Where do I even begin…
We had an HOA president who “managed” the association for eight years. During that time, he completely denied necessary repairs to my roof, which ended up costing nearly $30,000. I had to hire an attorney and ultimately settled with the insurance company, but after everything, I only received about $22,000.
That seemed to anger him, and he began what I can only describe as a smear campaign—trying to publicly humiliate me whenever possible. At one point, he even installed a surveillance camera pointed directly at my front door.
Because of how the HOA handled my roof, I started requesting financial records to understand where the money was going. He refused to provide them. I hired an attorney again, and the same day my attorney contacted him, he and the other two board members resigned. Before leaving, he deleted all records, emails, and documentation and claimed he had nothing to turn over to the new board.
I joined the board, and fortunately, I was able to recover the deleted files. What I found was shocking—he had been embezzling HOA funds by charging maintenance work done on his personal unit and even his business properties offsite to the HOA. I also discovered that he allowed our master insurance policy to lapse and failed to inform anyone for nine months.
The two new board members that joined the board with me were extremely passive and unwilling to make decisions. They delayed addressing both the insurance lapse and the embezzlement. One major issue was that some homeowners refused to remove their BBQs, which insurance carriers required in order to reinstate coverage. Despite the seriousness of the situation, the board stalled.
I eventually resigned because I did not want to be personally liable for their inaction. Even after I stepped down, they allowed this same former president—who had embezzled funds—to assist in obtaining a new insurance policy.
We were denied by multiple carriers due to the lapse and the BBQ issue. He ultimately secured a policy through a secondary market with minimal coverage (ACV, 80% coinsurance), costing $14,000 more per year than our previous policy. I repeatedly urged the community to remove the BBQs so we could qualify for better coverage at a lower cost, but I was outvoted by the 9 other units.
No one seemed to understand the policy or care.
Currently:
The board does not actively manage the HOA
There is no bookkeeping being done
There hasn’t been a reserve study since 2010
There has been years of deferred maintenance
Dues are only $210/month, which doesn’t even cover expenses
The bylaws are 20 years old and out of compliance
The board members continue to say they are too busy with jobs and families to handle HOA responsibilities.
I feel completely stuck. I would consider selling, but I have a great interest rate, low tax basis, and a low monthly payment.
This has been an absolute nightmare to deal with.