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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    Newburgh, NY
    Posts
    2

    Question Upstate New York HOA in Turmoil

    My question involves a condominium located in the State of: NY.

    Up until 2 days ago, I was the President of the HOA Board. I got voted off by 6 of our 9 Board members. Oh well, now I have free time to post on message boards and I don't have to spend so much money on Ibuprofen

    Anyway, here's the situation. Our HOA of 490 is comprised of 4 sub-associations made up of condos and townhomes and then there are 180 (currently only 178) Single family homes in the HOA as well. There is a budget for the HOA for this FY, everyone pays the same except the single family homeowners pay more because they have curbside trash removal as opposed to a common dumpster as they do in the sub-associations. The single family homeowners pay directly to the HOA because they do not have a sub-association, the condo/townhome owners pay the same assessment as the single family homeowners to their sub-association which, in turn, is obligated to pay those amounts to the HOA. The condo/townhome owners also pay an additional amount to their sub-association for the maintenance of their domains.

    Now, some more background that you'll need. The developer/sponsor has not yet finished construction and has unofficially abandoned the project. We have foundations poured that have trees growing in them, it has been so long since they've done anything. Our development/HOA has 2 entrances that are PROPOSED Town Roads. When you enter the development on these roads, you pass by all of the sub-associations before you get to the single family homes. The Town will not plow the roads because they have not yet been dedicated and are still considered private roads. The developer is responsible, yet nowhere to be found. The HOA is now having to fork over $50K to contract a snow removal company for this Winter. At our last meeting the 6 sub-association members said they did not want to pay for the snow removal because the roads served only the single family homes. They did, however, offer to chip in to pay for the snow removal from the entrances to their streets which will always be private streets. They tried to do the same with the HOA legal fees. Why should the condo/townhome owners have to contribute to the HOA's legal fees when those fees only go towards suing delinquent single family homeowners? Why can't the HOA collect all of the legal fees for the whole place and make the HOA responsible for going after delinquent condo/townhome owners? I tried, as best I could, to explain that there is no direct link between the condo owners and the HOA and that the HOA could not go after the condo owners, only the sub-associations could go after the condo owners. The HOA can go after the single family homeowners and the sub-associations, the sub-associations are the only ones that can go after the condo/townhome owners. The 6 representatives from the sub-associations did not buy this at all. Then the sub-associations proposed that they hold back the funds for their delinquent members and not pay the HOA those amounts. If this happens, about 120 members will not be paying their HOA dues and we are sure to go bankrupt.

    The condo/townhome owners comprise 6 of the 9 board seats, the single family homeowners comprise the other 3 seats. Condo/townhome owners always win.

    Unfortunately, this is the situation we all bought in to, and for the past 10 years no one has suggested that some members pay more than others. Our book says that everyone shall be assessed equally.

    Our property manager fully supports the condo/townhome owners views which I described above. I don't think any of them have read our by-laws or declaration of covenants and, if they have, they have chosen to disregard them.

    While I was HOA President I suggested that we restructure the HOA and break it up so that we pay for our own sections. Got deer eyes for that one.

    So I guess my question is as follows:

    Can the Board pass a resolution whereby the HOA charges are NOT equally distributed among the members?

    and

    What recourse do the 3 single family representatives have when, during Board votes, they will almost always lose by a 6-3 vote?

    There are so many other things I need help with, but this is the most important topic for us right now.

    Thanks!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: Upstate New York HOA in Turmoil

    To find out what the board is authorized to do, you need to start by reading the CC&R's and bylaws. I am not able to do that for you. You can also look up New York's laws; my superficial review didn't reveal anything that would prohibit dividing special assessments unequally, but there may be something in there.

    When you're in the minority on a board and you lose votes, what you need to do is try to get people sympathetic to your positions elected to the board to replace the people who disagree with you.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    Newburgh, NY
    Posts
    2

    Default Re: Upstate New York HOA in Turmoil

    I've read the CC&R's and by-laws, the 6 I'm talking about either have not, or just don't understand them, I tried to explain that in my initial message. There is nothing that says the assessments cannot be distributed unequally among the members, however each unit owner owns the exact same percentage of the HOA as every other unit owner and should be responsible for their share. We had a situation last year where one of the condo owners wrote a letter asking why they had to pay for the pool expenses when they don't use the pool, and asked to have the HOA remove these charges from their assessment. No one thought that was fair, and some of us don't think that if a condo owner doesn't use an HOA roadway they should be exempted from having to pay for its' maintenance. It is part of the HOA, it is what they bought into. It is just as much their decision not to use the pool as it is to not use the roadways as it was their decision to purchase a home in an HOA which states that assessments will be levied equally among all members.

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