Your thoughts please

Hello all,
I have been in a battle with my HOA Board and our management company for many months now. I approached them at the start of this year regarding tougher enforcement of the HOA By-Laws. They replied back and said they would "make sure stricter enforcement took place". So far, they have done nothing! Oh wait, they did change a major By-Law so that two of the Board members were no longer in violation! Besides that- nothing has changed. It has only gotten worse- trailers, trash cans, dead yards, etc. During this time I have emailed the management company over 20 times. The just ignore me. They will reply back and blow smoke up my A##, and then I never hear from them again. So before taking them to court (I have a list of items to file), I decided to go through the BBB. I filled out the paperwork sent it in and the BBB reviewed it. They then sent it on to the management company. The response from the management company was this- "****** does not have a contract with ******. The board of directors of ****** does have a management agreement with ****** to provide management services at the direction of the board. While ****** does collect assessment payments as part of our service agreement, the payments made by ****** are actually for homeowners association dues."

Am I just stupid here? They don't have an contract with me (although I did sign paperwork when I bought my house saying that they were in charge and they would enforce the CC&R's- and this was on their letterhead), but I pay them HOA dues to enforce the CC&R's along with other fees. I thought when you paid someone for goods or services they owed you something in return. Are they not my employees?

Thanks!

Hi Allen,

In a nutshell, no, the property management company are not your employees. You didn't hire them, you can't fire them. Their contract is with the HOA which is run by the BOD. The BOD can hire and fire management companies, but an individual can't.

It's the same with any other contractor working for the HOA. You can't fire the landscapers if you don't like the way they mow the lawns, that's a decision for the Board.

The problem is probably with your BOD. They are the ones who decide how strongly to enforce the rules. They are the ones who instruct the manager to send out violation letters, hearing notices and fines for violations. If they're not instructing the manager to do any of these things, then the problem falls squarely on them.

AllenB1: Please don't post company or individual names here. Please see our posting rules link above the forum or here:

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Allen:
I can sense your frustration in that you feel that the mgmt. company needs to toughen up to enforce the HOA bylaws.
However, this is not the mgmt. company's role. The mgmt. company was correct in advising you that... 'The board of directors of ****** does have a management agreement with ****** to provide management services at the direction of the board.' This is the actual truth. The mgmt. company signs a contract with the Board (usually the President) and acts only at the discretion of the Board.

So, your concerns need to go to your HOA board. The mgmt. company is your community's agent; they can be the advisor, the overseer, the one who reports a violation if they 'see' it, but it is the Board's responsibility to direct the mgmt. company to follow-up with a notice/letter, etc. but the tasks they do are only in keeping with the mgmt. company's contract with the Board. If the mgmt. company's contract states they will keep financial records only, then that is what they will do, no more.

You might ask the Board for a copy of the contract they have with the mgmt. company, and whether the Board feels they are fulfilling their end of the contract. It is the Board who is answerable to you, not the mgmt. company.

Harold:

Sorry.. but.. what is an MC?

Norman:

MC is Management Company.

Thank you everyone for your posts. I will take ALL of the advise and put it to work. I have requested a copy of the contract and will let you know what it says. Thanks again! p.s. I apologize for having put the names in my original post.