the by-laws and in Texas Property code.
It may sound petty, but it all adds up. The prior board sent our head of maintenance to 'pool school' so that he could maintain them properly and cheaply (part of his salary). The new board is spending $50,000/year now on that.
They bought a golf cart, which I do not care about, but I am part of a team, and that is on the list.
They fired the old lawn service and we want to see what the prior contract price was and what the new one is. So on and so forth.
It's important that every expenditure is accounted for, in general, but specifically they are blowing through monies taken in for foundation repair. We had a large special assessment for foundation repair and they are blowing it, when several buildings have not had their repairs yet.
Many people here flat cannot afford the crisis in the making. Ones who can simply do not want to, of course.
There is another thing with the city that is irreversible if they screw it up, but we are starting with money.
Other more active members of the team, including one that was on the prior board and two that were running, ARE already hounding with letters to no avail.
Others are asking what can we do? And the team response is to please inquire after expenditure reports and quote the relevant section of the Texas Property code.
They might think it's cute to deny their 'enemies' but maybe not so much their constituents.
First off I would not use words such as extortion in posts like this. We all make mistakes when we think we are hidden on forums like this. But truth be told, people find things.
Strength in numbers. I was part of a group that took on a HOA in NJ. Ask for people who are concerned like you to give you their contact information, email addresses, telephone numbers. Keep a list. Keep records of all conversations with names and attends, I use spiral notebooks. You are going to need to stay in contact when you or others have news. Keep your group updated and informed and you will most likely see others join. And sometimes out of the blue someone joins or maybe has a relative/friend who is a lawyer or other valuable professional that can give some free advice.
Thank you it is a state code. We don't want to go to court. That is suing ourselves and costs us money both ways.
I feel like in other cases there are at least agencies to call that will bear pressure, if not actually having the authority to redress grievances. For instance, the BBB, AG office for other matters, but neither of those apply to an HOA regime.
I began by emailing our management company, whom we hired, but I would think they bear some responsibility for upholding the law and our by-laws.
what about moving ? you say u don't want court but throw out all this legal threats. You got a problem with management and i think its time to move.
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