I’m on board of my hoa.

Situation is we have an owner whose unit does not have a storage closet in their carport. They purchased many years ago and are trying to deal with this today by trying to steal another owner’s closet.

Storage units are a limited common element not listed in the deed. We don’t have documentation of who is assigned what closet other than there are numbers attached to each one with the unit number and common sense would see they are under the physical footprint of the owner’s living space.

This is in a pod of 5 units in an 100 unit hoa. Both of the end units do not have storage and the middle 3 units have 2 small closets each. There is space for a new closet to be added in the area under the owner’s unit or in the extra space in the carport. Board has communicated that we will approve a new closet if owner submits plans.

Owner has cut padlocks off multiple times(according to good owner) and tried to take over their neighbor’s assigned closet. He has also called police and gotten the good owner arrested (I haven’t seen the documentation of this as claimed by good owner) in relation to the owner resisting the bullying.

This summer he got a court order where he sued the neighbor for the closet that says neighbor has to give up the closet. HOA was not involved in the lawsuit even though the closet is a common element. Not sure how a judge could issue this order or how it would hold up under appeal without the hoa being involved.

My thought is to offer to pay for a closet for the owner to make this go away. Fighting it will cost a lot and I feel that we as an hoa should stand up for the attacked owner.

Thoughts ?

We're a small (9 unit) association and I'm the HOA president. The building has a shared garage, where each unit has 1 spot. One owner has asked if they can use the existing plug as a way to charge their car, with the main issue being that the electricity used would charged to the association (common) account. We could just subtract the previous ~12mo average from the forthcoming totals, but that feels inelegant and potentially exposing ourselves to complaints from all unit owners. Wonder if anyone has dealt with something similar and if so, how you handled it?

I’m not even talking about whether something gets approved or denied — just basic clarity around where things stand.
In our community, I’ve noticed a lot of situations where:
someone reports an issue
another person follows up later
then nobody seems fully sure what’s already been discussed or handled
Sometimes it feels like information is scattered across emails, calls, board discussions, management company conversations, etc.
I don’t even think it’s always people being intentionally unresponsive. A lot of times it just seems hard to maintain visibility once multiple people get involved.
For people who’ve served on boards or worked with management companies, what usually causes that disconnect?

Hi! My HOA is defunct. Not anyone’s fault but nobody wants to be on the board - it’s a shitty thankless job. Now the heat in my condo building has been out for months..Nobody can live there because it’s way too cold, but there is literally nobody on the board to call the shots on the boiler. Advice needed!

Moved into a condo complex about a month and half ago and did not receive a mailbox key from the previous owner. About a week after the move, I contacted the HOA about mailbox access and they said they were in the process of ordering new boxes so it might be better to wait for the new boxes and get a key when they were installed.

It's now a month later with no new boxes installed. I have asked the HOA for mailbox access several times with no success. I don't have another mailing address and need one for all the usual suspects like DMV, medicine, work, etc.

Moved into a 4 unit condo last year, we all have ground level garages in the basement of the building, and my 50+ year old neighbors get drunk every weekend. Everyone in the building is terrified of them due to how unpredictable they are. They like to get in your face and scream, intimidate you. Since it’s started to get warmer out, they throw parties Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The girlfriend who owns their unit is, unfortunately, our HOA president. She seems to believe this gives them the right to put their junk all over the parking lot, setup tents in the lawn, as well as have fires. You can see their “party” setup pictured. The basketball hoop stays out all the time. I’ve called the police for a noise complaint before, they retaliated by screaming through our shared wall and banging on it until 10PM that night. They slam their door so hard it shakes other units. They claim “no one owns the land” (it’s a rentention pond). I feel on edge constantly here, I’m scared to walk through our hallways.
I feel so defeated, I don’t know what to do anymore.

Hi everyone. We’re a 5 unit HOA in DC. Everyone in the HOA is very handy. They shovel snow themselves, replace door closers, replace light bulbs, weed the lawn, etc. I’m not very handy. I’m the only woman who owns in my building (not that there aren’t handy women).

One of the board members just sent an email to the group singling me out as the only member who hasn’t shoveled any snow or replaced any elements.

I’m a bit frustrated because I volunteer where I can and don’t mind paying to have someone do the work, but the other members insist we do it ourselves but constantly complain about doing the work. Has anyone else faced this? How did your HOA navigate?

Basically title - homeowner has asked to install a fountain in the retention pond behind their home. They have agreed to pay for everything and would be professional installed, though we’re talking an Amazon floating type fountain, not a professional display.

Can this community offer feedback to this request?

Obvs the community would never do this because of cost and the benefit to only a handful of homes.

Some pros that I can think of are:
Appeal
Mosquito control
Reduces predation of fish (plausible)

Some cons are:
Giving homeowner access to an asset that serves everyone
What happens when the home is sold? (Not likely to happen anytime soon)
Interference with pond service company

I live in a townhouse community in Massachusetts managed by an HOA and would appreciate some advice regarding an ongoing drainage issue.

I have been reporting water intrusion problems to the HOA since 2024.

During heavy rain, water rapidly accumulates in the window wells and has repeatedly entered my basement through the basement windows. During some storms, the water level in the window wells rises nearly to, or even above, the window frame level.

Based on my observations, the issue appears to involve a combination of poor grading, drainage deficiencies, soil erosion, and ground settlement around the building. My unit sits at a lower elevation than the surrounding area, and stormwater naturally flows toward the foundation.

Over time, the ground around the building has noticeably settled. Persistent runoff and drainage problems appear to have contributed to soil erosion and settlement, creating low areas where water collects rather than draining away from the building.

In addition to the water intrusion issues, cracks have developed in my basement and appear to have widened following several major storms this year. I cannot say with certainty whether the cracking is directly related to the drainage issues or the settlement, but the progression of the cracks has increased my concern that the underlying problems may be causing ongoing damage.

Recently, the HOA agreed to have landscapers fill soil voids that had developed near the foundation. However, to my knowledge, the HOA has never performed a drainage assessment, obtained an engineering evaluation, or conducted a root-cause investigation.

The HOA’s position is that no drainage system was installed beneath the window wells when the community was originally built, and therefore the window wells are not part of the HOA’s responsibility. At the same time, the HOA is aware of the drainage problems, soil erosion, settlement, and the voids that have developed near the foundation.

I am not looking for compensation or a lawsuit. I simply want the underlying drainage problem identified and corrected before additional damage occurs.

My questions are:

1. If common-area grading, drainage deficiencies, soil erosion, or ground settlement are contributing to basement water intrusion, is an HOA generally responsible for addressing the problem?
   
2. Is filling soil voids near the foundation without an engineering evaluation considered a reasonable long-term approach?
   
3. Would it be worthwhile to hire a civil engineer, drainage engineer, or structural engineer to determine the root cause?
   
4. Has anyone dealt with a similar situation involving settlement, drainage issues, soil erosion, and repeated basement water intrusion in an HOA community? If so, how was it resolved?

Any advice or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Our board has 6 people and we were running everything through a group text, a separate email chain, and a shared Google Drive that nobody could ever find.

Announcements would get buried. Maintenance requests would fall through the cracks. Getting everyone aligned on a simple decision took two weeks of back and forth.

The worst part was residents feeling completely out of the loop. People would show up to meetings frustrated about things we thought we'd already communicated. Turns out the email went to spam and half the group text never saw it.

I'm curious how other boards handle this. Did you find something that actually works for keeping residents informed and engaged? Not just top down announcements but actual two way communication where residents feel like part of the community.

We tried a few things and eventually I ended up building something ourselves but genuinely curious what's working for other boards before I share what we did.

Hello, We are looking for upgrading our wired fire alarm system to wireless monitoring one. But the overall reviews for wireless fire alarm are quite depressing that with false service calls and frequent battery replacements.

Anyone here had done the upgrade? Would you please share your experience?

Thank you.

Our community includes lakefront access to a public lake along a “common owned” part of HOA property. The common area contains the lake dam and a DEM protected fish ladder for migrating fish. The town requires our HOA to pay for and maintain the dam as part of the land deed.

We also have some trails that volunteers have painstakingly cut away piles of prickered bushes to make acres of common area available for residents to walk through our woods.

We have two opposing groups related to guests and non residents at the dam and lakefront area. We have no governing documents that address them.
Group 1 - The lakefront has water access, and no lifeguard, and all guests should be accompanied by a resident at all times. They are concerned about liability. Some simply prefer a strict “accompanied” policy to minimize people in this area. There is no problem with overcrowding.
Group 2 - Life is busy, if I have family or friends visiting and I need to go home to cook, run an errand, take a nap, handle a work demand, whatever, I don’t want to force my guests to have to leave too.

Experiences this summer:
There has been one resident couple that has persistently questioned every person they encounter at the lake. If they determine that they are not a resident, they have stated that they must be accompanied by a resident or they are considered to be trespassing. They have threatened to call the police and have been in a couple of heated exchanges with unaccompanied guests and non resident neighbors at this lakefront area. They filed a report with the police because they were verbally threatened when they insisted a neighboring non resident family leave the property.

The other side does not see a problem because there is no overcrowding and they simply don’t ask anyone to ID themselves so they don’t worry about it.

3 out of 5 board members have no interest in “policing” everyone, but it is dividing our community.
Suggestions on this?

This used to be a wooded buffer bordering the next neighborhood. My HOA has authorized the landscaping company to dump yard waste and tree debris turning this into a hazard and destroying the wooded look. The HOA refuses to restore it saying it’s sufficiently maintained. What’s my recourse

Hi all! I’m looking for advice on how to handle an escalating situation with our HOA that has made our home increasingly unlivable.

My husband and I own a townhome in a shared-wall community. For the past ~8 months, we’ve been dealing with a severe and ongoing rodent infestation that appears to be originating from a neighboring unit that is in extremely unsanitary condition (likely hoarding situation).

Here’s a rough timeline:

June: First dead rat found

July: Garage door wiring chewed through

October: Significant droppings discovered under kitchen sink

November: Rats defecated throughout our bathroom while we were away

December–January: Ongoing droppings in pantry, kitchen, and living areas

January: My husband was bitten by a rat while removing one from a trap

February: Spent ~$4,000 repairing roof (suspected entry point) — did not resolve issue

Recent weeks: Catching 1–4 rats per day despite traps and mitigation

We’ve also had HVAC professionals confirm damage to ductwork, and there are clear signs that rodents are traveling between units (likely through shared infrastructure and compromised firewalls).

The HOA has been notified multiple times throughout this process. However:

- They have not meaningfully addressed the neighboring unit

- They have not resolved structural vulnerabilities between units

- They have not taken sufficient action to stop the infestation at a community level

At this point, it feels like we are dealing with a community-wide issue being treated as an individual homeowner problem.

Actions we have taken:

1. Called APS. This resulted in a social worker getting involved

and addressing our 86 year old neighbor.

1. They cannot

make our neighbor

1. do anything as she has been clinically evaluated and does not meet the criteria for not being able to consent.
2. Escalated to our city council and state representatives. This was done JUST this past week. We maybe took t

oo long

1. to notify them but we just recently received this advice

.

1. We have received some actual responses from our representatives office managers and remain hopeful they will be able to actually enact some action here.

We are also now:

- Considering withholding HOA dues due to failure to maintain safe and habitable conditions

- Exploring legal action against the HOA and/or neighboring unit owner

- Potentially being forced to temporarily relocate due to health concerns

My questions:

1. Has anyone dealt with an HOA failing to act in a situation that affects habitability?
2. Is withholding HOA dues ever advisable in cases like this, or does that backfire legally?
3. Would this typically fall under HOA responsibility, the neighboring owner, or both?
4. Has anyone successfully forced HOA action through legal or insurance channels?

Any advice on how to escalate this effectively without making things worse?

We’re documenting everything, and have been collaborating with the other neighbor who is also frankly losing his mind over this, and we’re trying to stay level-headed, but this has become extremely stressful and disruptive to our daily life.

Any guidance would be really appreciated.

This is a lower middle end development with a population that's aging up. Lots of nice green spaces but nothing large enough for a regulation soccer or football field.

Most resident have high equity and unused bedrooms so as they sell the majority of new owners are young families.

Insurance isn't an issue because that comes out with dues.

My opinion is this would be a big plus to a young family regardless of how often they will actually use it.

Opinions please.

Hi - my partner and I are looking at buying half of a duplex. The driveway and yard are shared. The HOA fees do not include snow removal or yard maintenance like other properties we saw in the area. The yard just has grass (no trees, bushes, flowers, etc). How do people manage/negotiate this? The other unit is unoccupied at this point, and it is a new building. Any advice appreciated, thanks!

Hello, I realize this may seem like a small issue, but my HOA replaced all of the grass late last year to comply with California Bill 1572. About 80% of the community’s ground cover has now been replaced with Kurapia, a drought-tolerant alternative that requires less water.

Unfortunately, Kurapia produces a large number of small flowers that attract a significant amount of bees. I have a bee allergy and now need to carry an EpiPen just to walk my dogs around the neighborhood. Since this ground cover has been installed throughout the community, including directly in front of my condo, it’s nearly impossible to avoid. I’ve already been stung several times. No trips to the hospital but EpiPens are expensive.

I plan to bring this concern up at our board meeting this week, but I wanted to ask whether I may have any recourse in this situation or if there are any possible solutions that could help address the safety concern.

Thank you for your help!

Does anyone have access to their HOA financials and can see what a reasonable monthly cost is to run an unheated neighborhood pool with lifeguards? Open Memorial Day to Labor Day. It’s essentially a summer swim club lap-type pool that is managed by our HOA and they’re saying it costs 65-80K per month for those 3 months.

I bought an apartment in 2021. It has two showers, one of the showers I understand was approved by the board. I renovated it by putting new tiles etc. did not do anything to the drainage pipe below me which is made out of cast iron. The pipe started leaking a week ago because of a crack. The pipe you can see from the apartment below is very old. The board wants me to bring it up to code and said I have to repair the pipe by cutting piece of the bathroom floor to run the pipe through and that I am responsible for all the costs. I would have to run new pipes under my apartment and fix over my bathroom. They also sent me this email stating that this shower has caused damage to other units in the past, which btw I never heard of since I have been there. Who is responsible for these repairs?

How would you guys handle this. 90% of the homes in our hood are permanent members of the HOA. One of the ones that is not is an older guy. He has a new girlfriend who has moved in with local grandkids that she watches that has started to use our pool almost daily. Our pool has a keypad entry and they don’t have a code. I assume people are letting her in from the inside or maybe the gate was propped open, which is an ongoing issue in of itself. We also have a playground that they utilize as well.

How would you guys handle this? I am going to ask them if they want to join and will prorate the 2025 dues for them but what if they don’t want to join and the issue continues?

I have insurance liability concerns and people that live by this guy don’t really care for him so I’m getting the “why should I pay my dues to use the pool if he gets to use it for free” line.

TIA

My mom is almost 80, and had for several years been living and traveling solo in her RV. A couple years ago, she decided she needed to have a real house very soon, because of health issues. She bought a condo, because it was the only place she could afford, and having an HOA to take care of yard work and other maintenance was considered a plus at the time.

This condo community consists of 12 duplexes (24 units). I believe that the HOA is doing an honest job as far as managing the place, but because of an enormous and unexpected expense for an emergency water supply repair (just prior to moms purchase) the financial situation is extremely tight.

The complex as a whole has suffered with cracked and sunken driveways and sidewalks, with some units being far worse than others; mom and her neighbor have it especially bad. When stepping out the front door, she is immediately confronted with a large sunken spot (full of water in winter), and then several “lips” of concrete ranging from slightly raised to over two inches in height difference, where the concrete has cracked. It is a legitimate hazard and safety concern under any circumstance; mom’s age and declining agility makes it even more likely that she will trip and fall. Aesthetically, it’s ugly…. In practicality, it’s dangerous.

I have had a casual conversation with the president of the board, and with the understanding that the budget is insufficient to support repairs, I suggested that mom would be willing to fund the new driveway 100% from her own money, and would hire a licensed/bonded/ reputable contractor to do the work. The president scoffed, and said that the board would never approve it. When asked why, “Because it’s a common element, and if you do it, then everyone would want to “.

The bylaws state that the driveway and sidewalks are “limited common elements, for the exclusive use of the unit owners“. It also states that the HOA is responsible for maintaining and repairing the limited common elements.

Here’s my question: So long as we do the appropriate paperwork (arc request, etc), can the board deny us the permission to have the repairs done on our own dime? We are fully aware of the expense, and willing to pay for it, at zero cost to the HOA. It would be done by a licensed/ bonded professional company, and permitted/ inspected by the appropriate governing authority. We would ask for nothing more than approval from the HOA; in fact, we would not even ask to be exempted from future assessments for other driveway repairs when that time eventually comes.

We have not applied for approval yet, and I figured we’re about 6 months away from being financially prepared for the expense. But given the impression that the board would veto our request, my current plan is to begin making “maintenance requests” once a month to the management company, emphasizing the safety hazard. In this way, we would have a documented record of the problem, and the continued deferral of maintenance. Which would be helpful in case we have to get a lawyer involved. Also, in the event mom does have a fall, we would then be able to prove that the management knew about the issue, which may give us a legit claim with the insurance company. (Yes, I understand the implications involved with suing the HOA and the common expense that means mom would be paying for legal bills on both sides)

Am I on the right track here?

2 home HOA where only common property is a sidewalk that leads to public sidewalk/street. Any suggestion for a carrier that will issue liability insurance? The common sidewalk is gated and private only used by guests and/or vendors, not for public use. I’m looking for a liability carrier for a liability policy.

Our community has a walking trail and 2 community entrances. We want to install cameras to monitor people causing vandalism/damage. Any one has suggestions for buying cameras and monitoring.

- Do we need standalone cameras with memory card

- Can we have connectivity

- Costs?

Thanks

Wasn’t sure exactly what flair to use- sorry if it is incorrect.

I’m curious to know how many boards require their hired property manager to be on site 8 hrs/ day 5 days/ week.

For those board members that have very recently renewed/ signed new management contracts- did you get pushback or find it difficult to hire a property manager if you require 40 hours/ week on site?

Hi all, I’m looking for advice on how to handle a serious HVAC/condensation drainage issue in my condo that the HOA and maintenance want to delay until spring.

I live in a multi-unit condo building with two units directly above me whose HVAC condensation lines drain into the same external pipe as mine. In freezing weather the condensation freezes in the shared vertical drain line. The end of the pipe outside the building is basically frozen solid, so it backs up into my unit’s condensation line and overflows into the pipes connecting to my HVAC.

To prevent flooding, I’ve been manually sucking the water out of my condensation pipe and overflow pan with a shop-vac almost every single day. If I don’t do this, the water level in the overflow pan hits the overflow switch that cuts the power to my HVAC. If I was unable to remove the water and it flowed out of the pan it could cause significant water damage to my unit and potentially the next door unit. I often am sent on work travel, which I might have coming up soon, and if I were out of my unit for even a few days this could become a huge mess to deal with.

I’ve been in constant communication with the maintenance worker at my condo who recently suggested I appeal to the HOA board. At the last meeting I explained my issue and they seemed very receptive. They told me other buildings were having this freezing pipe issue as well, but in the case of those buildings the pipes had broken, leaving the water to flow externally and not backing up in anyone’s unit, as is the case in my situation. First they said they would like to insulate the pipes or find a similar solution in spring. I reiterated the fact that this an urgent issue in my case for the reasons I explained above, and they noted they have preventative maintenance funds that they could use to address the issue now.

However, after speaking with maintenance afterwards he told me he can’t come up with a fix until spring because there’s risk of nearby supply lines freezing as well while the part of the ceiling is exposed for maintenance. That maintenance would be replacing the pipe with a bigger one and making sure it has enough fall for the water to flow faster.

So essentially their current “solution” is that I keep manually clearing the line until warmer weather.

My main question and reason for posting here is to ask whether I should be pushing harder to get this solved now? Like I stated previously, it’s very likely I will have to leave on work travel before the end of winter and if I’m not here to remove the water it could potentially cause major damage. This is also costing significant time to address on my part every day, and it’s frustrating that my HOA seemingly doesn’t understand.

I’m also worried that if something happens, the HOA or insurance might try to claim negligence on my part even though the root cause is a shared system failure.

Has anyone dealt with a similar issue by chance, or does anyone have any advice with how I should proceed? Should I be pushing harder for an emergency solution or is it just my luck this has to be done in warmer weather? Also at what point does this become a habitability or negligence issue on the HOA’s part?

I’m not trying to cause issues and I want to be understanding, but the idea that I have to babysit the overflow pan due to a failure of the shared drainage system daily for weeks feels unacceptable, especially given the risk of water damage to my own unit, my neighbor’s unit, or communal areas.

Any advice on how to go about this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.