In article ,
Hell Toupee wrote:
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 this is wrong because...?
(Personally, I think enabling deadbeats is wrong. But that's just me.)

Because they aren't turning off the water to the people who the money.
They will be turning off the water to people who rent from the people
who owe the money.

First, this might open the HOA up to considerable legal trouble, if any
of the tenants have children, or are elderly, or are disabled.

Second, suddenly turning off the water can make the units uninhabitable,
so the tenants might have to go spend time in, say, hotels, until the
HOA and the owners work things out. A tenant could quite possibly, with
a decent lawyer, force the HOA to pay for that hotel.

Basically, in dealing with the owner, the HOA has to take reasonable
steps to mitigate damages to innocent third parties (such as the
renters). If they do not, they are asking for a legal reaming.

The claim that it is not legal for the HOA to warn the tenants is bogus.
The only basis it might have is that since the dispute is between the
owner and the HOA, there is a privacy issue in telling the tenant that
the owner isn't paying the bills. However, think about that--when the
water gets shut off, the tenant is going to find out that the owner
hasn't been paying!

The HOA doesn't have to tell the tenant that the owner is not paying his
HOA dues. All they have to do is tell the tenant that the water bill
has not been paid, and that water service will stop in N days. The
tenant can then tell the owner to pay the bill. If the owner doesn't,
the tenant can pay it, and withhold that amount from the rent. (After
checking the exact details of the law for this in his state, of course!).

Net result: HOA gets payment for the water bill, the tenant keeps water,
and the HOA isn't opening itself up to legal action from the tenant.

Since the HOA dues appear to cover more than water, there will still be
some owed by the owner. The HOA can put a lien on the place for that.

--
--Tim Smith