Special assessment vote

Started by DavidM12 • 4 replies • 2051 views

💬 Join us to post & get advice from 50,000 HOA & Condo leaders.

⚡ Takes 30 seconds

Already a member? Log in

DavidM12 (South Carolina)
Posts: 1

Posted:

My homeowners association sent me a letter saying that each homeowner will pay an extra $500.00 as a special assessment to help pay lawyers to fight a builder that bought the golf course that runs through our development. There was no meeting to discuss this special fee. It was my understanding that we would have to vote on anything that was not concerning the everyday running of the HOA. Do other HOA's have votes on special assessments? It seems like we should have been giving a letter telling us that a vote would take place to raise our fees. What is the 'standard' on this sort of thing? Thanks in advance..

RogerB (Colorado)
Posts: 5,067

Posted:

David, the authorized procedure is in your association's Declaration of CC&Rs or else in your By-laws. Sometimes special assessments are allowed when approved by the Board. However, it is always good procedure to allow the members to vote on any special assessment.

HaroldS1 (Arizona)
Posts: 314

Posted:

David - do read your documents. Look in the index for Special Assessments. Ours requires 2/3 of the votes cast at a meeting duly called for such purpose. (However, in ours, any sepcial assessment can only be for expenditures on the Common Area - we could never have a special assessment to hire an attorney.) So is it possible they held a meeting about this and it was approved? Be sure your documents allow a special assessment for hiring an attorney. Harold

JoeW1 (New York)
Posts: 728

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By DavidM12 on 09/05/2007 4:01 PM
My homeowners association sent me a letter saying that each homeowner will pay an extra $500.00 as a special assessment to help pay lawyers to fight a builder that bought the golf course that runs through our development. There was no meeting to discuss this special fee. It was my understanding that we would have to vote on anything that was not concerning the everyday running of the HOA. Do other HOA's have votes on special assessments? It seems like we should have been giving a letter telling us that a vote would take place to raise our fees. What is the 'standard' on this sort of thing? Thanks in advance..

DavidM12 - Yes, check all your governing documents for the matters and monetary spending thresholds that require a set percentage of unit owner approval, and the matters that require only Board approval to run the 'everyday". You may have, for example something to the effect that states any excess amount above $10,000.00 adjusted for the CPI from 2002 requires the Eligible Mortgage Holders to approve the excess. How many unit owners are there that got hit with this special assessment?

RobertR1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 5,164

Posted:

David,
I am at a lost as to why you can't talk to any Board member and receive an answer to your questions. Do you have an association office, or manager?
How are you structured? Don't your Board members publish a list with each individuals name on the Board? First, find out why you are being assessed. The explanation you gave does not seem proper to me. Are their other associations involved here? You state there was no meeting involved. If so, who decided this levy? Was it the Board? Who signed off on the notice you received, why not call them?

"You state it is your understanding"? What does that mean? Is something listed in the CC&R's? What has the golf course got to do with your association? Surely if your association (not members of the golf club) have any vested interest in the golf course, they need offices and personel to run that operation. What do they say?

Difficult for me to visualize this type of operation that has no contact points for it's members.

🎯 You've read this entire discussion

Join the conversation with 50,000 HOA & Condo Leaders:

✓ Ask follow-up questions
✓ Share your experience
✓ Get expert advice
✓ Access 350,000 discussions

Create Free Account →

⚡ Takes 30 seconds

Already a member? Log in here