You fucking yenta! (or the joys of HOAs)

The BBQ Pit
1

You stupid useless sack of manure!

:: breath ::

Up until a couple of weeks ago I was the treasurer of our HOA. It is a voluntary job that takes quite a chunk of one’s time, plus the aggravation of dealing with unreasonable people who wouldn’t volunteer themselves for the job, but find it easy to criticize every decision you make.

I am moving out soon, so I called for a meeting to choose the next treasurer. Only one person came to the meeting. They knew what it was about. Organizing this took time away from my already hectic pre-move-out-of-town schedule. Paperwork was done, reports were prepared and printed, etc.

I called for a second meeting 2 weeks later. People were notified with two weeks in advance, plus the doorman reminded every owner verbally. On top of it, I, myself, called the people who didn’t show up the first time.

Compared to the previous one this meeting was a stunning success: 25% of owners showed up. :mad:

With no quorum to elect another treasurer, and not much time since I was leaving town for a few days, one of the people that actually showed up volunteered for the job. We sat down and she and I went over the finances, receipts, payments and balance. She signed for the remaining money and that was it. Same as we always do.

But was it?

Today she came to see me. Apparently there is somebody who’s been “asking questions”, somebody that believes that things “may not be altogether clear with the HOA’s finances”. I was fuming! I demanded to know who it was, why I asked I don’t know, it had to be our condo’s official yenta.

Besides the fact that the bitch is questioning my honesty I am furious for some other reasons:

  1. The entire budget is $500/month. With which we pay garbage, electricity and water bills for the building. We also pay minor maintenance and the cleaning crew. It is obvious these things are being paid, so where the hell does she think the money is going?

  2. This is the bitch that is always late in her payments.

  3. This is the bitch whose “live-in guest” was repeatedly caught stealing underwear from the community laundry lines. She is the only person who disregards each and everyone of our rules.

  4. This is the bitch who never attends a meeting but always complain about the decisions the rest approve.

  5. She has done the same thing with every treasurer before me.

  6. $500 is my budget for hair salon, waxing and pedicure, I wouldn’t dirty my hands for much more, less for such paltry sum.
    I just wrote a letter to the HOA demanding that we have a meeting before I move out, without mentioning the bitch’s name, I complained that I need each and every owner to approve and sign the last statement.

And if that bitch ever stands in front of my car I’ll run her over and claim it was an accident. Thanks Og I am leaving! :mad:

2

And a “HOA” is … ?

3

Housing (or Home-Owners) Association, I assumed. The OP has a condo unit among a bunch of others and is the treasurer of the maintenance fees. Why she’s getting this worked up about another owner who she’ll soon never see again escapes me, but, hey, it’s the Pit. Fuck that skank bitch-ho yenta slut fuck.

4

Home Owners Association

5

Homeowners Association

6

I think it stands for Home Owners’ Association.

7

But what is an HOA?

8

You wouldn’t get offended if somebody suggested you’ve been stealing money? :confused:

9

HOA and condo owners’ association are two varieties of Hell On Earth. They have a bad habit of being made up of self-important people who nitpick every petty rules infraction in the community (never done by the current board, but always by the previous one!), who respond to self-important community members who nitpick every petty issue with the boards’ actions (never the person raising the issue, as their issue is vital, but always their neighbor!).

Congratulations Mighty Girl on getting out of the job. I’m on my condo’s finance committee, and I sympathize with your position.

10

You know what, one of the things that pissed me the most is the snicky way of introducing doubt. “Things might not be clear with the finances” means exactly the same as “she’s been stealing money”, but one carries the advantage of plausible deniability.

If she had come and outright said I stole money I could have sued her for slander. And boy would I be tempted!

11

I’m tempted to say you should’ve tried to stick the yenta with the treasurer’s job, but that would probably be a Bad Idea.

12

nevermind. ignore this

13

You are not kidding. The HOA for my parents’ development is stupid to the point of massive legal liability. For example, they didn’t bother to program a gate code for emergency responders, claiming that it would allow non-residents access. My mother needed to call an ambulance one night, and it took about 45 minutes for the ambulance to get through the gate. AFAIK, the HOA decided to program the code within 24 hours. (Methinks my parents had a lawyer call the HOA president, but they won’t confirm that. ;))

My parents have also had a run-in over a handrail they had installed so my mother could walk from the car to the front door. One of their neighbors reported this dangerous infraction, and the HOA board ordered my parents to take it down. It took another call from a lawyer to get the board to back off. The HOA’s response? “Well, if we let you have that, we have to let everyone have that.” Apparently, these people never heard of the Americans with Disabilities Act, nor do they realize that it applies to them.

These are two examples of why I won’t live in a community that has a HOA. There is something about this kind of organization that gives the paranoid and nosy free rein at the expense of those who want to live their lives quietly and privately.

Robin

14

I’d probably give a public and blatant equivalent of an eyeroll, and maybe send out a letter to the effect of “Yenta (naming names - none of this dancing around crap) has implied the HOA finances are out of order. The books are open to anyone who wants to examine them until I move out, at which point it is no longer my problem. Peace out, y’all.”

15

What’s a Yenta?

16

Not such luck here. All condos must have a HOA by law, and some house developments do too. I don’t want a house, so I guess I am stuck.

Luckily where I am moving the condo is managed privately. It’s just a matter of “pay your fees and things will get done”. We’ll still have to form a HOA, but it will not deal with anything regarding infrastructure, which seems to be the biggest problem with HOAs.

17

Among other things, old woman gossipmonger.

18

Yenta.

19

It’s the same here, pretty much.

In all fairness, associations make sense where there are common areas that must be maintained and where sheer proximity requires that some rules of civility be developed and enforced; I’d want a mechanism to be able to deal with a noisy neighbor, for example. In this situation, a HOA functions like a management company that owns an apartment complex.

My problems stem from those HOAs like the one that governs my parents’ development. Problems are regulated into existence, decisions and judgments are made according to the needs and wishes of the select few on the board, and little, if any, oversight over the association exists, so there’s nowhere to appeal to. If you’re lucky enough to know enough to invoke your rights, or at least have access to a lawyer, you can make the board back down under the threat of a lawsuit. If you’re not or don’t, you’re fucked even if you’re right.

And let’s not get into the fact that some HOAs encourage neighbors to spy on each other and report the infractions against the rules. This gives a lot of legitimacy to people like Yenta, and gives feuding neighbors ammunition against each other since there is no incentive to stop the bickering.

I’m not a fan. Really.

Robin

20

I’m with you. I’m very “live and let live” when it comes to my neighbors. As long as you’re not making a ton of noise or doing something dangerous, I don’t give a damn what you do with your property. Paint your house pink with purple polka dots? Awesome. Keep old cars on your lawn? No skin off my nose. Turn your front yard into a vegetable garden? More power to you. A woman’s home is her castle, after all. A neighborhood with an HOA may look nicer, but there’s no way I want a bunch of old biddies telling me what I can and can’t do with my own house.