The wife and I are attempting to make our first purchase on a TH and we put in an offer recentally. We were informed there were 6 HOA violations. A few were minor, such as not having a storm door (yet having the trim for the door) and a few seem to be more significant.
It seems that the porch and the fence were not HOA approved. We just found this out today and we haven’t had a chance to ask our realitor about this.
I have no idea what this means, to be honest. Can we ignore it? Do we have to fix it? What are the implications with HOA violations?
Having dealt with several HOAs in the past, I feel safe in saying you can’t ignore it. You should ask for the seller to bring the house in compliance or reduce the price so you can have the fixes done. Your realtor should be able to give you the right answer.
Implications, in my experience, are fines and a lien on the house. I suppose they could sue you - depends on the bylaws of the association.
The short answer is, ask the HOA, and not the person who has a vested interest in selling you the house.
If the porch and fence are not kosher, then find out if they can be made kosher just by getting the neighbors who have to look at it to bless it, or whether there is something specified in the Codes, Covenants, and Restrictions (CCRs) that mandate something specific for these issues. What you don’t want is a situation where these things have to be fixed at enormous cost to you. Personally, I’d make the seller fix those if it’s not a “sign-off by the neighbors” issues.
Our own HOA flipped out when some of the neighbors painted their shutters and doors red and when people started putting up solar panels. Both were of the “sign off” variety to get approved.
Every HOA is different, and I would definitely talk to the realtor about it. I would think that if the current owner is aware of any violations to the HOA they they should be responsible for either having them corrected before the closing, or for reducing the price by your cost to have them corrected.
I would definitely be concerned about the porch and fence not being HOA approved. If the current owner had them built without HOA approval, then one of two things could happen. It’s possible that they would be “grandfathered” and you would not be held responsible for the violation. The HOA could also have a pending action against the current owner for the violation, which might become your problem after the sale. You need to verify the exact status of this violation, preferably in writing from the HOA, to protect yourself in case of future questions. Otherwise, you could find yourself responsible for replacing or removing the fence and/or porch, or paying for having them rebuilt to conform to HOA regulations.
Most HOAs are managed by some sort of management company. You may want to start by finding out who the management company is and then, who the property manager for that particular community is. Your realtor should be able to help. Talking with the property manager should answer your questions.
If it doesn’t, I’d seriously question buying that TH. The whole point of paying HOA fees is that they take care of some things for you, and that includes disseminating information to potential buyers.
The seller may have stipulated they won’t “contribute” to any of the fixes, but that may not preclude an adjustment to the sale price if they really want to sell. That may not help you in the immediate sense if you have to lay out cash soon after the sale to fix the problems, but it will in the long run.
The HOA should have some idea of how much the fixes would/should cost - or the seller should as it seems this should have come up at some point during their residence.
Unfortunately you do need to be prepared to walk away if the expense is great and if the seller won’t compensate in any way. Especially if it’s the seller who made the violations in the first place - who knows what else inside they screwed up? Maybe your inspector will catch it, maybe he won’t.
If the HOA has stated the violations, though, they must be taken care of, whether it’s by you, the seller, or someone else they sucker into buying the place. In an extreme case, the HOA can possibly go ahead with the changes to get your property into compliance, and then place a lien on your home to compensate for the cost. You really don’t want to get into that mess.
The liens should go against the property and be taken out of the proceeds of the sale for the current owners, as far as I know. Their violations shouldn’t be your problem, and their refusal to fix their own errors doesn’t speak well to their bargaining in good faith. I’d void my offer based on their refusal.
Did you put any conditions on your offer? When I bought my house, I made the offer contingent on the house passing a home inspection to my satisfaction. My inspector identified some issues, and provided a copy of his report to me and the seller. The seller agreed to fix the things I was concerned about, so the deal went forward. Had he not been willing to fix the problems, I was free to walk away, and I would have gotten my earnest money back.
The seller’s agent is saying that the seller will not address any HOA violation issues. The house is as-is. The seller’s agent also said that the violations were there when the seller initially bought the house.
We are still finding out information, but this doesn’t make me feel good at all…
Honestly, you may want to walk away. Talk to the management company, see what the issue is. Talk to your realtor and a contractor to get an idea of the cost to fix it.
This doesn’t bode well about the rest of the townhouse.
I would be more concerned about the douche level of the HOA. It really only takes one Anal-retentive retiree ont he board to make an entire neighborhood unliveable.
Find out when the next HOA meeting is and go there. Put your concerns before the board and see how they handle them. If you get any hint of cliquishness, or high-school vibes, walk away.
Int he very worst cases, there are HOAs that keep a list of “violations” on every house in the neighborhood. They then selectively enforce the rules and reg.s, in order to discourage whatever social group they wish from buying/staying in the neighborhood. It can be anything from people with kids, to ethnic group, to people with SUVs. This is illegal of course, but also difficult to prove and expensive to address. The point is that when the HOA board becomes a power play fro someone, life gets difficult.
Get a copy of the CCR doc and check for term limits on the board and other leadership positions… That’s the best way to determine if there’s the danger of a small group taking over and deciding they own the whole street.
OP, I’m not sure what area you’re in, but for most regions, it’s a buyer’s market. Walk away. Find a different condo. Unless your area is unusual, they’re kinda a dime a dozen right now. (Not really, but you know what I mean …)
You should be able to find a home you like without all this extra hassle. You say this is your 1st TH purchase - that means there will probably be enough hiccups and problems as it is, without piling on potential HOA violations, fines, etc.
This is sounding strange to me, too - the problems should have been addressed with the owners who made the illegal changes, not you. I’d drop this deal if I were you (and you are still able - not disclosing what they knew to be legal problems with the house should be enough to kill the deal, but I am not a real estate lawyer).
You really need to talk to someone in the HOA or management company. Find out what’s needed to remedy the violations (might be minor, might be major) and find out if what the seller’s agent is saying is true about the violations already existing when he/she moved in.
In any case, I’d be a bit wary because it sounds like the HOA hasn’t done much to make people comply with the rules. What other shit are they letting through?
I’d also be pretty pissed with my agent for not having this info before putting in an offer.