Question about fees for approvals from your HOA. (Austin: lawyer, house)

[maadimom]

My neighborhood is questioning a rather new fee from our HOA to seek approvals for landscaping, sheds, etc. It used to be free and now they want $50 and want us to submit even the plants we plant each season. It is NOT going over very well to say the least.

My question is what does your neighborhood HOA charge if anything? Our management company insists that ours is at the low end. I consider free was the low end, and $50 is a huge jump from $0.

[owlman]

That's a big jump! No fee here, I'm in a small HOA of about 100 homes.

[AustinTx78660]

No fee here, and we have an ARC (architectural review committee) that approves requests for landscaping, sheds, etc.

I'd ask a lawyer if this is even legal, based on your HOA rules.

[Austin97]

600 homes, no fee. Our hoa has like 60K in the bank from yearly fees since there isnt much to spend money on.

[Komeht]

Originally Posted by AustinTx78660

No fee here, and we have an ARC (architectural review committee) that approves requests for landscaping, sheds, etc.

I'd ask a lawyer if this is even legal, based on your HOA rules.

Or, you know, read the covenants yourself before paying an attorney to do it for you.

[G Grasshopper]

The Circle C charges $30 for review of sheds and decks, $75 for a pool and $100 for a house remodel. But all landscaping approvals are free, and they don't ask to approve what you plant, just that you have to have 2 trees in the front yard. They also have a list of invasive plants that they don't want you to plant. Although I wouldn't plant those things either, I don't think there is a "plant patrol" out there checking. I got a plan for front yard landscaping approved last year, but they are not checking what I said I would plant against what I eventually do plant.

[EzPeterson]

Those fees are insane extortion. Total bull. We have 400 homes, no fee.

[CptnRn]

No fees for the reviews by our HOA, the review it self is done by committee members who volunteer. I'm sure it would be legal, but I see no justification for charging a fee. All the management association does is pass the information back and forth between the committee and person making the request. The HOA also does not even try to regulate what kind of planting you do other then requiring two trees and some % of lawn in the front yard.

[stubbs4prez]

If they never charged the fees before then this new rule must have been passed in one of the recent board meetings. You should be able to go back in the recorded minutes and look to see when it was passed. You should have no problem locating the minutes as they have to publish them by law. Try and find out when this change was passed and which board member made the motion and who seconded it. Then if the minutes don't give you enough information on why it was done contact them directly. In many HOA's a change to the covenants/governing documents requires a certain percentage of home owners to approve it and if that is the case for your neighborhood, this may have been approved at the last community meeting that your HOA had.

Also if your HOA is small enough, and enough people don't want this fee anymore, you can join together and vote for it to be changed. In reality, many HOA's have made this virtually impossible to do but with enough support anything is possible

Good luck, and I hope it works out for your neighbor.

[love roses]

I am on the ARC in my neighborhood and we don't charge anything for any type of approval. I think people would run us out on a rail if we even tried Someone submitted an approval to set up a tiny free library in their front yard this week. That was an interesting one, but it looked so cute and it seems like a great idea, that I approved it (I know, off topic, but I love books, so I've been happy about that happening in this neighborhood that I had to talk about it )