HOA and Renters Law (sale, real estate, house)

[S. Chris Webb]

"can you talk to the HOA to get a copy of the CC&Rs and/or request to be notified in addition to the owner?"

Many HOA's require that any tenants be registered with the HOA, and that the tenants must have a copy of the CC&R's. If your landlord didn't provide these to you, definitely ask them for a copy. Sometimes you can also find the CC&R's and any other community rules on the HOA web site, if your HOA has one.

[Zippyman]

So, Gatorbait - if and when you decide to purchase a house, how likely are you to pick one in an hoa community?

I had a similar experience in a rental, we kept it up wonderfully, had no problems for over a year, then a new management company took over enforcement for the hoa, and we got five violation letters in about 6 months. Everything from our cable-tv wire "not painted to match the house", to a small/light stain in the driveway (both were present when we moved in).

When the wife and I were ready to purchase a home, hoas were blacklisted. The biggest touted "benefit" to living in an hoa neighborhood is "protecting your property values"- I personally doubt the premise, but I would love to hear your opinion...

[Ultrarunner]

HOA adds another entire layer of bureaucracy... not something I would look for in owning a home.

My one experience has been OK... that said, it does add about a $1000 a year to my home expenses and the deck I wanted to build and approved by the city was turned down by the HOA...

The real question is what do you want to do?

As I see it... everything goes back to what was agreed upon in the rental agreement...

If you are responsible... normally you will be issued a notice to cure... in my State it is often a 3-day notice.

I think you can fight this and prevail... just depends on how much time you are willing to put into this.

I have a friend that is a retired civics professor and he has literally papered the home owner association... if they send him a violation... he answers with a 100 pages and requests additional information...

He even took them to court once and won because they were not following their own rules... he paid a fine under protest and then sued for treble damages...

[steel7]

HOA communities are the worse. They are controlled by horrible people who have nothing else better to do. Also as far as im concerned property management companies are pukes.

[christiner81]

Originally Posted by Zippyman

When the wife and I were ready to purchase a home, hoas were blacklisted. The biggest touted "benefit" to living in an hoa neighborhood is "protecting your property values"- I personally doubt the premise, but I would love to hear your opinion...

ditto!!!!!

[GatorBait1996]

Originally Posted by christiner81

how frustrating. if nothing else, now you know that they are very strict and that you have to be proactive about the outside appearance. can you talk to the HOA to get a copy of the CC&Rs and/or request to be notified in addition to the owner?

It is very frustrating, especially for us first time HOA'ers, now I know how it will be. We thought we were being very proactive about the outside appearance, apparently my wife and I need to study up on Arizona weeds What the snooty HOA members don't realize is that most of the "beautiful" shrubs they think are shrubs are actually a weed Oh well, lesson learned, hopefully they don't say anything about the small block engine that'll be in the front yard for a few weeks.

[Kimballette]

Originally Posted by GatorBait1996

Oh well, lesson learned, hopefully they don't say anything about the small block engine that'll be in the front yard for a few weeks.

Oh, I'm sure that won't be a problem at all...

[S. Chris Webb]

"Also as far as im concerned property management companies are pukes."

Awww, that just makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

[GatorBait1996]

Originally Posted by Zippyman

So, Gatorbait - if and when you decide to purchase a house, how likely are you to pick one in an hoa community?

I had a similar experience in a rental, we kept it up wonderfully, had no problems for over a year, then a new management company took over enforcement for the hoa, and we got five violation letters in about 6 months. Everything from our cable-tv wire "not painted to match the house", to a small/light stain in the driveway (both were present when we moved in).

When the wife and I were ready to purchase a home, hoas were blacklisted. The biggest touted "benefit" to living in an hoa neighborhood is "protecting your property values"- I personally doubt the premise, but I would love to hear your opinion...

No, definitely not! This was our first HOA that we've ever lived in and it has been nothing but a pain in the arse, the neighbors are great, they tell us stories about how they would move around the same "yard art" to different homes to mess with the HOA, as soon as they got the notice it found a new home....LOL!

That's just it, we treat the property like it's our own, the last rental I lived in I did extra stuff around the house for the owner, I asked him to just pay for the materials and I'll just do it. The HOA and PM make me not want to do anything extra for the homeowner if something were to come up, it's sad really, I'm sure the homeowners are really nice people.

[ganto_2010]

i would never buy a home with an HOA just my prefference. Moderator cut: vulgar

i bet they will say something about his engine as most HOA'S are nosey