Changes in Collections & Covenants

Our HOA recently signed agreement with a law firm that specializes in HOA law and collections.  The law firm is called Lazega and Johanson.  We would like for them to help us with three things in 2013 including collections and two new addenda to the covenants.  Below you’ll find more detail on these items.

1. Collections:  The board does not have the time to spend tracking down delinquent homeowners for past due payments in 2013.  Therefore, any accounts that are currently delinquent will be turned over to Lazega and Johanson by 2/15/13.  If the association is forced to take this action, the amount due will increase by $349.50 to cover attorney fees and document processing.  For example, if you have not paid dues for 2012, you would owe $400 for dues plus $72.00 in HOA late fees plus $349.50 in attorney and document fees bringing your total account balance to $821.50.  Please pay your overdue balance ASAP or email bramlett.shoals@gmail.com to enter in a payment agreement.  Lazega and Johanson can accept credit cards on behalf of the association if you would like to pay this way.
2. POA Conversion:  The HOA board would like to convert our HOA into a POA (property owners association) to give us more authority to collect from homeowners who do not pay and simplify the collections process.  Most of the neighborhoods around us (i.e. Coldwater Creek and Ivey Pointe) have already converted to a POA.  The following PDF provides some information regarding the Georgia Property Owners Association Act. Quick Facts – GA Property Owners Association Act
3. Rental Restrictions or Guidelines:  At the HOA meeting in December all of the homeowners in attendance expressed an interest in establishing renting guidelines or renting restrictions for the subdivision.  What is the difference you ask?  Rental restrictions “restrict” or preventing homeowners from renting their property. Rental guidelines establish a check list of “things to do” before you can rent your home such as requiring the homeowner to provide proof that a background check has been performed on their renter or signing an agreement with a landscape company to mow the yard while renting the property.  If you are already leasing your home, you would be grandfathered in should homeowners decide to pass restrictions.  Please be aware that some of the homes recently sold in our neighborhood are being purchased by companies who intend to lease the property.

WE NEED YOUR FEEDBACK ON THE POA CONVERSION AND RENTAL RESTRICTIONS OR GUIDELINES.  To add these items to our covenants, we need approximately two-thirds of HOA members to approve them.  We will not pay the law firm to draft the appropriate documentation until we are sure that we have support to pass it.  We will not proceed with developing rental restrictions and guidelines unless two-thirds of residents agree with the POA conversion because our law firm recommends approving the POA prior to implementing rental restrictions and guidelines so that can be more broadly enforced.  Please provide your initial feedback via the poll below.  We may also send out a survey specifically targeted to HOA members to gather feedback and we may have an open discussion among paid HOA members at our next meeting.