Homeowner's Association Question

[Redskin Rich]

Originally Posted by onlydarksets

I would definitely question the basis of their authority to require you to join where it had been permissive before. However, this would require scrutinizing deed recordings. If it's in one of the recorded deeds, you were on constructive notice, so you may be screwed. You can contest it without an attorney, but you will need an attorney to fight it.

Oh come on... I can tell that TMC has a little Johnny Cochoran in him. If the HOA don't fit, then they must go to "H" "E" Double hockey sticks...

Actually, I think our resident Warpath Council has solid advice and you should retain him... the retainer could be giving him a positive feedback rating on here (ya know, the barter system).

[TheMalcolmConnection]

Originally Posted by onlydarksets

I would definitely question the basis of their authority to require you to join where it had been permissive before. However, this would require scrutinizing deed recordings. If it's in one of the recorded deeds, you were on constructive notice, so you may be screwed. You can contest it without an attorney, but you will need an attorney to fight it.

What do you mean here? Like making 100% sure we didn't sign anything forcing us to join? Because I know for a fact (I researched this house VERY thoroughly before we bought it) that joining this was optional.

[FRPLG]

Originally Posted by TheMalcolmConnection

What do you mean here? Like making 100% sure we didn't sign anything forcing us to join? Because I know for a fact (I researched this house VERY thoroughly before we bought it) that joining this was optional.

HOAs can be explicitly stated within the deed of your house. IE: if it says in your deed that it is required then you are screwed, I would imagine there is a chance you didn't peruse the deed for this since most people don't understand that is where the basis for requiring owenrs to join is. That is the only place a mandatory HOA would be defined is.

[TheMalcolmConnection]

Excellent. There's NO mention of a mandatory HOA in our deed.

[onlydarksets]

Just to be clear - I do corporate transactional law, and I hated property in law school. So, although I am a VA attorney, I don't deal with this at all.

That said, what you may have here is an equitable servitude. Basically, that means a developer can put an HOA obligation with the initial purchasers' deeds, and then it doesn't have to be included in subsequent purchasers deeds. In order to determine this, you need to have someone do a title search to pull up all of the prior deeds, and then review each one for the HOA language.

Again, though, you can contest it without an attorney. At the least, tell them that you don't have any record of such an obligation, and you would like to know what they believe the basis of their authority is. That will at least help you figure out where to look.

[EternalEnigma21]

you definitely need the title research done... that's not something you're gonna have sitting in a drawer like an addendum to the purchase contract or anything.

[TheMalcolmConnection]

But what you think it was a good bet it wasn't included considering our real estate company checked it out beforehand just to make sure?

[onlydarksets]

I'm sure your agent had a title check done at closing, but I don't know if an HOA is the type of thing that they would be looking for.

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by dmek25

the homeowners ass. has no right as far as what will be built on that other land anyway. but they can keep the existing development held to a higher standard

Thats not always true. In our area there was a townhouse development which surrounded 6 arc for the townhouse development to turn into a play ground. When the play ground was finished the developer would deed the lan over to the association. Well about ten years went by and the field was nothing but knee to wast high grass. The builder went to the city to get a permit to build on that land. The association faught him over the land at a cityhall meeting and he won. He later gave back 3 acr and built on the other three.

As for the main question

You should have received paper work for you and your wife to sign notifing you of the HOA. You should have received a copy of the buy laws before closing. Our HOA is voluntary and the dues are around $25 per year and all they do is keep up with whats going on in the area making sure that no one is going to bull dose over our houses.

[skinsguy]

Wow, I'm glad that I live in a rural area where there's basically no such thing as a homeowner's association. It's expensive enough to own a home let alone someone sitting around thinking of more ways of extracting money out of ya.

[TheMalcolmConnection]

Originally Posted by skinsguy

Wow, I'm glad that I live in a rural area where there's basically no such thing as a homeowner's association. It's expensive enough to own a home let alone someone sitting around thinking of more ways of extracting money out of ya.

Sad part, this IS a rural area. We live about 10 miles outside of the nearest town.

[onlydarksets]

Originally Posted by firstdown

You should have received paper work for you and your wife to sign notifing you of the HOA. You should have received a copy of the buy laws before closing.

They should have, but they not necessarily would have.

[TheMalcolmConnection]

The only paper work we've gotten from them was them begging us to join this thing about a year ago when we moved in. Since then, they've sent us two letters asking us to join and this is how much our dues are. NOW the last letter says it's mandatory...

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by TheMalcolmConnection

The only paper work we've gotten from them was them begging us to join this thing about a year ago when we moved in. Since then, they've sent us two letters asking us to join and this is how much our dues are. NOW the last letter says it's mandatory...

If your in VA. I believe its law that you are notified of any HOA and you have to sign a form saying that you are aware of the HOA. I also believe they have to give you a copy of the Bylaws before closing. This should have been done by the settelment Aty or co.. Have you looked through your closing file to see if that form was included?

[TheMalcolmConnection]

I have and it wasn't, so I'm hoping that's a good sign.