guest blog by Nila Ridings
Condo owners in Chandler, Arizona are finding themselves under water, lots of water!
Irreplaceable family photos and damage to items stored in their garages, such as cars, are not their problem, says the HOA. The insurance company for the HOA says it’s not their problem, either. And the condo owners didn’t carry flood insurance. Whose problem is it? Well, it looks like that is going to be decided in lawsuits. (Oh! Here we go again!)
J. Roger Wood an attorney and supporter of HOA homeowners notes the owners did notify their HOA prior to the storm of drainage problems. Will that be sufficient to settle these claims? Or will the HOA just decide to spend the money that could be spent repairing the drainage problems on fighting these condo owners in court? Will failure to maintain the property that resulted in condo owners receiving personal property damage be enough to convince a jury?
What do you think?
This is probably an ideal time to remind readers that any time you are making a request of the HOA to always do it in WRITING and keep a copy. If you send an email, print a copy and keep it in a file.
(link to KPHO TV story on flood damage)
Poor drainage and flooding are fairly common problems in HOAs and condominium communities.
I used to live in a small township up north. Our road and storm water maintenance crew consisted of two men and three trucks. These two men plowed snow, removed leaves from the roads in the fall, filled potholes and repaired cracks in the road annually, and twice a year they cleaned out drainage ditches and culverts. You would not believe the amount of garbage, debris, and gunk pulled out of those culverts!
Even though we lived on a hillside, the crew of two maintained good drainage and stayed on top of potholes. Eventually the township had to hire a contractor to mille and repave our roads, but good maintenance practices preserved them for about 20 years.
However, it seems that some HOA and COA Boards do not bother to do any preventive maintenance on the infrastructure. They are too concerned with planting seasonal flowers at the entrances, and sending out violation notices to owners.
“However, it seems that some HOA and COA Boards do not bother to do any preventive maintenance on the infrastructure. They are too concerned with planting seasonal flowers at the entrances, and sending out violation notices to owners.”
That and planning ‘Hamburger Bashes’ that 20 people out of 1,000 show up for. 10 of those being committee members and the rest just looking for a free meal paid for by the HOA dues!
Where I live is like a forest there are so many trees. And they keep planting more even though they can’t afford to tree service that it takes to keep them trimmed and in good shape. In the Midwest our trees drop their leaves in the Fall. And it’s easy to have leaves on the ground higher than your ankles. I’ve watched the HOA crews blow those leaves to the street and then down the storm drain! I guess they thought down underground there was a leaf mulching machine that chewed them up into microscopic particles and blew them back out as fertilizer.
When I think about it, spending a few days just observing what and how HOA crews work is enough material to write a comic book!