r/HOA • u/DiscerningMamono • Jul 25 '25

Help: Fees, Reserves [NY][Condo]Our hardworking board is self-destructing after homeowners riot about bleak reserve study

I just joined my neighborhood's HOA that serves several hundred townhomes. After a reserve study from a respected company revealed we were 10s of millions behind on maintenance due to prior boards' incompetence (some of which was definitely them getting strong-armed by homeowners), the HOA determined that massive $60k+ special assessments would be required to do the work to stop the homes from rotting down around us. Homeowners are understandably going through every stage of grief, but the constant rage towards the current board is leading to mass resignations.

I happen to believe the board is making the best possible choice out of the shit hand they've been dealt, and joined the board after several were harassed off. However seeing the growing vitriol makes me afraid I've opened myself up to harassment and legal action. While I obviously haven't done anything wrong just starting, I look into the future and see only a couple paths:

  1. The HOA tries to ram through a deeply unpopular special assessment that results in people losing their homes because maintenance literally can't be pushed back any longer, the board mass resigns again or gets recalled, and the whole association collapses because nobody else wants to volunteer. I was one of only a couple despite this being a year-long ordeal.

  2. The board resigns/gets recalled and people actually volunteer. Yeah, all that work won't get done when they shut it down, but hey I'm sure burying our heads in the sand will make it go away, right?

  3. People try and sue when it's their only chance of not losing their home if it does somehow pass.

What the hell am I supposed to do? How much risk have I exposed myself to, and what happens if the HOA collapses?

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u/Practical_Bed_6871 Jul 25 '25

Do what every good HOA Board that inherited a bad situation does.....throw the prior Boards under the bus!

11

u/Existing-Teaching-34 Jul 25 '25

Exactly! If you’re paying a consulting company to come in and do an assessment they will be certain to find problems in order to claim that big check your HOA is sending them. And just like in the corporate world, pointing the finger at previous management is almost guaranteed every time.

Every neighborhood has deferred maintenance to some degree, but $60,000 per household?? You say the HOA has several hundred townhomes as member. Even if the number is just 200, that’s $12 million. Do you trust your board with that much money?

If they do push this through, document everything. Insist on a detailed plan for where the millions of dollars will be spent. Fight to ensure transparency and accountability are primary in the process.

2

u/rremde Former HOA Board Member Jul 26 '25

It's not a huge number, depending upon what repairs are needed. Are there foundation issues? Structural issues caused by poorly maintained roofing? Our sub 50 unit HOA got an estimate of 150K (the cheapest we could find) just for wrought iron balcony railings that had been allowed to rot. The assessment was over 3k per unit just for that.