HOA vs Developer (Venice, Nokomis: HOA fees, attorneys, buying a home)

[LoopsDad]

This forum was extremely useful with our hunt for a home in Venice and I used to lurk here quite often. But it has been a while, so I thought I would relay this story to all of you. Just some free advise.

This may get long, so to summarize, if you are buying into a new community which has the developer still running the HOA, BE VERY CAREFUL when it comes time for the developer to turn it over to the HOA.

I bought in Venice and have been very happy with the house and the community. We have low HOA fees, but they are still fees. Our developer is still in control of the HOA, even though most of the homes/lots are sold. But now he is doing everything he can to not spend any of his money on things that are his responsibility. Like re-landscaping the community entrance just before the Parade of Homes. And completing sidewalks on the community property. The developer is taking HOA funds to pay for those & other items.

He controls the HOA funds, and it all appears legal. Now it appears he is trying to set up the turnover without completing his responsibilities as the developer. That is not legal. He says that the members of the HOA can be represented by the attorney he has on retainer, but the HOA would have to pay for it, and he(who controls the HOA the board) will not approve HOA funds for us to get a different attorney. It is obvious this developer is slick and it's not his first time.

BUT, he has lost all goodwill of the homeowners. We had all been dumb and happy, except for a few warranty items, but now he is trying to get out and leave us with possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars of expenses that should be his responsibilities.

We have some recourse and we are doing what we can. I will try to keep you up to date.

[bbronston]

That's too bad. How about sharing the name of the developer?

[CasaRica]

I don't know if is possible to do these kind of things!
Please give us name, location, more info on this!
Seems to be very interesting now that lots of investement in Florida are coming with cash from snowbirds! Shoud we stay calm and do nothing?! Even do not buy in these circumstances?! Thanks,

[d4g4m]

Even though a community may have surpassed the buy out amount for the developer to give up control, they come up with all kinds of reasons and excuses not to do so. Reason as usual- it's all about the money.
I wondered many years ago as to why there was mandatory HOA fees for TV service. Many years ago, Comcast decided and told developers 'we will not wire your community unless you force all residents to subscibe' with a ten year contract. I know of a community where the Comcast contract expired and the HOA had Verizon FIOS installed. BUT all residents were mandated to subscibe to FIOS service.
My community does not have an HOA. Residents have a choice of Camcast, Verizon FIOS or a Sat dish. Or if you don't want TV service, don't pay for any of them. Or with digital TV, get dozens of TV channels with an antenna.

[loves2read]

TX has pretty much mandatory HOAs required for home developments with more than 10 homes--so pretty much any development now requires mandatory HOA--
but this past year some of the areas an HOA could go off the rails when managed/mismanaged by a Board of Directors who have an agenda of their own vs what is good for neighborhood at large were sort of reined in by the legislature...
the problem is how the covenants and rules of governance are written--
once you buy a home whether under the control of the developer or the homeowners' board you are required to abide by those constraints

anyone buying a home should always read the full set of the HOA covenants and rules for HOA
the HOA we are buying into seems pretty benign except homeowners aren't allowed to plant any species of fauna that is not native--at least that is how I read it
so now I don't know if I can bring in some plants that we first saw in California but which are available in nurseries in Venice/Nokomis area--
but they are Mediterranian plants initially--forget the name--grow from bulbs--
and I would plant in containers around the outside of the lanai

also wanted to bring some dwarf red yuccas that we have here in TX and red salvia
but don't know we can do that

PLUS--you need to contact the city/county dept that is tracking the progress of this development
your developer made contract with some oversight agency in order to create that development
there are plans he is legally obligated to follow at certain stages of development
regarding physical construction details
at least in TX developers are still held accountable even though they are "almost" finished with the development

explain your problem to someone in planning/zoning and see if you get any insight

[IC_deLight]

Originally Posted by loves2read

TX has pretty much mandatory HOAs required for home developments with more than 10 homes--so pretty much any development now requires mandatory HOA--
...
anyone buying a home should always read the full set of the HOA covenants and rules for HOA

Which does little good. When the HOA corporation is under developer control, the restrictive covenants can be unilaterally changed by the developer anyway. After the period of developer control, the restrictive covenants can still be changed without your consent by other owners. Moreover, boards and the vendors who make money claiming "non-compliance" (e.g., HOA managers and HOA attorneys) are notorious for attempting to impose ever-greater restrictions on the property owners via "rules" that the homeowners never "agreed" to. This is a preferred method for many boards and vendors because such rules require no consent or approval from the rest of the homeowners at all.

the HOA we are buying into seems pretty benign except homeowners aren't allowed to plant any species of fauna that is not native--at least that is how I read it

Think you mean "flora".

PLUS--you need to contact the city/county dept that is tracking the progress of this development your developer made contract with some oversight agency in order to create that development there are plans he is legally obligated to follow at certain stages of development regarding physical construction details at least in TX developers are still held accountable even though they are "almost" finished with the development

Disagree. Developers are not required to pay assessments. Developers are not required to fund the HOA corp. Developers are not required to do much of anything. Even with respect to failure to complete major infrastructure, the local government will say "that's a private agreement between the homeowners and the developer". Moreover, with respect to building anything, the purpose of the HOA is to enable the developer to maintain control over the homeowners and shift any liability to the homeowners. The developer can maintain control and shift liability for problems simply by initiating construction through the HOA corp or conveying ownership of various improvements to the HOA corp that the developer controls but only the homeowners are liable to.