Defunct HOA; Can we be sued by a neighbor? (Atlanta: real estate, insurance)

[HOA Satus Dilemma]

Hello, and help! We live in Placer County located in Northern California. Nine years ago we bought into our current HOA. We were given a copy of the original HOA and CC&R documents as a part of purchasing process and told that our annual dues are $76. We learned that the annual dues cover the landscape fees at our developments entrance, which is so low-key we don't even have an entry sign with our developments name or a gate; the roads are not even private.

When we first moved in we noted a variety of roofing materials on neighbors homes, including 5 composite roofs which was listed as prohibited in the HOA/CCR documents. Turns out, we now need a new roof. The original CC&R's state we must use slate, tile, or wood shingle. The wood shingle are now considered out of date as no insurance company will issue a policy with a wood shingle roof. Also, each home is on an acre and has many heritage oak trees (we have 75 oaks on our lot alone). The oak trees wreak havoc on tile roofs and the annual maintenance bill runs about $1500/home to repair oak leaf damage for most of our neighbors.

Two years ago, much to our surprise we learned that our HOA is defunct; we thought everyone was just really low-key! We have no board and have not filed any IRS paperwork since 1994, 2 years after the creation of the HOA. The neighbor that collects our 'dues' only uses the money for the gardener, water, and electric for the aforementioned neighborhood entry. We have found no one in our 36-home development that has any interest in attacking the headache of bringing things up to date with the IRS, paying all the fines, and/or running a board. We have lots of minor, temporary infractions which everyone is quite neighborly about.

My dilemma is this: 1) in the original HOA/CCR documents a 'composite' roof was expressly prohibited, and 2) if a resident violated any rule (for example, parked a boat on the street overnight) any neighbor could chose to personally sue the violator even if the HOA chose not to. After much research on modern roofing materials, the smartest choice is for us to put on a 'composite' roof. I place that in parentheses because the current day 'composite' roofing material is far superior to what was referenced in the original CCR/HOA doc's of 1992 and current material does not even look like composite: they look like slate, tile or even wood shingle.

Several neighbors had composite roofs when their home was originally built and no one seemed to mind. However, we live next door to the one and only person that might possibly file a lawsuit (the other composite roofs and newly installed metal roofs are not within his immediate line of site). The next door neighbor didn't complain when his friends installed a metal roof. However, the owner has made it abundantly clear that he is not okay with anything but a slate or tile roof for all future roofing jobs. The price difference is that a slate roof, which no one has here is about $125,000; tile is about $75,000 plus the leak clean-up of roughly $1500 annually; and a "composition roof" will run us about $40-45,000...with no leak issues.

Where do we stand? Can ANY neighbor sue us or put a lien on our home? We want to keep our home looking high-end, but with a practical, well-priced roofing material that won't require a costly annual repair. We've narrowed it down to 2 options with one looking like slate and the other looking like wood shingle.

We appreciate any help you can provide.

[flyonpa]

And you are posting this to the Atlanta Georgia Forum why?

I would suggest

//www.city-data.com/forum/house/

or

//www.city-data.com/forum/real-estate/

or one of California Forums

//www.city-data.com/forum/california/

[cully]

Somehow you are on the Atlanta, Ga forum. This should probably be on the real estate forum.

At any rate, when did it become defunct? Was it already so when you bought it?

There's probably something about the community vote to decide not to continue as a corporation. Perhaps your neighbor knows about that?

[samiwas1]

Not sure you know that you posted this in the Atlanta forum. Since the laws here, and materials involved in this area, are quite different ($125,000 for a roof??), you will probably get better responses if you post in the California or Sacramento boards.

[HOA Satus Dilemma]

Thank you all for your replies and input! I will re-direct my inquiry to the sites you so kindly mentioned.

As a side note my error in posting was made for 2 reasons: First, it was 2:00 a.m., and second I am in my fifth bout with shingles. Yes, it is possible to get shingles 5 times, even with the vaccine. I think the CDC is going to put me in a test tube, shake me up and throw me under a microscope...but given the pain meds I'm on I think I presented myself rather well, albeit misdirected so I appreciate all your kindness and thank you for not berating me.

Again, I appreciate your pointing me in the right direction. Oh, and those roof prices I mentioned are completely 100% accurate (Welcome to California!) so enjoy your reasonable pricing in the beautiful state of Georgia.

[AnsleyPark]

And take note, whether you are in California or Georgia, you can always be sued. Now, the question of who wins is up to the judge or jury. But, perturb someone enough and they just might sue.