HOA question

[ElizK]

Our next door neighbors did some kind of deal with a 3rd party to avoid foreclosure. I don't know the details of it, but the result is someone living in the house that has no knowledge/no signed agreement re the rules of the our HOA. Are they still responsible for following those rules? What can the HOA do if they don't?

 

[diznygirl]

The homeowner is ultimately responsible for anyone living in their home. If the tenants aren't following the rules, the homeowner gets fined.

 

[ElizK]

I don't think it is a rental situation. I think they're buying it, maybe on a short sale.

 

[okeydokey]

Do they know the rules? The president of the HOA should bring them a copy if they don't already have one.

If they buy the house, they will be responsible to the HOA to follow the rules, just like everyone else.

 

[java]

If you buy a house in an area with a hoa- they documents should be handed over at the sale. Short sale or not. Part of our covenants state that hoa rules need to be signed before a house can be sold in the development. I don't know if that's legal or not? but I know they took one family that was a third owner of the property to court over a pool and the HOA won -

 

[amyren]

If you buy a house in an area with a hoa- they documents should be handed over at the sale. Short sale or not. Part of our covenants state that hoa rules need to be signed before a house can be sold in the development.

Same with our neighborhood. The realtor showed us our HOA covenants before we ever put an offer on the house.
Who manages your HOA? We have an outside management company. They make sure that new home owners are up to date.

 

[diznygirl]

The title company provides the covenants to the new owners. Our HOA requires a paper be signed saying the new owners received them.

 

[tvguy]

I agree, if they are buying, they had to get a copy of the rules.

Now......sometimes HOA rules and CC& R's can be out of date, and the HOA doesn't want to spend the money to update them, so everyone just ignores those rules.
A coworker is Asian and was shocked to discover her CC&R's ban Asians from living there "unless they are domestic help". Those rules were drafted in the 1930's, and the HOA just decided since it would be illegal to enforce that rule, and the cost of refiling the rules is so high, it will just ignore the rules.
A more modern and common rule that is illegal is one that bans the placement of TV Antennas, or satellite dishes on homes. FCC rules, that were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court say it is illegal to ban antennas and satellite dishes. The only thing the HOA can do is establish rules for how they are attached to houses.

 

[ElizK]

Thanks for the responses. I appreciate it!

The situation:

The people living in the house worked some kind of weird deal with the broker our neighbors were working with. They basically "rented" the house. In the past, these people have rented houses going into foreclosure from this broker before in order to fix it up so it can be sold, but they plan to stay in this one. In other words, there has been no closing, so they probably have never seen the HOA rules.

 

[bicker]

So theoretically, the bank is the owner, and so the HOA would have to take action (if any action is to be taken) against the bank (assuming that there aren't state laws protecting the state from having the rules imposed against them).