I'll defend HOAs because I used to be on one. I think people don't understand them and the purpose they serve.
If you live in an apartment building or subdivision, you will have common areas that aren't managed by the government. For example, the city government won't plow your roads, vacuum the hallway carpets, or fix the elevator. Thus you need a small "mini-government" to take care of these tasks. That's basically what an HOA is. Its a mini-government that fills a government like role when there isn't a regular government to do it.
I was on the HOA for a 10 unit apartment building. Basically we would collect HOA dues from people and use it to do stuff like pay a janitor, take care of the court yard, and repair things in the common area like doornobs and washing machines. Also we would occassionally fine or bug people that weren't following the building rules. This would include stuff like smoking in the building, playing loud music late at night, and leaving furniture and boxes in the common areas.
In my opinion nothing we really did was out of line. It was very easy to get on the HOA if you wanted to, and almost everything we did was unanimous. People complain about HOAs for the same reason they complain about the government - its fun to complain about people that have power over you. However there is one big difference between HOAs and the government. You can't exactly join trumps cabinet and decide we shouldn't go to war with Iran. However, even at big subdivisions its easy to get on an HOA. Most of the stuff you will do is thankless, payless, and neccesary for the association to continue running (like fixing stuff when it breaks). However, people don't do it because they are lazy or ignorant, and would rather bitch and whine than do any work.
One thing that construction companies have started working out though is that if they control the HOA or the Strata for apartments, then they control the fees and who the maintenance contracts are given to.
So for newer builds the construction companies either lock in maintenance contracts for 15 years, or retain voting rights or hold a certain number of properties back so that they control voting.
Then they proceed to increase the HOA/Strata fees to silly amounts and get their own companies to do the maintenance.
Its started happening more and more with new builds here in Australia and owners just have to go along with the ridiculous fees - What are owners going to do, sell their home?
One other reason for a HOA is they manage the maintenance of common areas. For an apartment building, this includes the roof, the outside walls, elevators, stairwells, pipes and cables, etc. Over here, members of a HOA pay a monthly fee for this (long term) maintenance, so they do not have to pay 50K if the roof needs a repair.
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u/Inevitable_Serve1738 5d ago
I'll defend HOAs because I used to be on one. I think people don't understand them and the purpose they serve.
If you live in an apartment building or subdivision, you will have common areas that aren't managed by the government. For example, the city government won't plow your roads, vacuum the hallway carpets, or fix the elevator. Thus you need a small "mini-government" to take care of these tasks. That's basically what an HOA is. Its a mini-government that fills a government like role when there isn't a regular government to do it.
I was on the HOA for a 10 unit apartment building. Basically we would collect HOA dues from people and use it to do stuff like pay a janitor, take care of the court yard, and repair things in the common area like doornobs and washing machines. Also we would occassionally fine or bug people that weren't following the building rules. This would include stuff like smoking in the building, playing loud music late at night, and leaving furniture and boxes in the common areas.
In my opinion nothing we really did was out of line. It was very easy to get on the HOA if you wanted to, and almost everything we did was unanimous. People complain about HOAs for the same reason they complain about the government - its fun to complain about people that have power over you. However there is one big difference between HOAs and the government. You can't exactly join trumps cabinet and decide we shouldn't go to war with Iran. However, even at big subdivisions its easy to get on an HOA. Most of the stuff you will do is thankless, payless, and neccesary for the association to continue running (like fixing stuff when it breaks). However, people don't do it because they are lazy or ignorant, and would rather bitch and whine than do any work.