Can My HOA Do This? This week’s column was written by my law partner Cynthia Jones, who is licensed to practice law in North and South Carolina. Question:  I live in a planned community in South Carolina that has deed restrictions. The restrictive covenants say nothing about homeowners’ association (HOA) assessments and have no provisions that allow for the restrictions to be amended. Is it legal for my homeowners’ association to amend the covenants to impose mandatory HOA assessments or fines …

Should Using the Pool Cost You More? Question:  Are there any homeowners associations (“HOAs”) that assess dues to different homes based upon the individual homeowners’ use of or impact on the neighborhood amenities?  Our community includes private streets that the HOA pays to maintain. We have residents that live in the front of the development that say they should pay a lower assessment rate because they don’t use all of the streets. The HOA’s board of directors feels that this is …

Dealing with a Difficult Developer Question:  The developer of our community is refusing to turn over control of our homeowners’ association (HOA) to the homeowners even though all of the houses are sold. He maintains that he owns the two streets in our small subdivision and has filed paperwork to turn them over to the state of North Carolina, but until that happens he won’t relinquish control of the HOA. The HOA is effectively being run by one person, who is …

E-mail Intelligence – Does Your Board Possess it? This week’s column was written by my colleague Donna Dimaggio Berger. Donna is a Shareholder in the law firm of Becker & Poliakoff and is the author of the popular Community Association Law blog which can be found at www.communityassociationlawblog.com.   Today, I am discussing the pros and cons of homeowners’ association (HOA) board members and managers using email for community correspondence, and how to craft a sound email policy for your association. …

HOA Boards must be wary of potential conflicts of interest Question:  What is a reasonable course of action for homeowners who have legitimate concerns about a board member with a clear conflict of interest? For example, say a homeowners’ association (HOA) has a board member who is also a contractor specializing in replacing siding. This person, along with the other board members, makes the decision to interpret a provision of the restrictive covenants (the CCRs) that requires homes to have a …

Can an HOA collect after a mortgage foreclosure? Question:  When there are past-due HOA assessments for a property, and a mortgage lender forecloses on the property and takes title, who can the HOA collect the unpaid HOA assessments from following the foreclosure? Answer:  This is a follow-up question from a column I wrote in 2015 that can be found here: https://carolinacommonelements.com/2015/05/01/after-foreclosure-who-pays-past-hoa-dues/ In a typical mortgage foreclosure, the foreclosing lender has a first-priority lien on the property, which means that the foreclosure …

GOLF CART CRUISIN’ ON PUBLIC ROADS This week’s column was written by Bill Hamel. A few years ago I wrote an article titled “Is Golf Cart Cruisin’ Legal?” that addressed whether it was legal to operate a traditional golf cart on a public road in North Carolina. My answer then was “no,” and that answer remains the same today—unless you turn your golf cart into an electric car and register it with the DMV, or, more realistically, you are in …

Must HOA’s act to end discriminatory actions by others? A few years ago one of our HOA clients came to us with a discrimination lawsuit that had been filed against them by the local housing agency.  Apparently a group of homeowners had started a Facebook page using the HOA’s name, without the HOA’s knowledge or authorization, and were posting disparaging and racially-charged comments about a particular family in the neighborhood.  While the HOA board had nothing to do with this …

Assessment Issues; Does Developer Owe Dues? Question:  I was delinquent in my mortgage payments and was facing foreclosure. I also had a separate lien against my property for nonpayment of HOA dues. Fortunately, I was able to sell my home via a “short sale.” In connection with the short sale, my mortgage lender removed the HOA lien from the property in order to transfer ownership to the buyer. However, the HOA is now saying that it is going to seek a …

Developer Giving Homeowners the “Cold Shoulder”? Question: I live in an HOA-governed community in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, that is still under the developer’s control. It’s been over two years since an annual meeting of the HOA was held, and the developer refuses to schedule one. Some homeowners want to withhold payment of the annual assessments, but they fear the repercussions for doing so (late fees, interest, liens, etc.) Answer: The North Carolina Planned Community Act (“PCA”), which is a body …