On Apr 27, 12:50 am, mm wrote:
....
...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.
....
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.
....

Various others have various degrees of sound advice -- mine is similar
but if I were on the Board and concerned (which I would be), the items
of concern and actions I'd take include--

1. Someone else mentioned checking on all covenants of the board and
its charter to ensure _you_ know what they say, not what somebody else
says they say. This, fundamentally, is the best advice given and the
other is that depending on state law where you are, it is quite
possible you may be liable individually for any breach of rules/law as
well as the board in general. The HOA _DOES_ have Directors'
Liability policy, I hope? I wouldn't even consider serving on such a
board if it does not.

2. If the laws/regulations are as being quoted, the attorney should
be able to provide chapter and verse of which law(s) are being quoted
and you should be able to ascertain whether it appears they really are
or not. A second opinion here from either another attorney or simply
the State AG's office or ombudsman if they have one wouldn't be bad
idea. The idea of contacting a national association for HOA's is also
an excellent one.

3. I would be _very_ surprised if there aren't rules against cutting
off utilities to individual apartments even if the renter isn't the
responsible party w/o notification. I understand the legal contract
w/ the HOA is w/ the landlord, not the renter, but still I would be
leery in taken unilateral action w/o notification.

4. In that regard, do the HOA rules prevent the notification to the
other members of the Association of a total list of dues/fees
outstanding? Is this not part of an annual report at least as part of
the accounting of the Board to its members? If so, simply posting
that notice would have the desired effect.

5. I also agree in principle that it seems the Board has been
derelict in not collecting owed fees in a timely fashion and in taking
a more proactive stance previously. I understand they're now
attempting to do this, but figure this is the wrong way to go at it --
primarily, as you point out, for the most part it isn't the offending
party that whose ox is being gored but a bystander. The question of
whether the renter would choose to pay simply to retain service is an
interesting one -- I don't see that the HOA would have much leg to
stand on if the water assessment were paid even if the total wasn't...