On Monday, March 22, 2021 at 5:13:10 PM UTC-4, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Mon, 22 Mar 2021 10:24:46 -0700 (PDT),
" wrote:

On Monday, March 22, 2021 at 11:29:07 AM UTC-4, Rod Speed wrote:
"Ralph Mowery" wrote in message
...
In article ,
says...

The Montana Valley Apartments manager noted that the complex doesn?t
allow cars with rust, dents, flat tires, or bad paint to sit in front of
its complex. And while there?s certainly something to be said about
towing a car that?s been immobile for several weeks, tenants here are
arguing that the standards are entirely unfair because it doesn?t allow
them the time to get a repair?especially for people who are already
living paycheck to paycheck.

It is just the HOA mentality run amok.

If the people don't like the Apartment or HOA rules
they should not be in them. They can always move.
No reason why they should have to due to stupid rules like that.
For the two houses I have bought I always ask the real estate
agent to check to see if there are any rules or covents for the
property other than what the county has over all. Then put it
in writing in the buying contract.
But what about when they change after you buy ?

As I understand it, those covenants are changed by a vote of all
the homeowners who are subject to those covenants. I bet when
The eligible voters are all the members but it doesn't require a
unanimous vote. So things can still be shoved down the throat of those
who disagree. The % vote here might vary depending on the sort of
issue.

However here we have the opposite problem, and that is we have to change
the covenants or by-laws to raise the dues and we can can never get
enough votes, so as prices go up we can't afford to pay them. For
lawn-mowing and gardening of the common areas, although there isn't much
of that, if they are to come frequently it costs a bunch of money.

And snow-plowing varies a lot from year to year, but when it snows it
costs a bunch of money.

And recently we had to replace 3 of the 4 fire hydrants, because the
fire department checks them periodically and they seem to only last 30
or 40 years, and the FD insists they be replaced, and that was 10,000 or
something for 100 families.

And we've had a few water main leaks, each costing several thousand,
possibly because the original builder used the wrong pipe, not the
somewhat flexible metal pipe under the roads and when a really truck
comes by, it can break the pipe. Although the last leak was under a
sidewalk. First time we've had a leak under a sidewalk.
The plumber digs but we have to hire a cement guy to replace the
sidewalk.

And the biggest expense is repaving the road, I think the last time it
cost $150,000, and prices have probably gone up.

And repaving once and repairing once, each time raised the surface of
the parking lot an inch, including in front of the main storm drain, at
the bottom of the hill, two spots from where I park. The opening was 4
inches high and losing 2 inches meant it couldn't handle all the water
from the top of the hill to the north and west. And it would pool and
actually entered a neighbor's car. She claimed it ruined her car. I
find that hard to believe. The same day it came to one inch of my
doorway and while I don't think it would have ruined the car, it would
have made a lot of work and some expense to clean it.
That problem is solved but it wasn't easy.

We also pay electricity for the street lights but that's not much money,
and we pay a management company to handle paperwork, and maybe we have
some other expenses.

So we have all these expenses and we can't raise the dues. A little
bit twice in 38 years.

All that stuff is paid for by tax dollars where I live. Cheapskates don't
get to ruin it for everybody else.

Cindy Hamilton