In August of 2004, I bought a house in a neighborhood which requires that homeowners pay monthly dues to their “association”. In return, we were supplied with a thick manual of rules and regulations that must be adhered to. No problem, even though some of their “rules” were very strange. For example, on trash day, your trash can be put out no earlier than 6am and must be returned to its place no later than 6pm. Also, the trash can must not be visable from the street, except on trash day.
Well, in May of 2005, I sold the house and moved to San Francisco. I was out of the house on June 2. I notified the association (via voice mail) that I was moving and paid their $100 fee for a new manual to give to the new owners. In mid June, I got a letter from the association warning me to move my trash can so that it’s not visable from the street. The “infraction” was dated June 13. I called the association, and left a voice mail (I have never, ever called and spoken to a “live” person there) explaining that I’d sold the house and moved out of state. I told them that they should update their records. About a week later, someone from the association called me and acknowledged my message and said they’d “take care of it”.
Well, apparently, she didn’t “take care of it” because today, I got a letter from them saying that it’s my second warning and that if I don’t correct the problem, they will fine me $10 per day until the infraction is corrected.
I’ve called them again and left a message, and I’m also going to send them a registered letter explaining the situation. I’ve found out that the association is actually just one lady who manages this thing from her home. They also employ a part time lady who drives around the neighborhood searching for infractions.
What can I do? Can they really fine me $10 per day, even though I sold the house in May? Nothing would surprise me in Chesterfield County, VA. A friend of mine suggested that I contact the new owner, but I’m reluctant to do that. Why is it MY responsibility to contact her? Maybe I’m being pissy.
You are not being Pissy. Associations suck! Since day 1 I have had problems with our association out here in phoenix. I got letters of complaint for this thing or that…Then I got so fed up with them saying how high I could trim my Boganvillias I started attending association meetings. The first one I kept my mouth shut to learn who was who in the meeting, and I noticed early on my house number kept being brought up over and over as a reference. Aparently I bought the home that the President (if you can call her that) wanted when she moved into the neighborhood, and there were certain jealousy issues going on.
Anyway I left the meeting in disgust.
I showed up the following month with two letters I recieved since my last attending the meeting. I got up halfway through and said that I needed to address the board. People stared at me and I got up, said my piece, about how there is nothing in the bylaws stating what the infractions were for, and why I was getting them. I further reported my disgust with the governing body stating that I had better not get any more such letters or they will be hearing from my attorney. I walked out after this and it has been 4 months since recieveing anything.
As far as I am concerned: This Yankee won’t back down to their bureaucratic bullshit! No way in Hell! I’ll mow my lawn, trim my hedges and do whatever the fuck I want to do on my own property!
Sorry for the rant. But neighborhood associations piss me off!
DON’T PAY THE FINE!
IMO, they’re being pissy, not you. Apparently, the person who called you back and the other quasi-bureaucrat who thinks she caught you in a trash-can infraction :rolleyes: don’t talk often enough.
I’m not a lawyer, but it sure seems that you have no responsibility to an association for a neighborhood you no longer live in. I’d mail a note to the one who threatened to fine you, but I don’t think I’d make it registered.
You’re not being pissy, and they (she) aren’t doing their jobs.
If you want to do this right, send a certified letter/return receipt to the community association notifying them in writing, that as per your two previous telephone calls, you don’t live there anymore and suggest they get in touch with the new owner.
No, don’t pay any fines. Let them come after you. BWAHAHA!
Just for the record, there’s nothing unusual about the garbage can thing. I’ve lived in two cities where that was a municipal ordinance.
Ugh. This sounds like my association. That is, before one of my favorite neighbors got sick of it, ran for president, and started insisting that the board treat the residents like neighbors before hauling out the threats and big guns. Viva la difference.
Hopefully the registered letter will work.
Although it isn’t your responsibility to contact the new homeowner, you might want to do this as a courtesy to her to get her know what’s going on. My guess is, this crackerjack “association” (such as it is) will start harrassing her with fines soon, telling her that she has “been warned” and “been notified” countless times already. She ought to know what you know, which is that these halfwits have been sending the warnings to a different address altogether.
So yeah, why aren’t they sending the letters directly to the address in question? Do you have a mail forwarding service that means letters delivered in your name, even addressed to your old address, get sent straight on to your new house? Or are they being delivered, and the new occupant is forwarding them on to you? I’m not quite understanding that bit.
I would contact the new owner just because it’s a nice thing to do and they may be better able, and hopefully willing, to get the problem with the association cleared up.
My mom, who is her neighborhood association’s complaint checker, has slapped the wrists of the association more often than the residents’. The last one was ridiculous; a resident complained some people weren’t turning on their outside lights early enough. Mom checked and came to find out that their automatic lights just required more darkness before turning themselves on. Bad neighborhood association! Don’t make rules and then not provide the proper tools for following the rules.
It’s really the perfect job for someone like her-- she loves to know everything that’s going on and has never procrastinated a second in her life. She’d have updated her address book before the new owner had finished moving in.
What I can’t quite fathom is why you’d care, if you even noticed, that your neighbor turned their lights on at 8:30 instead of eight.
Sierra, the way my association works, violation letters get sent to the owners. So if the owner leases the place to a renter, the renter doesn’t get the violation letter, the off-site owner does.
So it sounds like they changed his records to his new address, but didn’t QUITE grasp the concept that title changed along with the address!
I think Cranky’s wise about giving the current owner a heads-up.
I wouldn’t worry too much about it - from what I understand of neighbourhood associations (a.k.a. people who are way too worried about what their neighbours are doing and what their properties look like), if the fines or fees aren’t paid, it will become a lien against the title, which is not yours any more. I would make a point of getting the dumbasses to send the mail to the right address just because it’s a pain in the ass to keep getting someone else’s mail.
Ugh. I can’t stand homeowners/neighborhood associations. I recently got into a tangle with mine; it seems that someone just recently noticed that I have a propane grill stored on my patio. It’s been there for five years, yet the woman at the association who wrote it up as a violation says she had never seen it before. And the grill itself isn’t in violation–the propane tank is. The bylaws prohibit the storage of propane cylinders on the patio areas. It’s perfectly fine by them to put it in the storage closet, or even the bedroom, but don’t put it on the patio! She claimed it was a city fire code violations, but from what I can tell the fire department just requires 1) propane to be stored in a well-ventilated area and 2) that the grill be moved a certain distance from the building before firing it up.
This is my understanding also. If so, I might have some fun with them, requesting documentation and billing them for your time.