Know The Ins & Outs About Maintenance Responsibility In Your HOA

Maintenance may be one of the most overlooked areas in the homeowners association realm.  Too often, comments on the homeowner association website show that the HOA assumes all homeowners will take care of general duties like yard care and upkeep since it is their own property.

 

Homeowners are well aware of common maintenance issues, but there could be an issue where each party is accountable.  Now, you don’t have to suffer alongside your neighbors when maintaining your HOA property since you’ll know the ins and outs of maintenance responsibility!

 

The board or association decides which tasks are important enough to be included in an allowance.  In some HOA’s, this will be determined by what percentage of residents approve of their management team’s plans for general upkeep.  Many HOA’s leave all upkeep responsibility up to the responsible party, but most associations have set criteria for what tasks are included in their maintenance allowances and share it on the homeowner association website.

 

You can include maintenance responsibilities on your association’s allowance in many ways.  For example, there have been suggestions about including annual grass cutting and snow removal for property owners.  Other HOA’s might allow residents to request payment of additional lawn care expenses if they have to hire a company to resolve an issue.

 

HOA’s and property managers will ensure that taxes are paid, insurance is updated, and current information is included in each dues payment.  This way, residents don’t need to hire an outside company to take care of their lawn care or snow removal, but they need to know how much should be charged.  Aside from that, the cost of maintaining your property depends on many factors, such as the size and location.

 

There is a lot of conflicting information about the responsibilities of HOA members when it comes to maintenance and the truth is that it varies greatly depending on your HOA.  In some communities, homeowners have very little responsibility while others have more duties than your average homeowner.  That’s why you should know the ins and outs about your maintenance responsibility in an HOA before buying your house!