question: We recently read your response to a question about homeowners associations (HOAs) in Maryland that are having trouble attracting people to run for board seats.
We live in a community of 26 single-family homes in the Chicago suburbs. The town we live in told us we could hand over responsibility for the two detention ponds we own to the town and abolish the HOA. They said this would raise his property taxes, but in that case he wouldn’t have to pay HOA fees.
Perhaps this would be difficult to do in a townhouse development, but it’s just a thought.
answer: Thanks for the helpful insight. You make some good points.
Your HOA and previous readers’ HOAs were created to address issues related to community operations, including water storage areas. If managing the water detention area is his HOA’s only duty, it is better to transfer responsibility to the local government if the local government owns all the detention areas and is willing to take sole responsibility. It could be a solution.
You said the local government agreed to do all of this and in return raise property taxes on homes that are part of the HOA. If you and your neighbor agree, you can transfer the land to the municipality. They will pick it up from there.
However, keep in mind that water detention and storage areas often serve other purposes for your HOA as well. In some cases, those areas can be your home’s backyard. Elsewhere, it is a well-used playground when there is no standing water. As long as the HOA manages those areas, the HOA decides how the land is used and by whom.
When local authorities control these areas, they can fence them off for safety reasons. You can also restrict how it can be used and what the surrounding landscape looks like. You may want to abolish associations, but you may not like that local authorities have decided how care in those areas is handled.
As long as the land is owned by the HOA, the HOA must continue to exist. why? Someone has to be responsible for the land. As the owner of the land, the HOA has insurance to cover any accidents that may occur on the land and can choose the landscape. The HOA can also bill the owners for each owner’s share of things like insurance and landscaping costs. He cannot abolish the HOA by simply having the municipality manage the detention center unless all of the association’s obligations are met. will disappear and be taken over by local governments.
And here are the details you need to pay attention to. In some HOAs, the detention area is managed by the association, but the actual detention area is the backyard of the home.those backyards Owned by the homeowner, not the HOA. In this case, the HOA does not own the land, so it is easier to shift the obligation to maintain the detention area.
In your particular situation, trading HOA costs for tax increases seems like a good deal for the community. Did you accept the town’s offer? Before doing so, consult a local real estate attorney. Bring your HOA documents and discuss the details and tradeoffs of your plan. Having an HOA can be a pain, but there’s a reason HOAs were formed and exist. Before deleting an association, you need to make sure you’ve covered all your bases.
A real estate attorney can help you resolve the issues you face. Make sure your attorney is familiar with HOA issues.
(Iliese Grink is the author of “.100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask (4th Edition). She is also the CEO of best money move, a financial wellness technology company. Samuel J. Tamkin is a Chicago-based real estate attorney. Contact Ilyce and Sam through their website. ThinkGlink.com. )
©2023 Ilyce R. Glink and Samuel J. Tamkin. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.