We bought a house in this subdivision that was going up. We were verbally told by the seller that a home owenrs association would be in place once all the homes were built and that the first year association fee would be mandatory but after that it was optional to be part or not of this association, that it was up to us to keep membership and pay the yearly fee. After that year we were told we are obligated to pay this fee and that association was not an option many of my neighbors had been told the same lie when buying. Now many homeowners feel that the money we pay is not doing much for us and we would like to stop having this fee coming out of our pockets . HELP what can we do about this, Can we vote against this and have this association gone of our wallets? Can an association be stop and have a subdivision free of association obligations and regulations? I seen other ones that are subdivisions but there is no association there.please advice what and how to do this?

Did you sign anything when you closed on the house acknowledging the HOA? Did your title search show any recorded documents regarding the HOA? Does your deed contain any language about at HOA?

First you have to read exactly what you signed or what you received as part of your closing paperwork. If there are no recorded documents such as covenants, restrictions, by-laws, etc. about the HOA then you cannot be required to join. If there is a recorded document about the HOA then you have to carefully read it to see what the requirements are and to find out if it's possible to end it.

When an HOA is established there has to be by-laws created for it. Those by-laws provide the rules for homeowners in the development.

You had to have signed an agreement to abide by those rules at the closing or before. I guess you didn't read them carefully before signing.

Included in those by-laws will be rules ofr the dissolution of the HOA. But I caution you about this. Very often, when an HOA is established, its because the locality its in is not going to provide certain services. For example garbage collection and street cleaning. So, if you dissolve the HOA, you have to relace those services.

My suggestion to you is to get involved with the HOA. Attend all the meetings, analyze the budget, run for office. You might find that the fees you are paying provide services at reasonable rates. If you dissolve your property taxes amy increase because the locality will now be providing those services.

If you can prove that the seller lied about the terms of the HOA, you might be able to file a suit against him. But frankly, I think you were naïve. I never heard of an HOA that becomes optional. That wouldn't make sense.

HOAs have gotten a bad rep and, in many cases, deservedly so. What frequently happens is a couple of people dominate the board and start acting like petty dictators. Or use the e HOA to line their own pockets. But if the homeowners are active and concerned a well run HOA can be a boon to the development.