Future Buyer Has No Input on Owner Fees

The popularity of high monthly homeowner fees in single-family residential tracts, as reported by David W. Myers (July 19), highlights a multifaceted problem that will not go away because future homeowners, the very people they impact the most, are not present to protest when the tracts are approved.

These fees result from a growing attitude of convenience adopted by everyone associated with new development, from property owners and developers seeking to build on land once considered hazardous or unbuildable, to nearby residents requiring assurances that such developments will not pose a danger to them or overwhelm their already overburdened infrastructure, as well as from government officials who find that they enable developments to be approved without looking too closely at the true costs of such projects.

In Los Angeles, the imposition of extensive conditions, covenants and restrictions (CC & Rs) has long been a reality for single-family hillside developments. The formation of a homeowners association is required when property held “in common” must be maintained. Monthly fees imposed upon homeowners finance these associations and are based in part on the cost of implementing the CC & Rs. Future homeowners would do well to read them very closely; where deed restrictions are complex, an attorney should be consulted, for many are enforceable only by court action.

The Hillside Federation has been particularly concerned about what happens when an association becomes insolvent or is unable to function, either because of a lack of sales or internal strife. When damage occurs, current legal opinion holds that individual homeowners are liable for all areas of upkeep listed in the CC & Rs. The lack of adequate insurance at reasonable cost exacerbates all other problems.

Above all, homeowners should realize that monthly maintenance fees not only help pay for obvious accouterments, such as tennis courts, clubhouses and the like, but also for the hidden costs of developing difficult sites, which include grading, drainage devices and street maintenance. As always, the watchwords are to let the buyer beware.

BARBARA A. FINE

Beverly Hills

Fine is vice president of the Federation of Hillside and Canyon Assns. Inc.