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I am under contract for a house in an HOA. I thought I would receive the HOA docs before the inspection is done so that if something is disagreeable, I would be able to terminate the contract before going through the rigamarole of inspection and appraisal. I would think anyone would want to do this, since that is a "free" buyer contingency that will save both parties a lot of time and money down the road. I haven't received it yet and I absolutely do not want to go forward with the inspection without reviewing the doc first. Conversely, I don't want to wait so long for that doc that the 10 day inspection period passes either. It seems like my only option is to terminate the contract.
Is this reasonable? Can I terminate the contract if they can't provide it to me at this early point? I have had bad experiences with poorly run HOAs and absolutely do not want to get trapped in one again. I'm not looking for an easy "out" - I like the house - it just makes sense to me to do things in this order for cost saving purposes. The buyer has a very short closing time-frame while the house has been on the market for awhile so I thought they would have prepared this by now.
In AZ I can cancel for no reason at all in the first 10 days, our standard inspection. The house can be in excellent condition and I can get out of it and keep my earnest money. HOA docs won't tell you if its poorly run or not though, get on your agent to get them though that's why you pay him/her.
I'm not quite certain of the timing regarding the contract, but upon written request the HOA or its agent has 14 days to provide. I believe, that once received, you have 10 days with the docs. So, given that, not only would the home inspection be done, but possibly the appraisal, as well as, the home inspection. Reviewing and approving the HOA docs was never intended as a get out of jail with no expense card, but one should you not be able to live by their rules.
I have friends in Va and am constantly surprised by how little not only residents but managers and some realtors know about the Va HOA disclosure packet.
I know people who have bought and received a few pages from the HOA and no one said anything one way or another. Some people don't look at these but those that do just assume the little bit of information is the legal packet. I know some HOAs who don't even have one and never had for years....until wiser more experienced realtor friends came along and their buyers then knew not to proceed without what should be revealed to them. I know one not too long ago where their registered agent who was just sort of in the background finally found out that no one even knew who the officers were and where they were located and, of course, there was never a disclosure packet. So he hired someone to work long hours to put together their packet for that contract and future contracts.
In Va, the HOA has 14 days to deliver the packet to you after they receive a written request from the seller or his agent. It must include 18 items.
Note the very end where it talks about number of copies at no additional charge.
Also, you have three days to cancel the contract after you receive the disclosure packet or after you are notified that a disclosure packet is not available. All best done in writing. (If emailed you need to keep proof of the mailing etc.
In AZ I can cancel for no reason at all in the first 10 days, our standard inspection. The house can be in excellent condition and I can get out of it and keep my earnest money. HOA docs won't tell you if its poorly run or not though, get on your agent to get them though that's why you pay him/her.
The HOA docs though can tell you if the HOA owes a ton of money due to a lawsuit or other big liability and plans to hike up assessments or whether the seller's lot has any outstanding fines or assessments on it. Those things matter and I absolutely wouldn't take the house if either of those were the case.
I'm not quite certain of the timing regarding the contract, but upon written request the HOA or its agent has 14 days to provide. I believe, that once received, you have 10 days with the docs. So, given that, not only would the home inspection be done, but possibly the appraisal, as well as, the home inspection. Reviewing and approving the HOA docs was never intended as a get out of jail with no expense card, but one should you not be able to live by their rules.
In VA you have only 3 days with the docs. To me reviewing the docs before all those other steps is just like reviewing any sort of contract before you incur fees for future due diligence. Why pay fees for steps that you might not even take had you reviewed the contract ahead of time and approved it? It doesn't cost you anything to review that first but may save you a whole lot of trouble later if you do it in this order.
That being said I just didn't know if it was unreasonable for me to expect that these docs would have been ready within a week after the contract was signed. I have always been given those docs by sellers in the past before signing the contract (when legally possible) or advised I should have it shortly after. I thought this meant it was common practice?
I only know the rules as it pertains to issuing the docs, not, as I said, the contract portion. I handle the resale packages for my small community.
I can tell you your mortgage company will most likely be doing a questionnaire (very few exceptions to not require one), and the lawsuits pending, capital expenditures and delinquencies are on there. Some of the questionnaires are 40+ questions long. Although you pay for the questionnaire, it is considered property of the lender. I routinely share it with buyers, but I have heard of some that do not. Ask for it.
In VA you have only 3 days with the docs. To me reviewing the docs before all those other steps is just like reviewing any sort of contract before you incur fees for future due diligence. Why pay fees for steps that you might not even take had you reviewed the contract ahead of time and approved it? It doesn't cost you anything to review that first but may save you a whole lot of trouble later if you do it in this order.
That being said I just didn't know if it was unreasonable for me to expect that these docs would have been ready within a week after the contract was signed. I have always been given those docs by sellers in the past before signing the contract (when legally possible) or advised I should have it shortly after. I thought this meant it was common practice?
It used to be generally expected in a week in Northern Va but the statute clarified it to be 14 days. A long time but seems like somewhere in between the 3 weeks I've seen in the countryside and the 1 week on No. Va. However, that one week isn't working out anymore it looks like anyway.
So how long has it been? Time to give up yet?
Ideally the docs are always available...the builder's end, the rules and regs, etc. And the 6 months of minutes with one added every month and one taken out. And the things that are up to the minutes things like financials, court cases etc should be kept track of and inserted into the already prepared info.
That said...you'd think in these days of online docs etc they would have it to you even faster.
Have you checked to see if the docs are online on the HOA's website? Many are nowadays. For some, you need a code, albeit temporary, so that you can access. You can ask for that.
In fact, here's the new law from NVAR (NOVA Assoc of Realtors) on those disclosures sent electronically. FYI, most new laws in VA go into effect July 1 annually unless it's a big emergency:
The law also sets new rules for providing association disclosure documents electronically, requires an association to maintain a website link for 90 days if the disclosure packet is provided electronically by that link, and prohibits the charging of additional fees, beyond a $50 update fee, for a 12-month period. The bill contains technical amendments.
In fact, here's the new law from NVAR (NOVA Assoc of Realtors) on those disclosures sent electronically. FYI, most new laws in VA go into effect July 1 annually unless it's a big emergency:
The law also sets new rules for providing association disclosure documents electronically, requires an association to maintain a website link for 90 days if the disclosure packet is provided electronically by that link, and prohibits the charging of additional fees, beyond a $50 update fee, for a 12-month period. The bill contains technical amendments.
do you have a link or the content?
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