Reliant Energy shuts off neighborhood's power, claims HOA not paying bills | abc13.com:
The Kleinbrook HOA, residents say, is not really an association of
homeowners since the HOA is still run by the developer of the
neighborhood, Mint Homes. HOA president Mark Falkenstein has not
returned our calls or those of residents. "Since 2004, we've never had an accounting of what the expenses and money goes for," Cole said.
"I would like to know what they are doing with that money, because
that's my portion and I know a lot of other homeowners have paid theirs.
So where is the money going? What are they doing with it?" resident Amy
Smith said.
Residents say they're now considering legal action against the HOA and might try to dissolve it.
---------------
More trouble in Privatopia. Film at 10.
4 comments:
"Kleinbrook HOA, residents say, is not really an association of homeowners"
A homeowners association is an association of homeowners in the same sense that the East German Democratic Republic was a democratic republic.
It's been that way for decades, regardless of whether the HOA corporation is run by the developers or not.
...and homeowners incorrectly believe that an HOA corporation would somehow be an "association of homeowners" at some point in time. This myth promoted by the industry needs to be corrected and rebutted each and every time.
The HOA corporation was there long before the homeowners. The HOA corporation will always represent only the best interests of those controlling its board. The HOA corporation is NEVER for the benefit of the individual homeowners in the subdivision.
These homeowners are going to find out that they have NO vote in a declarant-controlled subdivision. Moreover, these homeowners are likely to find out the hard way that "control" does not have to be turned over to "homeowners" ... ever. Good luck on those open meetings for any HOA corporation and certainly a declarant-controlled subdivision. The declarant has no obligation to contribute a penny to the HOA corporation but retains 100% control of it and can operate it secretly.
That HOA corp was set up for the benefit of those trying to sell the homeowners on its dubious benefits. To add insult to injury, the homeowners are paying city taxes AND HOA assessments and they STILL aren't getting the services (e.g., street lights) that other city taxpayers get.
Homeowners are not the customers of HOA corporations.
Homeowners are the HOA corporation's product.
We have shown that HOAs increase house value, but many questions
remain unanswered. Do HOAs increase house value because they
offer better-quality services than local government? Or do HOAs
increase house value because they offer services that local
governments cannot (e.g., more restrictive zoning) or do not
(e.g., greater security)? How does the governance structure
of HOAs impact house value? Can we find, for example, what
people are willing to pay for term limits or supermajority rules?
Studying HOAs may also help us to identify how and why local
governments are failing to maximize returns for their residents.
Ideally, the knowledge provided by private governments could
be used to improve services for everyone.
- Amanda Agan and Alexander Tabarrok
"What Are Private Governments Worth?" (PDF 200 KB) (HTML) (SSRN)
Regulation (The Cato Institute) Fall 2005
Post a Comment