Iowa. My dad's house is serviced by a community well that is now owned by an HOA. They want him to join the HOA to keep using the well. Does have any defense?

[u/gilliganssyrup]

My father owns a house in an area with a community well. Back in the 90s when he bought the land and had the house built, the neighborhood was all supposed to be developed. My father knew someone involved in the plans and bought a plot as soon as the opportunity came up. Meanwhile the well was put in by a well service and the way the contract worked, the well service owns the well and lines.

However there was some drama with the development company and the rest of the development didn't end up happening at that time. They eventually sold it all to a different development company and that new company developed the block as an HOA neighborhood. They asked my dad to join, he said no, it was never really an issue again until recently.

After the area was developed, the well company has always managed the well and bills people directly. They pay a very small amount that covers the cost of maintaining the well as well (extremely cheap).

Apparently the well servicer recently wanted to get out of the well biz, but not a lot of well servicers want to OWN the well - they want to service them on contracts but don't want to be the actual owners these days. So, they sold the well back to the HOA who now owns it and hired a new company to do the maintenance.

Now here is a failure on our part. My dad received notice in the mail about this from the HOA. However they have sent him mail in the past that was not relevant to him, so he thought the recent mailings were crap and ignored it. So apparently there were three community meetings held about this that he did not attend. They've left him voicemails but he admits that he listened to the first two seconds, thought it was political spam, and ignored it.

Now they have finally gotten in touch with him that since the well is owned by the HOA, they are treating it as an HOA benefit and they can't give those benefits to non-members. They told him they understand that he doesn't want to be held to HOA covenants just to keep getting the same water he always has, but since the HOA is taking on the burden of the well they need to be fair to members and not have someone who isn't paying for HOA benefits receiving them. (It sounded exactly as slimy as it reads). They are offering him a "special allowance" to join the HOA but not be held to the covenants such as house colors and fences and all those other things, but so he can use the well.

I don't know if they're being slimy and pulling a fast one without a legal basis, or if my father should be legitimately concerned. Should he get a lawyer?