"mm" wrote in message
...
This is OT, but you guys seem to know a lot.

I went to a Home Owners meeting tonight. The HOA plans to disconnect
the water of people who are delinquent on their fees, and the
management company rep says that it is *illegal* to tell the tenant
what is about to happen to him. That they can't tell him this without
the consent of the landlord. She says she has verified this with a the
HOA's lawyer, recently, but she knew it before that.

Could this be true?

Our HOA doesn't have many responsibilities, and the fees are only
about 110 dollars a quarter.

Despite that, owners of 7 of the 110 townhouses are 500 dollars or
more behind, and at 550 a year, they are from 1 to 4 years delinquent.

Several of the houses are owned by someone, usually someone who used
to live here, and rented to someone else. Most landlords pay their
fees on time, but one of the 7 who owes 500 dollars is a landlord.

The HOA has checked with a lawyer and since the HOA pays the water
bill for everyone, it is apparently legal for the HOA to turn off the
water to someone who owes money.

And they voted to do that tonight (They voted to do that last October
also, but didn't.)

BUT HERE IS THE KICKER. The management company rep says that it is
*illegal* to tell the tenant what is about to happen to him. That
they can't tell him this without the consent of the landlord. She says
she has verified this with a rental type lawyer, the HOA's lawyer,
recently, but she knew it before that.

Have you ever heard of this? I don't believe it.

This is Baltimore County, Md., but I'd be interested in any state's
laws.

I'm also annoyed because of the 12 or so people at the meeting, only 4
of us had any objection to this. Of the 4, one didn't say anything
until privately after the meeting, one said something a year ago but
doesn't seem to care anymore, and the other guy and I voted against
the water turnoff although there are other reasons he might have voted
against it. There may be some other quiet ones, but some were vocal
and imo they and anyone who agreed with them are very cold-blooded wrt
the tenant.

Background, not necessary for my question:
In sort-of defense of the Board, they have written to the owners over
and over, offerred a payment plan and arranged a payment plan with a
couple others who owed a lot of money, made appointments with some of
the owners on the current list only to have the owners not even show
up for the appointments, even though they agreed to them. The owners
are terrible, I agree.

But this one tenant, and other perhaps in the future, has paid
everything he owes afawk and he's the one who's going to lose his
water. If the landlord doesn't pay before the cutoff date, I'd bet it
will take at least 4 days before the tenant figures out** what the
problem is and gets his landlord to budge, or the tenant gives up and
pays the bill himself. If they disconnect him on a Thursday or
Friday, he'll be without water on the weekend too. One could of
course pay our treasurer, who lives in the n'hood, but they're so
cold-blooded, I'll bet they won't allow that or will take the money
but not turn the water on until Monday when a plumber can come.

OTOH, if they told the tenant a month in advance, he would have a
better chance of convincing the ll to pay, or maybe even withhold some
of his rent and make his own payment plan with the HOA. (Risky in Md.
for anyonne. Not risky in NYC for someone who knows a bit.)

**For one thing, he'll get home at 5:30, say Monday, to find he has no
water and he won't be able to reach the ll until the next day. When
they finally get a check, it will take them another day to send
someone out (even though we could probably buy a wrench and do it
ourselves. (The valve cases are locked with bolts with 5-sided heads,
but they must sell those somewhere.)



I would be VERY cautious doing this. Here is MA it is illeagal for water
or electricity to be shut off if there are children, elderly, terminal or
special needs people in the homes or properties. If any of these apply to
any of the tennants the HOA could be in for a whole world of hurt.
Was it a written vote? If not, I would demand a written vote just to
simply cover your own bacon.
I highly doubt that the HOA would have the authority to turn off a
tennants service regardless what the lawyer says. Their purpose is to "make
the community a better place" not act as a jail keeper. Why not contact the
local water company, building department etc and ask them? Once they flip
the valve without the proper due-dilagance ramifications could be huge.