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I have been in an HOA community for 10 years in which the board of directors has "run roughshod" over our residents. The guy who became president was a "builder" who has treated our community like he is a "sole proprietor" rather than an "elected representative". He has surrounded himself with board members who are weak and compliant and are afraid to stand up and challenge his decisions/initiatives. He can be quite "intimidating" and "manipulative". The board has basically "picked" the By-Laws they want to use and have set the rest aside! I am not convinced they have even READ them all must lest "understand" that they are "legally enforceable law" on the books in my county! We chose a property manager when I first moved here that had basically been a "lapdog" for the President. They rarely visited our complex and were "out of touch" with what was going on here (except for getting their check each month!). They finally got a manager who started asking questions about things and our President convinced the board to BOOT them out and they hired a new one that he told us "came highly recommended" from a business associate of his! He said they even got "two references" that they checked out! Since then we have found out that the company has worked a "small handful" of "commercial properties" but has never, (repeat 'never') managed an HOA in their life! I probably know more about HOA management than they do!
We haven't gotten copies of board minutes for over six months. I actually attended one of two monthly meetings in March and April of this year. The minutes that were eventually produced and mailed to us bore NO RESEMBLANCE to what actually happened at the meetings! I can DOCUMENT that because I "recorded" the meetings on a digital recorder. (I can legally do that in SC!).
To further complicate things, 4 of the current board members own 23 units between them! That means with "23 votes" at our annual meeting, it will be a snowball's chance in hell of someone getting elected to the board that they don't want!
Our By-laws call for an annual audit by a CPA, but we haven't had one in 10 years!
I know we have legal grounds to take action to hold them accountable but no one wants to share the expense of legal work to do so! They KNOW this and keep rubbing our faces in it!
Most attorneys I have talked with (in SC) have NO true understanding of HOA laws!
Something has to change soon or you may see me on the 11 o'clock news in handcuffs!
I can understand your plight; all HOA's are not created equal. Sounds like yours is full of issues.
However, you have posted this on the Western NC forum. Our advice would most likely not apply to your complex in SC.
My best suggestion for the problems you have with your HOA is to move out of there before you burst a blood vessel. Life is too short to put up with the problems you describe, and it surely sounds like the situation is not going to change after being there 10 years.
Sounds familiar to our last one so far. After 12 good ones.
Are they also destroying amenities and secretly selling common area or, ah-hem, taking "donations" in the tens of thousands for a common area?
Are all the board members paying all their dues?
Do board members meet the standard by which board members are stated to be able to run for office...in good standing (dues paid) and whatever else?
Are they building structures in the tens of thousands so they can go in to business for other communities and massage their egos?
At the same time, are they not taking care of what they have, thereby causing hundereds of thousands in repairs and replacements?
Are they keeping up their state corporation status? We found some sub communities in our last association were a few days short of the end of...not their corporation date to renew .... but just a hair short of their grace period after that date before we informed them. Renewing then is actually not renewal but is setting up a corporation all over again, new paperwork, money, vote on bylaws.
Do they cause negative publicity, if not in the media, even just in the spoken word among people who may have moved in but who would never consider this community now after what they know?
Perhaps somehow a local TV station could do a story on "Issues with HOA's". I think there are a LOT of people who have dealt with "abusive boards" at one time or another!
I now live in a HOA community (32 houses but half are occupied). I don't know much except I got the annual fees letter/update in the mail. Mailed the fees (only 500 road and water) off certified but it came back because I guess no one lives at that address full time. I'll un-certify it.
So far we had a well pump failure and pipe burst near the road. There was mention of falling short to have a new automated gate but that's the last thing on my mind as a resident. Half the owners are part time residents so I guess they want a secure gate.
I now live in a HOA community (32 houses but half are occupied). I don't know much except I got the annual fees letter/update in the mail. Mailed the fees (only 500 road and water) off certified but it came back because I guess no one lives at that address full time. I'll un-certify it.
So far we had a well pump failure and pipe burst near the road. There was mention of falling short to have a new automated gate but that's the last thing on my mind as a resident. Half the owners are part time residents so I guess they want a secure gate.
A gate is only good if there is a 10 ft. wall around the entire property. ! Usually anyone can walk into a subdivision from an open area. We don't have many gated communities here, it's pretty silly. Floridians used to ask me simply over the phone "do you have any gated communities". What for ? lol !
There are 3 in the Henderson County area, that have daytime guarded & gated. Anyone can walk thru the woods and get right in. And they do.
How much are fees in this HOA and what type of annual budget does this guy have. I mean how many units times the annual fee.
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