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Florida lawmaker floats ban on HOAs amid growing backlash

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41–50 of 186 posts

Re: Florida lawmaker floats ban on HOAs amid growing backlash

#41

The problem you'll run into is when the HOAs are responsible for common areas or shared infrastructure. In some places the HOAs are responsible for the roads and there may be a common pool, gym, or other amenities. You'd be better off preventing HOAs from doing petty things like requiring homes to be painted certain colors and requiring them to have their books audited yearly to ensure there's no fraud or abuse going…

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Re: Florida lawmaker floats ban on HOAs amid growing backlash

#42
post #27

As a non-American, I've always been surprised with how common HOAs are, and how over-bearing they seem. I know that I only hear about the crazy ones because blogs about normal/good HOAs aren't going viral, but I've seen enough horror stories that if I ever moved to the US I would do my best to avoid one like the plague.

They're not common everywhere in the US. Here in West Michigan I don't know of anyone that's part of one (other than condo associations, where it's part of the selling point).

Re: Florida lawmaker floats ban on HOAs amid growing backlash

#43
What I found ironic when I moved to suburban Virginia is that the same Tea Party, "Don't Tread on Me" conservatives that want to dismantle government love HOAs. I lived in a neighborhood full of them, with the most strict and annoying HOA. We were forced to wait several weeks to replace an actively leaking roof b/c the HOA had to sign off on the shingles -- even though they were the same color/size/etc as the shingles that the house was built with. When we bought the house, the previous owner had to pay fines for installing a fenced doghouse in his back yard w/o their permission.

I really enjoyed it when a halfway house managed to find a loophole in their rules and rented a house down the street. That HOA tried and failed to kick them out..

Re: Florida lawmaker floats ban on HOAs amid growing backlash

#44
post #39
post #6

There will need to be some sort of carve out for towers, condos, townhomes etc. I cannot imagine running a building without an HOA, or some form of it. Who pays for the external repairs? Who pays for shared staff? AC units for a highrise are $2-5M, who is saving for that? This is just typical lawmaker BS, "oh I am going to do away with it", no real plan. If anything just remove the HOA bylaws that are clearly violati…

You can't run into a problem if you are the problem. There is no problem being addressed here. You are salivating over a conversation on "peanut butter bad, lets regulate it!"

I genuinely have no idea what you are trying to say here.

Re: Florida lawmaker floats ban on HOAs amid growing backlash

#45
I am a BOD and Officer in a HOA. This will be messy - we would have to sell all of our common amenities, parking lots, overflow parking lots, playgrounds, gym, pools etc to the government or a private company if this happens. County would have to take over maintenance of our platted common property and property that we mow (and get paid for) by the County. County would have to step up enforcement of parking on street rules, trespassing on what would become County property. What do we do with the $500k we have the operating funds and reserves collected over the past 40 years?

County would have to find another place to do their voting as we have offered our clubhouse for years. We would have to fire our LCAM.

County would have to maintain some expensive drainage and ponds that our HOA manages. Fountains. Weir replacement alone is $250k that we keep up.

Yes, reform HOA laws but abolishing them I am not sure is the right thing to do. It would create such a massive mess and requirement for Counties to maintain things that they don’t currently manage. It may lead to these areas to incorporate because then you would end up with City based code enforcement.

HOA reserve funds (not Condo) needs to be relooked at. We have healthy reserves because we have been keeping on top of reserve studies.

Be careful what you ask for is all I am saying.

Re: Florida lawmaker floats ban on HOAs amid growing backlash

#46
post #22
post #6

There will need to be some sort of carve out for towers, condos, townhomes etc. I cannot imagine running a building without an HOA, or some form of it. Who pays for the external repairs? Who pays for shared staff? AC units for a highrise are $2-5M, who is saving for that? This is just typical lawmaker BS, "oh I am going to do away with it", no real plan. If anything just remove the HOA bylaws that are clearly violati…

A HOA for a highrise is a very different beast than a HOA for a suburban neighborhood. That is, I agree - but the suburban SFH HOAs are shitshows.

Probably true in general but, to the degree there are shared areas, someone needs to assess and allocate costs which isn't always obvious. Not really suburban but I have a relative who lives on a private road with other houses and (primarily) plowing and road maintenance needs to be dealt with.

I agree that "your lawn isn't neat enough" HOAs are generally a plague at least up to a certain point.

Re: Florida lawmaker floats ban on HOAs amid growing backlash

#48
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those things are usually rentals here in Florida. HOAs are a real problem here due to the legal protection they have. They can literally take your house because your mailbox is blue.

> They can literally take your house because your mailbox is blue. This is hard to believe. Have you got a source?

One of the remedies HOAs typically possess is the ability to put a lien on your property. The end game to one of these liens can be complicated, but losing your house is among them.

Re: Florida lawmaker floats ban on HOAs amid growing backlash

#49
post #6

There will need to be some sort of carve out for towers, condos, townhomes etc. I cannot imagine running a building without an HOA, or some form of it. Who pays for the external repairs? Who pays for shared staff? AC units for a highrise are $2-5M, who is saving for that? This is just typical lawmaker BS, "oh I am going to do away with it", no real plan. If anything just remove the HOA bylaws that are clearly violati…

Not all townhomes have HOAs but it is absolutely insane to say a townhouse that does, where land is owned by the HOA, would have land redistributed to various individuals by legislature fiat. It's even a crazy proposal for detached single family homes. Will a government official show up and decide what land is owned by each owner and record by government decree what the new property lines are?

It’s not insane. Many apartment buildings in Europe work exactly like that.

Re: Florida lawmaker floats ban on HOAs amid growing backlash

#50
post #6

There will need to be some sort of carve out for towers, condos, townhomes etc. I cannot imagine running a building without an HOA, or some form of it. Who pays for the external repairs? Who pays for shared staff? AC units for a highrise are $2-5M, who is saving for that? This is just typical lawmaker BS, "oh I am going to do away with it", no real plan. If anything just remove the HOA bylaws that are clearly violati…

Are HOA officials elected by the residents? I live in a country where building management is compulsory and their meetings are subject to law and even can be witnessed by state officials. I know it sounds a bit fascist and I can't say it isn't, but that's how buildings are taken care of. If you don't like the management you can change it in the next meeting if you gather enough support.

By the way land is usually collectively owned by the apartment owners too.

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