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So I live in a small townhouse community built in the mid 80's of about 30 units with no HOA. For my building of 4 units and the next building over of 3 units we all share a concrete drive to the back of our units and our garages. This drive desperately needs repaired in sections, and in one section with a huge dip will probably need broken out and completely re-poured.
About half the land where the drive comes from the road between the buildings is on the parcel of one of the end units, which is occupied by a renter and owned by one of these national companies that buys up properties to rent. Five of the seven are owner occupied.
So my question here is what is the best way to approach having this fixed? Ive spoken to everyone about this and theyre all on board, then when I get a quote they backpedal.
I would be ok if I could even get 4 of the owners on board to split cost but dont know how to deal with the real estate holding company. Ive sent them letters with pictures and left messages all with no response. I think having work done on their property without consent would be opening up a can of worms. They may not agree even if they had to pay nothing, just to avoid liability. Advice?
You need to do some research.
Your description sounds just like some other small in-fill projects here. I bet there was a HOA established when originally built.
If you can find the original filing at the county courthouse- or city of Alpharetta (if it was in the city limits at the time it was built), you're looking for deeds, and/or covenants for the development.
That kind of thing will be clearly spell out. It usually says something on the order of "all property owners that use the drive will divide the cost of repair evenly". However, without an active HOA/Board your actions will fall on deaf ears.
Your only recourse is to have it done and sue for reimbursement. Or, if your lucky you can restart the HOA and have some form of persuasion for enforcing the covenants.
I would research it to see who owns the land that the drive sits on. It may be registered to an HOA or it could be to each individual lot that it passes thru. It could also be an easement that is recorded to your county/parish. If it's each lot, you may have recourse thru notification of a dangerous area and notice of responsibility to your car for damages or children that may get injured because of it. There's always a way to get things done. You just have to find it. A lawyer might be a good place to start. Consultations are generally free.
You need to find out the legal responsibility of each of the owners before doing anything as others suggested. Might be an easement, hoa, road agreement, etc, etc. The list goes on and on. Its likely an HOA and you will need to restart it by electing a board and vote on it, etc.
I bet there was a HOA established when originally built.
If you can find the original filing at the county courthouse- or city of Alpharetta (if it was in the city limits at the time it was built), you're looking for deeds, and/or covenants for the development.
This is interesting, would there be any hints that an HOA was to exist on my deed or any other docs? So I would need to find a physical copy of the original deeds signed by the first buyers I suppose, would that be in the deed book or is that just a record? This is actually in Roswell but that doesnt really change the problem.
The drive does sit entirely on two of my neighbors plots looking at the assessors office records. Ive attached a screenshot. Its hard to see below the tree where it connects to the road, but you can see it go between the buildings.
I do back up to another street so I suppose my other option is to have a drive connection permitted there. It would probably be cheaper in the long run but the problem I see with that is my neighbors would surely start to use it and im too nice to stop them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by K'ledgeBldr
Your only recourse is to have it done and sue for reimbursement. Or, if your lucky you can restart the HOA and have some form of persuasion for enforcing the covenants.
Ha, The cost isnt so great that I would do that and risk those relationships. My concern with this is actually ME getting sued since this drive is on someone elses property.
An HOA is the LAST thing you need. You will end up paying for a lot more than just the cost of the road and the HOA will pose an ongoing threat to your use and enjoyment as well as continued ownership of the property and the equity in it. In addition there is no assurance after paying all the money to the HOA corporation that the money would actually be used to fix the real problem the HOA was supposedly there for. An HOA corporation only creates more problems.
Check the restrictive covenants to see if there is a provision for ownership and maintenance of the road. They are not likely in your deed but rather filed as a separate document. They might be referenced in your deed.
This is interesting, would there be any hints that an HOA was to exist on my deed or any other docs? So I would need to find a physical copy of the original deeds signed by the first buyers I suppose, would that be in the deed book or is that just a record?
You could see language like "CCR, Restrictions, Covenants, Property is subject to restrictions on book 32 page 4, bylaws, etc.... You may have to go back through the deeds all the way to the developer, or even before him. Its easy. Each deed references the last deed with a name or book and page number.
I would call someone at the Assessor's office and ask if they can help you find it. I'm not sure how it is everywhere, but it would be really surprising if anything like that were built in the last 50 years without some sort of HOA or covenant or condominium arrangement in place.
Your situation is literally what condominium or HOA agreements were made for. Though it doesn't have to be an HOA literally.
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