Investor · San Francisco · Member since 2025 · 10 posts · 29 votes
Our condo HOA has been about $300/month for the past few years, and they're now proposing an increase to $750/month. We have very few amenities, so I suggested getting a professional reserve study to better understand what's driving such a large increase.
Has anyone dealt with something similar?
What financial documents or information should owners request to determine whether this increase is justified?
Additional context - Bay Area TIC converted to condo, 4 unit building, cost pays for regular maintenance, insurance, water, sewer, gas, trash 
Investor · Las Vegas, NV · Member since 2013 · 8k+ posts · 10k+ votes
1d
Their request should show the reason.
Usually this will require a majority or super Majority to vote for it.
It should be a non-profit entity so they shouldn’t be “screwing you”.
I'm not sure how often your city/state requires reserve studies to be provided but we get one every year for every HOA in Vegas. Every increase whether is $200/mo or $9 includes a letter showing they are short and what they plan to spend it on. (Vandalism, unexpected repair, new local requirement, adding/removing equipment, insurance or taxes, etc etc….)
Honolulu, HI · Member since 2008 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
1d
The Board must be providing a proposed or accepted budget for the upcoming year which should detail expenditures with reasonable clarity. You would need to compare that to the current year budget to see where exactly they increasing that budget. They should also have a Reserve Funding Plan to further detail the portion of the annual budget that funds those reserves. Odds are, they have been deferring repairs or replacement of something that they now "unexpectedly" need to raise $21,000 for. The fact the fee has not risen for "a few years" tells us the Board has not been doing their job effectively. No doubt there will be more significant increases or Special Assessments in the near future, especially if the same Board members have been in place all this time.
Reserve studies are very useful, and there are excellent resources at reservestudy.com to learn more about them, but you need to understand they often use existing numbers provided by the Board for replacement items and estimated remaining life unless something looks radically erroneous.
I am happy to look at the budget and reserve funding plan if you obtain them. I am retired now, but managed a number of medium sized HOA's here for over 10 years.
Two things in California law work in your favor here. First, under the Davis-Stirling Act the board generally can't raise regular assessments more than 20% over the prior year without a vote of the owners. Going from $300 to $750 is a 150% increase, so it should go to a membership vote. Second, the association is generally required to have a reserve study, updated with a visual inspection at least every three years, and to give owners an annual budget report.
Documents I'd ask for:
- The current budget next to the proposed one, line by line
- The last 2 to 3 years of actual income and expense statements, plus operating and reserve bank statements
- The master insurance renewal and premium history. In California this is often the single biggest driver right now.
- Any bids or inspection reports for upcoming work like the roof, sewer lateral or exterior paint
- The current reserve balance and the funding plan
In a 4-unit building the increase works out to about $21,600 a year more. Ask the board to show exactly where that goes. If most of it is catching up on reserves, a phased increase or a one-time special assessment for a specific project may be fairer than a permanent jump.
This seems overly complicated. With 4 condo units a study sounds like an unnecessary expense. What are you expenses now? What cap ex do you expect in the next 5 years (roof, driveway, landscaping, etc)? What is the ideal reserve? With only 4 owners this seems like a simple calculation. Do the other owners want a large reserve that they will never get back? Can they not afford a large 1 time special assessment? Each owner would be wise to look over the financial documents.
Honolulu, HI · Member since 2008 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
6h
Granted, Cali has its own special laws and rules, but for 4 units, 3 out of the 4 owners are on the Board making the decisions. Clearly they don't know how to budget or plan their reserves, and have been failing to do so properly for a number of years, likely in clear violation of their own bylaws as well as their fiduciary duty. Assuming OP is owner #4, since she is asking about what documents she should request, I'd look hard at filing a suit against the HOA and the Board members personally for this failure. Of course, if OP has been an owner as long as the others, that would be much like shooting herself in the foot. In the Grand Scheme, $21K isn't that much, so probably not worth spending on an attorney.
