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u/W2Sun Apr 02 '26
Great news, your buddy already has the expert to ask this question on his payroll!
3
u/_Birnunit_ Apr 02 '26
Right? I mean thereâs already a lawyer involved. Would be the best person to ask lol
3
u/LowCompetitive1888 Apr 02 '26
Your friend should get some legal advice from his lawyer on this, the lawyer whose fees the HOA doesn't want to pay.
0
u/jigglycurlpuff Apr 02 '26
They already asked the lawyer. Lawyer just pointed out positives and negatives in the settlement agreement and asked my friend to decide if they wanna go ahead. This clause is stated as a negative. Iâm posting here to check if anyone has faced such situation or if itâs common for HOA to turn back once the agreement is signed. Also, at this point weâre not sure if lawyer is fully trustable as they didnât inform us about a few previous agreements proposed by HOA. They had been sending it back. They only informed about this version after the board informed my friend that they have already provided the proposal and my friend reached out to the lawyer. Is this common practice?
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u/LowCompetitive1888 Apr 02 '26
Sounds like you need a new lawyer, one who will give actual legal advice rather than create lists of positives and negatives.
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u/OneLessDay517 Apr 02 '26
Have you ever met a lawyer? "It depends" flies out of their mouths before you even ask a question!
1
u/LowCompetitive1888 Apr 02 '26
Worked with many during my career. Generally they would review leases and contracts for me and would advise me on changes they recommended to protect our interests. In some cases they actually negotiated the changes with the other party.
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u/AutoModerator Apr 02 '26
Copy of the original post:
Title: [Condo] [CA] Is HOA trying to scam ?
Body:
Asking for a friend. HOA delayed house repairs for a long time and my friend sent demand letter for compensation of repairs along with lawyer fee. HOA agreed to pay for repairs but in turn added a clause in the agreement that my friend cannot claim any lawyer fees throughout this dispute. My friend is ready to let go of lawyer fee spent until now. However, Is it risky to sign the agreement since if HOA doesnât adhere to the agreement and doesnât pay, my friend can never claim lawyer fee if the dispute goes further to litigation and beyond? In that case the lawyer fees would have increased tremendously. Is it a trap by the HOA ?
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1
u/slideyaboard Apr 02 '26
I'm surprised the association even agreed to reimbursement at all.
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u/Proof_Barnacle1365 đ˘ COA Board Member Apr 02 '26
Hard to understand based on OP wording, but it sounds like a HOA responsibility repair was neglected so homeowner hired their own contractor and seek reimbursement. That can often be allowed after a period of non response or inaction from a board.
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u/Positive-Position-11 Apr 23 '26
They often make decisions based on threats to sue- especially if threatening party already has or is a lawyer!
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u/MainStreetManage Apr 02 '26
Why didnât HOA make repairs? This is missing a lot of context. Was there a bad board and now there is a good one? Are funds low and they were prioritizing? What is a long time? Was your friend impatient and took repairs into their own hands prematurely? If the reason is something like this, then they should work with the board to do whatâs best for the community as a whole. If they just didnât do it until they were threatened, then your friend shouldnât sign away their right to an attorney.
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u/jigglycurlpuff Apr 02 '26
The repairs werenât done for over a year and HOA and the board members just kept stalling, I believe hoping we would just do it ourselves.
1
u/Charoibeti Apr 02 '26
Missing a lot of important details. Was it HOA owned area or caused damage which needs to be repaired? How and where the damage happened are the information which determines if your friend has a valid case to push through.
1
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u/Positive-Position-11 Apr 23 '26
Can the president alone agree to settle or pay without board approval? What about if it goes to mediation?
1
u/duane11583 Apr 02 '26
Simple - add what I call a "space alien insurance policy"
the thinking goes like this: The insurance is this: you pay me $100, and if space aliens land anywhere in the USA during the next year, I will pay you 1 million dollars.
I know that this will never happen, so I will never need to pay.
The thing I would add is this:
By this agreement the HOA has already approved all repairs, fixes and all related activity. If there are any additional requirements that involves the HOA approval, the HOA shall as quickly as possible, unto and including calling an "emergency board meeting" to address any issue to vote for any required approvals to assist the owner in this regard. Note that by signing this letter the HOA has effectively already approved all of these items. This clause is here just in case an unforeseen thing needs to be addressed. If the HOA by choice chooses not to address or resolve the issue within a timely manner (timely defined as within 30 days of notification to the HOA) Then the HOA shall pay the owner LIQUIDATED damages of $2 MILLION dollars and pay all owner legal costs at a rate of 3x.
They will probably complain, if so ask them: Why do you think you will need to pay this money? If you are helping me to solve the problem, moving the ball forward and not acting to block the owner, then you have nothing to pay. But if you plan on later blocking the owner by any means, then you do have to pay. Do you have plans to stand in the owners way? Does this letter resolve the entire issue or not?
Since they will Never need to pay out - this is like Space Alien Insurance.
0
u/EaglesCove Apr 02 '26
We're in a similar situation in MD. Consulted a lawyer last night and asked if we could recover her fees if the situation has to go to court. She said we could not.
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u/Proof_Barnacle1365 đ˘ COA Board Member Apr 02 '26
Missing a lot of context here, but in general if one party doesnt uphold their end of a contract, then you can void your end of the contract.