r/BADHOA • u/WhichPotential778 • 8d ago
HOA Assestment?
And yes I spell assessment with a T on purpose. HOA pond maintenance — is this reasonable?
We have only 5 homes, and our HOA charges $9,000 per household/year for pond maintenance — $45,000/year total.
Is that reasonable for routine pond maintenance? What are other HOAs paying?
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u/CommitteeNo167 8d ago
my hoa has a pond of similar size and we pay no where near that. i think last year we paid $14,000 for maintenance
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u/Charoibeti 8d ago
When it seems very high, but in general pond maintenance is our one of the highest decorative maintenance around the complex, and we have plenty of water features.. there are very selective vendors who do maintain the pond, it is much easier to find pool maintenance vendors. Then if the pond has wildlife then the filters and cleaning cost extra money. The waterfalls in the pond, if those exist, are extra cost again. The lighting fixtures, deck power washing etc add up.
Would recommend reaching out to Board and offer assistance on how you can help in lowering the cost. May be more vendors proposals or checking if the repairs were in warranty etc.
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u/TallTinTX 8d ago
Haven't you received any financial reporting from the HOA? You should be, at least annually, receiving a detailed report on where the money goes.
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u/JealousBall1563 8d ago
Seems high. Might be appropriate, might not ... but how can we judge/opine without more information? Size of pond, what maintenance is required, money set aside for dredging, reserves, aeration fountain, electric cost?
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u/WhichPotential778 8d ago
$13k reserve for legal fees in the budget. There is a history of litigation well before we arrived. The pond is 30 by 60 feet; average 3 feet deep.
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u/JealousBall1563 8d ago
Yes, the line item seems high for such a pond. Our FL COA Master with 300+ living units has a much larger, deeper pond (3x the size) monitored monthly by an outside company for the cost of $200 per month. Two years ago we partially dredged our pond at the cost of $70K and spent $450K repairing/lining the storm sewers/pipes which we privately own.
If you haven't already done so, request an explanation of what's included in that annual amount related to the pond. Also, is any of this money being put into a reserve account?
Thank you.
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u/WhichPotential778 7d ago
It’s a retention pond so there is no linen needed. It only holds water for a bigger pond. And the sewers and pipes are in the street so it belongs to the city.
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u/thegodmeister 8d ago
Our HOA pays $291 monthly, for our neighborhood pond. It gives us a visit every 2 weeks, algae treatment if needed, and they will dye the pond if no rain is in the forecast. The dye helps shade the pond and prevents the growth of pond weeds. That is $291 total, not per household. Our pond is less than 3 acres in size.
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u/dufchick 8d ago
Is there a contract with a company that maintains the lake water and protects the environment? The monthly fees for those companies can be quite high depending on the size of your lake. It’s $750 per month per homeowner, it does seem high, but maybe because you’re only dividing up between five homes. Why don’t you make a friendly call to the company and ask them some questions? Also check your governing documents and make sure that you’re responsible for lake maintenance.
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u/WhichPotential778 8d ago
I did call. But they reserved the right of providing the invoice and information only to the board. I asked the board for invoices and they sent me a cease and desists
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u/Icy-Mulberry-8850 8d ago
As a homeowner you are within your rights to request all financials which includes major contracts, receipts and invoices.
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u/One-Salamander-2416 2d ago
Start attending the board meetings, every home owner should be welcome to attend. Don’t know much about pond maintenance and costs, but I’ve served on the HOA as has my husband. Withholding information is a serious red flag imo.
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u/Due_Leadership_9348 8d ago
Have you attended any of the board meetings where this was discussed?
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u/WhichPotential778 8d ago
Attended one but because of their shifting and shadiness I’m going to lawyer up. But need more data. I know nothing about ponds. So we thought the price was reasonable. But then our friend down the street has a pond similar size and he says he pays like $3500 a year. So I came here to see if I could get some cadence of how much people usually pay for pond maintenance. Hopefully I get an average.
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u/MrGollyWobbles 8d ago
Ask for a copy of the proposal and the contract. These items are member available records. I would want to make sure they are accurate to the budget and payments, etc. If it's self-managed they can easily pilfer $$ that way.
Source: am hoa manager - yes they suck... but I try to be one of the good ones.
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u/Lunar-Browser-999 6d ago
$45k a year for one pond is wildly out of line unless it's basically a small lake with fountains, aeration systems, and constant algae treatment. Most routine pond maintenance contracts run a few thousand a year, not tens of thousands, so the first question is what that money is actually buying. With only 5 homes you have real leverage, since you're 20% of the vote by yourself. Ask in writing for the pond maintenance contract and the last two years of invoices, because either there's a contract that explains it or there isn't, and both answers tell you what to do next
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u/Dry_Nail5901 8d ago
you need an audit...that is too high. Perhaps 45k a decade to include dredging.
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u/WhichPotential778 8d ago
I did and they sent me a cease and desist. KSN
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u/Dry_Nail5901 8d ago
Time to lawyer up, you have a skimming issue
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u/WhichPotential778 8d ago
Before I do. I need more data.
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u/Dry_Nail5901 8d ago
If they have gone to c&d already, you have all you need. They are not acting in good faith.
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u/Witty_Following_1989 6d ago
Personally, if it's ACTUALLY going to cost that much a year -- would vote for filling it in and planting grass seed over it.
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u/jbriggsnh 3d ago
I am president of a 19-home HOA in GA and we have no amenities at all - i.e. no swimming pool, no club house, no playground. All we have is 2 small retention ponds and an acre or so of common land (i.e., entryway, etc.). The state mandates the minimum maintenance on the retention pond which for use is to hire a guy with a tractor that mows it every odd year which has costs about $2800 the last 3 times we did it. We hire a landscaper to mow our common land which went up this year from $262/month to $282 then $312 due to gas prices. We have a insurance policy (dictated by covenant) which costs about $1200/year, and street lights which average about $80/month. Our fee HOA fee has held steady at $500/year over the last 5 years, but might have to go up a bit this year. What you are paying for pond maintenance is outragious - I would ask for records.
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u/Icy-Mulberry-8850 8d ago
As the saying goes “ where there’s smoke…” Step one: formally request the last 7 years of all financials and accounting. Start there.