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To set the stage, I am an owner-occupant of a bottom floor one bedroom, one bath condominium. The condo complex is in a quiet, very nice part of town. The unit next to mine is owned by a slumlord who purchased the unit dirt cheap during the 08 real estate crash and rents the one bedroom unit section 8 (against HOA rules but nobody cares about it) to a lady with her two kids. I have not spoken to her that much but I do know that she has no job, usually doesn't leave the house until around 3pm and only for a few hours and is almost always home. I've had SEVERAL issues with them and property management and the HOA does not seem to care or address all but one of them. I think they are scared because it is a single mother with kids and they do not want any issues with HUD. I'm looking for advice on how to proceed with the management company and HOA or if I can take any action on my own.
1) Whenever she has her friends or family over she loves to park in my clearly marked, covered parking spot. I've come home from work many times to find her parked in my spot and her friend's car parked in hers. She kept saying sorry but it kept happening. Property management actually took care of this one, they talked to the slumlord owner and the word must have gotten passed down to her so it stopped. Still as a pain in the rear end while it happened.
2) When I moved in to my unit the entire front of our building looked like crap. Empty area where landscaping was, but must have been removed, a huge hole in the ground in front of the breezeway, etc. Myself and another neighbor got the blessing and some supplies from the HOA and landscaped the area that was previously barren ourselves and filled in the hole with dirt and laid down some new sod on top. It was quite a bit of work and took many trips to Home Depot. Few weeks down the road her kids had spit taffy and gum into the landscaping we worked on and it was swarming with ants. Sent pictures to the property management company, no response to it. Got a read receipt, but no response. Messaged HOA president, he said he would "talk to the owner" but I keep finding trash and food in the landscaping so obviously he never followed through.
3) As I mentioned before we landscaped the sidewalk going up to the units. We ended up xeriscaping it with rocks and durable vegetation per HOA instruction to try and get the entries and breezeways more uniform and with less maintenance. One of the things I did after I moved in was put in a really nice, heavy duty Andersen storm door. One day after work I could year the kids yelling and screaming outside playing, our HOA bylaws say no person can play in the common area but I know that contradicts FHA and HUD regulations so I don't really push it. They started playing with the rocks in the landscaping, throwing them at the side of the building and then they started to throw them at my storm door. I kept hearing loud "BANG" as the rocks would hit the glass. All of this was caught by my front security camera. Sent it to property management was told "Nothing we can do, this is a police matter." Sent it to HOA president, was told same thing. They weren't even willing to contact the owner, just blew me off.
4) Not really an issue but kinda funny and worth mentioning since it relates to my neighbor. One morning when I was leaving for work I was blocked in because a snatch and grab tow truck was in the process of repossessing her car. I startled the truck driver because he thought it was my car, told him it was my neighbor's and he could take all the time he needed and I wouldn't say anything.
5) The most recent one. Her kids were playing outside, yelling and screaming as usual. Went I went outside to get my mail they had drawn and doodled all over the wood support post with a permanent marker and left a bunch of trash outside (UNRELATED BACKSTORY: it is a load bearing pole. the old one was rotting away when I moved in and the property management said it was "low priority." took me pestering the president to get a new one put in.) Property management's response after the picture. "Just try to wash it off." won't send them anything asking them to stop.
I've spent lots of my own time and even some of my own money working to improve my part of the property. I've spent thousands renovating the inside of my unit to make it nicer and more updated. I'm just really frustrated with getting blown off. I'm the type of person the HOA wants living here; someone who cares about the property and will pitch in with some elbow grease to do it. I like the location, my unit, everything, but this is getting very frustrating.
Only thing HOA cares about is their monthly fee and as long as slumlord owner is paying that they couldn’t care less about what’s happening in that other unit. Sounds like she’s a lazy slob with two brats that will get worse as time goes on. Sell as soon as you can and get a house.
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It sounds like others in your building/neighborhood also have problems with the lack of maintenance and the renter. Bring the neighbors together and all of you can write a statement or look at confronting the management on the issues and why they need to be remedied.
Yes, a few of the other owner-occupants in my area are fed up, mostly with the lack of rule enforcement. We're all trying to prepare something for the next HOA meeting where we can all call out the management company for taking our money but not actually doing any tough rule enforcement. They'll do little things; like my friend got a letter about his curtains being the wrong color, but anything where confrontation is required they are scared.
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Maybe even speak to the renter causing you problems, a lot of times people don't change their behavior because they figure that no one will confront them about what their doing (giving them the idea that the actions are okay). Obviously the renter responded to your parking issue, maybe talking to them in person about the other issues will at least let them know that they are being watched and their behavior needs to change or else.
I think that is because the landlord had said something. They've been in hot water with the previous HOA president and management company so they don't want to rock the boat too much. They don't care otherwise unless they get a letter from the HOA. We switched presidents and management companies right when I moved in. Both the old president and company, I heard, were EXCELLENT in rule enforcement and getting constant rule breakers evicted.
The HOA board selects the management company. Sounds like they switched companies and usually this is done to save on the monthly fee that they pay to have the management company oversee the units. Often cheaper is not better and it seems that is what you have now. A cheaper smaller company that is more concerned about curtain color than vandalism. Continue to do due diligence and keep a paper trail. Sounds like you may have to take HOA and or management company to court.
Same thing could happen with a SFH. Sell this one and find another condo with a more active HOA.
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Originally Posted by ReppingDFW
Yeah, sadly. I don't want to run away, I like the condo life. No lawn care, no exterior maintenance, easy breezy. I wasn't planning on swapping for a SFH until I paid the condo off but this might force my hand.
Yes, we have some HOA reform laws that passed a few years back. I think it mostly touched on open meetings and transparency. I'm not sure if we have a complaint process but that would be a good avenue to pursue.
Bwah hah hah hah.
First from your own description, your property is not burdened with an HOA corporation but rather a condominium corporation. In Texas although there are similarities as to the way the organizations are used to saddle owners with never ending debt and disenfranchise owners, HOA laws and condominium laws are nearly mutually exclusive. Knowing the type of project you own property in is critical to knowing what laws apply.
The 2011 legislation had virtually no impact on unscrupulous condominium corporations and boards. Why? Because part of the "compromise" to getting some HOA reform was to be hands-off to condominiums so that the management companies and HOA/condo attorneys would continue business as usual with respect to condo owners.
For the most part the law that applies to your condominium is found in Texas Property Code Chapter 81 or 82 depending upon age of the condominium and whether certain elections might have taken place. Chapter 82 is particularly onerous for the condo owners. If you read Chapter 82 and the restrictions imposed by the developer for your condominium you should have never bought one to begin with. You might not ever realize it but if you sell that place you dodged a bullet.
Unfortunately most people think they are actually paying for some "service" and that an HOA or condominium corporation will just "take care of everything" for them. You'll find in most cases the restrictive covenants impose no obligation on the condominium corporation whatsoever so that although you have a perpetual obligation to pay, it has no reciprocal obligation of any kind to you. The condominium declaration was written by the developer, not by the unit owners. Of course you can always enforce the restrictions yourself.
As far as the "care free" lifestyle you now know that in a condo the board or management company picks the vendors, timing, and pricing. You pay for it, but even if you pay for it it might not get done. If you have your own property, you pick the vendors, timing, and pricing. There is no reason why you can't pay someone else to mow the lawn for your carefree lifestyle which is what you thought you were doing before.
Maybe look at the section 8 rules. How old are the kids? Because some section 8 housing areas have specific rules about children sharing a room, rules that are based on age. As such your issue could go away as one of the kids gets too old. Depends on the area though.
The younger one is elementary school age and the older is early middle school age it seems. Also one is male and one is female, so not sure if there are rules governing them being in the same or different bedroom. I've gotten friendly with the contractor who does work for the landlord and he has shown me inside the unit, the mom sleeps in the bedroom and there is a bunk bead in the living room where the kids sleep.
Honestly, I would hope for an investment buyer who didn't care and could pay cash. Easy. No challenge to my conscience. If not, I'll more than likely take the money and run. I would feel bad for them, of course, but maybe they wouldn't mind it, travel alot, etc, who knows?
and yeah, at this point it seems like an attorney might be the solution, even though it is not my one of choice.
Exactly what would an attorney do for you, except lighten your wallet? Too many people think attorneys can work miracles and should be consulted for every little thing.
Withhold your HOA dues. Notify them you are putting your dues in an escrow account until they take care of these issues. See if you can get neighbors to do the same. That may get their attention.
Good way to get a lien placed on your property. That is never a good idea.
I really hope for your sake it doesn't have to come to that and you can solve the problem.
Maybe send a certified letter with a copy of the by-laws your neighbors are breaking and examples of them breaking the rules to their landlord. It's in their best interest to fix this problem because by all you've told us they're breaking a critical rule (leasing to section 8) and if you find yourself being able to influence the HOA (either by going into leadership or forcing them to follow their end of the by-laws and enforcement) it could put their bottom line in jeopardy.
It's hard work, but think about the work into selling. Plus I know that sometimes if a person sells their house because of an neighbor issue the buyer can turn around and if they can prove you didn't disclose it was because of neighbor issues that continue they can sue (at least in WA state).
I'm an apartment/condo type person so I would be very upset if I paid into a community with set expectations (like no section 8, I would never buy a condo that allows that) and people actively ignored them I would raise so much hell! There are plenty of crap places to rent that allow that kind of low class behavior, go there and be happy with people like you rather then bring such distaste on yourself.
Since I've written this my neighbor has actually gotten me in touch with the old president who is still on the board in a different position. Apparently from what she has said is that the new president is more than likely directing the new management company to be lax on rule enforcement. She gave me the emails of the other board members and want me to CC them in all communication with the management company. This way when the other pro-enforcement board members can see the inaction they can step up.
Yeah, selling is a PITA, but last resort after an attorney... or if the people move out. I think they are here because of the school district. My location might be in the city but we are zoned to the highly acclaimed schools of the nearby suburb. I plan on bringing up Section 8 and these things at the next meeting.
Withhold your HOA dues. Notify them you are putting your dues in an escrow account until they take care of these issues. See if you can get neighbors to do the same. That may get their attention.
That's a good way to get foreclosed on... then again, one of the investment owners on property is 3-4 months behind and crickets.
From your description about the dilapidated conditions, sounds like there were plenty of red flags demonstrating how ineffective and uninterested the property management and HOA were. You chose to buy a unit there. Live and learn I guess.
A more palatable response would have been to suggest asking for the complete book of HOA rules so that you can see which behaviors are violations of association rules, what's a crime that needs police not HOA, and what falls into neither and would take a 1:1 meeting with the neighbor and some tact.
For what are violations of HOA policy, whether a dysfunctional precedent has been set or not, the property owner can expect reasonable efforts to enforce the code until it's been voted to say otherwise.
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