[–] FFat20 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
I moved into a community of town homes that had an association a few years back. Total nightmare. We payed about 150 in "maintenance" fees, that basically kept a lawyer on retainer. The board consisted of two retired married couples patrolling our community, dropping off cease and desists for everything. A guy two streets down went to small claims court over his privacy fence. It was 6 feet tall, but the association only allowed up to 4. Iirc he took his circular saw and trimmed two feet off the height.
[–] FFat20 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
They weren't really houses, they were town homes, stacked 6-12 deep. The amount of control they have is all outlined in the contract. I know in ours, they could even control our curtains. The colors had to be solid, no patterns, flags or bed sheets. That place was absolutely horrible, at least once a month we were being notified of an infraction. The idea behind the association is to keep the community presentable, while keeping the riff-raff out. It really depends on how power hungry/bored your board members are.
[–] auto_turret ago
You pay out the ass for spotty at best services, and you pay for some fuckface to tell you what you can and can't do with your own fucking property. You pay for plow trucks that come 3 days after a major snowstorm or not at all. Fuck neighborhood associations. Fuck them so hard. Fuck them to death. This is seriously a sore spot and major MAJOR pet peeve of mine.
[–] pangaea [S] 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
I'm talking about a condo, not a house if that makes any difference. At most there would be a parking lot to plow and you would not have a yard to worry about. If there was a yard it would be a shared one where the association has to take 100% of the responsibility for caring for it anyways.
[–] baneofretail ago (edited ago)
Check your cc&rs and see under article 10, which is generally where the document adresses owners rights. Everything included in that document is a legally binding contract, which you agreed to when you bought the condo.
If it says you pay for cable, you pay for cable, if it dosent, you may still have to pay, same thing with the rec center.
Pissed that you're paying for something your real estate agent didn't disclose, go yell at the agent. Don't yell at the manager, cause he dosent give a shit and you should have read the documents before you bought in. Want to change the documents, get 51 percent of the owners to agree and have them changed.
Welcome to the smallest buracracy in the United states.
Source: Managed condos, and homeowners associations for 3 years, basically making me Hitler.
I actually was told that I was controlling every aspect of someone's life and that I did nothing in the same sentence.
Bonus though, got to hear about someone arrested at a meeting last week after they got caught showering at the pool naked.
[–] [deleted] 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
[–] pangaea [S] ago
I don't see the rules being as much of a problem as they would be for a house (many of the rules people complain about for HOAs are about what you can do with your yard/porch). Realistically, could I be forced into purchasing cable TV even if I don't watch TV? I found this article and it sounds like such a thing might be illegal now http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=3804497&page=1
[–] [deleted] ago (edited ago)