Opting out of HOA

[Rucci1]

Jurisdiction

North Carolina

How can an HOA hold you accountable to pay fees when they are clearly in breach of contract by not enforcing the rules of the covenant set forth by said HOA? Why wouldn't they, the HOA, be held accountable? Why, wouldn't the management company in place to enforce said rules be held accountable? We have a management company that manages the HOA... They are going up on fees yearly now for nothing any different that they are doing for the community. Nothing has changed in 10 yrs of my living here.. nothing new that needs to be allotted for.

 

[Zigner]

How can an HOA hold you accountable to pay fees when they are clearly in breach of contract by not enforcing the rules of the covenant set forth by said HOA? Why wouldn't they, the HOA, be held accountable? Why, wouldn't the management company in place to enforce said rules be held accountable? We have a management company that manages the HOA... They are going up on fees yearly now for nothing any different that they are doing for the community. Nothing has changed in 10 yrs of my living here.. nothing new that needs to be allotted for.

This sounds like a bunch of rhetorical questions.

 

[army judge]

How can an HOA hold you accountable to pay fees when they are clearly in breach of contract by not enforcing the rules of the covenant set forth by said HOA? Why wouldn't they, the HOA, be held accountable? Why, wouldn't the management company in place to enforce said rules be held accountable? We have a management company that manages the HOA... They are going up on fees yearly now for nothing any different that they are doing for the community. Nothing has changed in 10 yrs of my living here.. nothing new that needs to be allotted for.

An HOA rarely does anything for their HOSTAGE "members".

The easiest solution for an aggrieved member is find a suck..., err "buyer" for the home and sell it.

Another option, run for the board and try to improve it.

The last option is organize your neighbors and attempt a "coup" in order to create a more "resident" friendly environment.


Merry Christmas, poster.

 

[Tax Counsel]

How can an HOA hold you accountable to pay fees when they are clearly in breach of contract by not enforcing the rules of the covenant set forth by said HOA? Why wouldn't they, the HOA, be held accountable? Why, wouldn't the management company in place to enforce said rules be held accountable? We have a management company that manages the HOA... They are going up on fees yearly now for nothing any different that they are doing for the community. Nothing has changed in 10 yrs of my living here.. nothing new that needs to be allotted for.

The HOAs alleged failure to enforce the rules is separate from your obligation to pay the HOA fees. If the HOA won't enforce the rules and you don't like that then get active in the HOA and work to boot out the current board and get board members elected who will do it. You don't have the option to just opt out of the HOA because you don't like how its run. So if you can't get enough other homeowners to sign on to replacing the board and can't get the current board to get more active in going after rule violations then your recourse is to sell the house and move to a HOA with a more active board. Just be careful what you wish for. HOAs with active boards tend to be run by people who want to make everyone act just like they do and you may find that you need their approval for every little thing you want to do.

 

[adjusterjack]

Nothing has changed in 10 yrs of my living here..

The answer to all your questions is this:

It's what you signed up for when you bought a home in an HOA.

Now, you pay your fees and work within the rules or you sell out and move some place where there is no HOA.

 

[zddoodah]

How can an HOA hold you accountable to pay fees when they are clearly in breach of contract by not enforcing the rules of the covenant set forth by said HOA?

This is a completely abstract question and, as such, isn't really susceptible of an answer. That said, and assuming "the rules of covenant" refers to the CC&Rs and/or rules promulgated pursuant to the CC&Rs, why do you think an HOA's failure to enforce rules constitutes a breach of contract and/or exempts homeowners from paying fees?

Why wouldn't they, the HOA, be held accountable?

An HOA is typically governed by a board of directors. If the board of your HOA isn't running the HOA as you would like it, your recourse is to try and vote out the current board and vote in directors who will run it more to your liking (and/or to seek election to the board yourself).

Why, wouldn't the management company in place to enforce said rules be held accountable?

If the HOA has hired a management company and doesn't like how the management company is doing what it was hired to do, the HOA can fire the management company (subject to the terms of whatever contract exists between the HOA and the management company).

 

[Rucci1]

The answer to all your questions is this:

It's what you signed up for when you bought a home in an HOA.

Now, you pay your fees and work within the rules or you sell out and move some place where there is no HOA.

You're exactly right it is what I signed up for, with that said, we were all sold a dream here. My thing is, one of the things that attracted me to this community were the covenants, rules etc.... with the faith that said rules would be enforced. So outside of some of the sarcasm in some of the answers here, bottom line, the management company has to go as well as new board members needing to be voted in. Got it.

 

[Rucci1]

This sounds like a bunch of rhetorical questions.

Appreciate the non-answer. Others actually read my statement and gave common sense answers and their take on the situation we are dealing with as homeowners here. Many of us moved here because of what we were sold by means of the covenants and the ideas that this community would be ran in a clean, safe manner. The management company needs to go period as well as new board members voted in. Thanks again for nothing.

 

[Rucci1]

An HOA rarely does anything for their HOSTAGE "members".

The easiest solution for an aggrieved member is find a suck..., err "buyer" for the home and sell it.

Another option, run for the board and try to improve it.

The last option is organize your neighbors and attempt a "coup" in order to create a more "resident" friendly environment.


Merry Christmas, poster.

I love my home and community, it's apparent the only thing that can be done is vote for new board members and get rid of the management company that are the puppeteers of the HOA board members. Merry Christmas to you as well and thanks for the reply .

 

[Rucci1]

The HOAs alleged failure to enforce the rules is separate from your obligation to pay the HOA fees. If the HOA won't enforce the rules and you don't like that then get active in the HOA and work to boot out the current board and get board members elected who will do it. You don't have the option to just opt out of the HOA because you don't like how its run. So if you can't get enough other homeowners to sign on to replacing the board and can't get the current board to get more active in going after rule violations then your recourse is to sell the house and move to a HOA with a more active board. Just be careful what you wish for. HOAs with active boards tend to be run by people who want to make everyone act just like they do and you may find that you need their approval for every little thing you want to do.

Myself and another member were removed from the board when we took strong views on the management company ... the problem is obviously inert HOA board members and a lame but smart money making management company. thanks for your reply. Merry Christmas.

 

[zddoodah]

Myself and another member were removed from the board when we took strong views on the management company ... the problem is obviously inert HOA board members and a lame but smart money making management company. thanks for your reply. Merry Christmas.

As I mentioned previously, your original post was very abstract, and you didn't explain what rule(s) aren't being enforced that you want enforced.

That said, it's worth pointing out that an HOA (whether or not it has hired a management company) has limited resource -- just like municipalities have limited resources. As a result, some laws and rules go unenforced because it would be impractical or impossible (financially and otherwise) for every violation to be enforced. Again, you didn't explain what's going on, but maybe this is something that's only important to you and others don't think it's terribly important. Or maybe the violations aren't severe. Keep in mind that strict enforcement could cause fees to skyrocket.

 

[Tax Counsel]

Myself and another member were removed from the board when we took strong views on the management company

Then evidently the problem is that most of the homeowners either like things as they are or at least don't really care enough to elect a board that takes a more active approach to the HOA. If that's the case then nothing is going to change anytime soon. So the question is how much do you like where you live? If you want to stay you'll have to accept that for the foreseeable future the rules aren't going to be enforced the way you want and that other homeowners will get to do things you perhaps don't like.