Both Maryland, needs improvement, and Virgina have enacted part or all of the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act. Which offer the guidelines that governs how these communities are cared for from day to day with regards themselves and the greater community. Link to American Bars 2008 updated Act
What happens without an HOAACT? Who knows...................................over all.............
What we do know is that DC home-buyers are not told that the community they are moving into have covenants on the land, along with bylaws, and that the community is a private non-stock company with Articles of Incorporation let lone the amendments and they are resposbile as a board of directors made up of unit owner to govern this whole thing themselves. We'll leave the DC property managers out of this for now.
From that basic misstep the potential for the new homeowners and the community to have a successful relationship is shot at the frontgate.These HOA's because we don't have an HOAACT have no way to compel the homeowners to pay their assessments and if folks have not been paying mortgages ~anyone reading this want to still pretend they are paying their community bills.
As for these bills since we don't have an HOAACT there is no requirement that financial disclosure be made to new owners; So they have no budget or audited statement to judge the communities health as our CONDO ACT requires and seem like a pretty crazy way to make the biggest investment of most of our life's. Yet in DC you have to talk about the nutrition in a burger.
On the homeowners side since there is not HOACT there is no requirement to have open meetings and the minutes or any accounting of the boards actions are not required to be made available to anyone.. Want to guess what happens when a board goes bad and the funds disappear from the bank accounts. Ask the communities in across the District that are having this happen to them now.
We where told years ago by one of the biggest banks that their underwriters were not going to fund anymore HOA developments in DC until DC enacted a HOACT. This same bank has now stopped all foreclosures and guess what they are the owners of these units and because no one in DC tracks HOAs their is no way to get these banks to pay assessments.
These same banks are going to turn around and sell these homes back to someone and they are not required to tell the new owners it's in a HOA and that the HOA is broke because the same bank, along with FANNIE MAE, FREDDY MAC, HUD and VA are not paying their bills either.
All the while Pepco is raising your streetlights & common area electrical rates, the District is going to increase the taxes on your property which since we dont have an HOAACT there is no common area it's all considered FRONTFOOTAGE.
Right now in Anacostia there is a community that has a fence falling down that DCRA is fining them on again and again. The sad fact of the matter is that since there is no HOAACT the community cannot get the members to pay their bills. Which means at times they face losing street lights, gas and water. Yet DC gov keep attacking them over a fence when DC is pretty much stilling their throats at the closing table.
So far we have talked to
Council members, Marion Berry, Mary Cheh, Michel Brown, Kwame Brown, Vince Gray, and Phil Mendelson and will be following up with them on our conversation as to how to move forward with bring the District into the 21 century.
This effects 100s of communities and thousands of homeowners is a very simple to fix. BTW The only folks that are going to stand in the way are the ones that presently profit from the whole mess and we have a town full of them profiting away. Everyday this is not enacted is another day that very bad thing are happening in these communities some so back whole communities are trying to declare bankruptcy.
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