.jpg)
A homeowner's association can add a lot of value to your neighborhood. A lot of neighborhoods in the United States agree, considering that there are over 370,000 different HOA organizations in the country.
If your neighborhood decides to form an HOA, one thing you will have to address is HOA property maintenance.
How does that work? This guide breaks it down.
Common Areas
Arguably, the biggest responsibility that an HOA has is maintaining common areas that are in the community. This can be anything from a small indoor gym to a pool or even a community park.
Regardless of what it is, the HOA is responsible for any space that is deemed public domain within the community.
Examples of this could be updating the fence built around a pool. Or, it could mean hiring someone to keep up with the needs of the pool. If you have playground equipment in a community park, this also means making sure that the equipment is taken care of.
Home Maintenance
This subject can be a little tricky for an HOA because there is more debate here about what the organization is responsible for. Typically, in an HOA community, the HOA is responsible for anything that is attached to the home.
This includes things such as the roofs, pipes, countertops, stoops to your home, the sidewalk in front of your house, landscaping, and more.
While these boundaries can be easy enough to figure out in normal circumstances, controversy can arise. This typically happens when there is a debate as to who is at fault for property damage.
An example can be if the son of a homeowner did something reckless on the roof that resulted in damage to a pipe up there. In that situation, it would be on the homeowner to pay for that damage to be fixed.
Make sure there are clear guidelines about issues like this before forming an HOA.
HOA Fees
Finally, there needs to be a discussion with your HOA board about HOA fees around your community. These fees help address maintenance issues that come up in any part of your community. Fees can help fix things in your common area as well as the houses within your community.
On average, it is recommended that homeowners set aside 1% of their home's value annually for maintenance on their home. An HOA should use this guideline to move forward.
Have the Right HOA Property Maintenance
These are a few things that you need to keep in mind when it comes to HOA property maintenance. You have to remember that your HOA is going to be responsible for every issue in a common area. Then, you need to set clear guidelines for home maintenance and make sure that you are charging the appropriate HOA fees.
To do all of this, you could use an association management company.
Do you want to find out more? Message us here with your questions.
