HOA Negligence in Condo Community

[Bill Graves]

Hi all,

I own a condominium, which I rent out, in a 230 unit community.  I have owned this unit for 15 years, and it has always been a working class complex.  I have it professionally managed, as I live 3 hours away.

The unit has always been occupied and produced reasonable cash flow so I've been happy with it until recently.

The HOA board has contracted out management to a local HOA management company. It's been the same management company since my purchase.

The problem is that the owner of the HOA management company retired and sold the firm to one of his employees about a year ago. Ever since then, our complex has gone into serious decline.

 - Amenities which we (owners) pay for aren't being delivered.  For example, the pool is "temporarily closed" but we still pay a pool service fee

 - Maintenance which we pay for which is contracted to bad vendors.  For example, there is "daily cleanup of the grounds" however there is now constant litter all over the exterior of the property

 - Drug dealing has now started happening on the property.  There is a security company which we pay for, but they don't seem to do anything

I do not attend the HOA board meetings since I live far away. I don't know the board members, how many units they own, or if they see things like I do.

I have contacted the HOA management company and gotten "we agree and are working on improving the property" platitudes. I have also been in contact with the local police about the crime increase, and they said they can't do much besides respond to calls.

Any advice out there on what I can do?  I prefer to hold the property and not sell.

[Bettina F.]

Sorry, to be the bearer of bad news, but you need to start attending HOA meetings. Run for the board. Do a mailing out to the other owners, to get them on board with making the HOA perform. The condo's HOA fees are probably being diverted into someone's pocket.

One of the BP podcasts deals with this situation. The lady interviewed had just this problem, and she ended up on 3 HOA boards -- but her investments were protected.