HOA not allowing me to get fiber cable (documentation, monthly fee, construction)

[firehawk]

So, I am in the middle of escrow for a home (first time buyer) in Las Vegas.
I work in IT and have my own business.

Unfortunately most of the homes are HOA in Vegas, at least the ones I have been seeing.

This particular area has a high HOA - great (sarcasm). I would expect it to work for me and not just pay for someone/a group to deny me things.

it seems most areas do not have fiber cable installation for internet. The rental I have down there has fiber and its great and cheap. I don't have to pay high cost for low quality from cox but from a different provider.

Anyway, one of the companies pulled out a lot of information/detail about that area and my property.
Literally 1 street away behind my future property seems to be an access vendor panel which has fiber.

The request was made from this company to HOA if it is possible to do installation and run it to my property.
3 out of 4 refused and 1 wants an ARC request. The ARC request cannot be done or submitted until I am the homeowner. To me, that is another way for them to waste time and essentially deny me it.

All the homes in the area are built in 1975-81 era. I am surprised honestly they would deny the request given that:

- we are all mostly working from home due to pandemic
- needing higher/better speed and quality especially
- to give more choice to the residents also (I guess)
- keep up with tech rather than 30+ year old copper that has degraded massively

It's not like they are needing to dig up the entire streets and area but literally just behind the back of the property.

This would also increase the value of the property (yup... it does, I asked and check) but importantly, to give me what I need!


To add to that, they community just recently changed HOA companies also as the previous one apparently had bad management and the google reviews state that too.

A little snippet from the email comms between the internet provider (T-Mobile) and the HOA:

<long snip>
This request is for HOA company omitted Management to allow a fiber cable to be buried from the fence on Twain, across the sewer/drainage easement on the north side of the complex, into xyzs’ (future) residence at address.

As we discussed. since xyz is not yet the property owner, he is not in a position to submit an ARC request. In place of the ARC, I am asking that you discuss this with the Board tonight and let us know s soon as possible whether the HOA approves, plus please advise whether any additional requirements or documentation is needed.
</long snip>

All they said was:

As of this morning three of the four board members state they are hesitant to approve anything like this at this time.

That is it.

Really? It's literally behind my property - a stone's throw away.

People: Please help me understand especially since I am going to be a first time homebuyer. I cannot seem to find many areas in the LV area that supports fiber already, which is absurd!

[North Beach Person]

You have at least one issue and maybe a couple more.

The main one is that as a non-owner (escrow doesn't count) you have no standing with the HOA. Once you're an owner you do.

The other ones may be the Board has to look at impacts. What happens if, once you're an owner, have fiber run and the guy at the other side of the development wants it? Who pays for the installation of that which will likely mean trenching a street and maybe a parking lot. Then someone else wants it.

Why fiber isn't "supported" is easy: cost. It's orders of magnitude cheaper to do installation at construction than it is to retrofit X years later.

[firehawk]

Thank you, and that does make sense. But I can argue that this will benefit the community if they want fiber. The chances are that they probably don't know much about it and they have not been "Crying" out about it as if it was the case, then maybe something could have happened by now?

is this literally so they can prove they have bigger balls or something? lol

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by firehawk

Thank you, and that does make sense. But I can argue that this will benefit the community if they want fiber. The chances are that they probably don't know much about it and they have not been "Crying" out about it as if it was the case, then maybe something could have happened by now?

is this literally so they can prove they have bigger balls or something? lol

Not at all. Until you're an owner you have no standing in the HOA. They may well approve it once you are an owner. Now, I don't know why it would trigger an architectural review.

When I was an elected official and someone would demand something just for himself we always had to look at long term impacts and costs.

[firehawk]

Insightful. Thank you.

The way I see it right now is this:

- Generally, anyone should have the right to ask even before purchasing a property and get an honest straight answer and not be misinformed especially since it's A LOT of money to invest in a house. Just like if you ask about services offered elsewhere (i.e gym memberships, spa's etc...)

- They want me to go through with it to then say "no" even still after the fact. It would be too late to back out after closing on the house!

- They just want more $$$ as they are not getting that amount as the house is currently not sold so they aren't getting their fees

meh. It's... hard.

[dontaskwhy]

Originally Posted by firehawk

- They just want more $$$ as they are not getting that amount as the house is currently not sold so they aren't getting their fees

In many HOA's, you don't physically own the land the home is on. Often times that is owned by the HOA and yes, you need approval to build or alter community property especially if it is a request by a single individual. Not quite the same as getting a Dish or DirecTV antenna placed on your roof. You need to look at this from a bigger perspective.

When you say they want more $$$, who wants more, the seller or the HOA? That argument makes little sense. Even if the current owner isn't living in a unit, they are still responsible for paying monthly fees. In some states (like Florida) an HOA can force a home with unpaid fees, which could include fines, into foreclosure.

If you ultimately decide to buy into this HOA, read the community CC&R (community codes & regulations) carefully so you know what your options are. You shouldn't pass judgement on the HOA until you know the facts first.

[firehawk]

That's just strange. So even if a person buys a property, they can still take it away and it's not really the owners?! That must be illegal, surely.

I understand the bigger picture but they should too...
I wont get any of the CC&R until after the purchase. They don't have that info on their website or anything.

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by firehawk

That's just strange.

I understand the bigger picture but they should too...
I wont get any of the CC&R until after the purchase. They don't have that info on their website or anything.

Generally speaking the CCRs have to be made available to a contracted purchaser several days before closing. Many states then allow the potential buyer to cancel the contract if there is anything in the CCRs which he doesn't like.

Do you have a buyer's agent? If so get on him/her.

Here are Nevada's HOA statutes:

https://red.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/red.../Forms/584.pdf

[firehawk]

Thank you.
That's helpful.

In this situation, what workaround can there be?

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by firehawk

Thank you.
That's helpful.

In this situation, what workaround can there be?

As a current non-owner there likely isn't one. As I said, you currently have no standing.

Going back to my multiple decades as an elected official, we'd often have people come to our meetings raising Hell about one thing or another (didn't have a sidewalk, the streetlight in front of their house was out, years ago no cable, the police wouldn't ticket their neighbor's car and on and on).

The magic question always was, "What's your address?" Ninety nine times out of a hundred the person didn't live within Town limits and we had no jurisdiction (as a note, we had cable years before the surrounding County areas outside of Town did).

They didn't have standing, which is your situation right now.