HOA Dissolution if HOA created by Town By-Laws in MA

Started by BenedictM • 2 replies • 1304 views

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BenedictM (Massachusetts)
Posts: 1

Posted:

Hi everyone. I have a question. We are an HOA made up of individual single-family residence homeowners, not condo. owners. Currently we have three Trustees on our Board. I am one of them and my term runs until 2014. One is due to step down as of this year's annual meeting because his term is over and is not interested in re-election. The other is stepping down as he and his family have moved from the neighborhood. If we can find no one else to "step-up", what is the recourse of the HOA as far as dissolution goes if the HOA was created by town zoning by-laws for cluster developments? We own no property, meaning equipment, buildings, etc., other than two town taxed open-space unbuildable lots and two drainage areas. I honestly think there is some hope that we could dissolve as we've had some issues in this past year, but that's another topic in itself. Let's just say the Dover Amendment, a property developer, and a state contracted "respite" program prevailed over the rest of the homeowners. I think one of the main fears is that the open-space will become over-grown if left to the the town, secondly our roads have never been officially accepted by the town either. Dissolution may force the town to accept the roads or at least be more apt to maintain/upgrade them as necessary.

Any thoughts? I can't force current Trustees to stay on-board, and I obviously can't make uninterested homeowners volunteer as Trustees either.

Thanks!

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,047

Posted:

Benedict,

It's not what the Association owns but what the Association is legally responsible to maintain. Roads are the hardest thing to get a town/city/county to take over. When we asked about it we were informed that prior to the County taking over the roads, the Association would have to bring them up to current code. Since one of our streets is not wide enough to meet current code, this option, even if it were financially possible, is just not going to happen since we would have to have only some property owners deed part of their front yard to the Association. Additionally, for some of them, this would place them in violation of the setback requirement.

You can't force someone to take on the obligations of the Association. If you try to, by dissolving the corporation, the requirement to maintain the common elements are still in the deed restrictions attached to the land. This would open every homeowner up to individual litigation.

I just went through not having enough volunteers to serve on the Board. Basically, via newsletters, I explained the hard facts to the members. The hardest reality is that the Association could end up in receivership. If this happens, the receiver will answer only to the court and your assessments will be raised to pay this individuals salary. The membership will likely have little to zero say in how things are ran.

Here is a link to the thread on this forum about what I went through addressing my issue:
http://www.hoatalk.com/Forum/tabid/55/view/topic/forumid/1/postid/123662/Default.aspx

I would suggest a strong public relations campaign to the membership. You could also start negotiations with the city/county about what process has to be done to have them take control of all common areas.

Having been through what you are going through, I understand how frustrating it can be. The best advice I can offer is to read all the applicable laws (corporate and HOA) to identify your options.

Tim

SteveM9 (Massachusetts)
Posts: 3,699

Posted:

Quote:

We own no property, meaning equipment, buildings, etc., other than two town taxed open-space unbuildable lots and two drainage areas.................. secondly our roads have never been officially accepted by the town either.

Your HOA does own property. The unbuildable lots, two drainage areas and road ARE YOUR COMMON AREA. Its likely your development would not have been approved without the drainage area and your HOA maintaining it. So no, the town will not take it over.

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