Maz

Are these really common in NZ? They are in the US, and it pisses me off to no end. They take a bunch of money from us, law down some exceedingly stupid rules, and do sod all for the money. Really really hope the answer to my question is a resounding "no!".

mazi

Are a lot of the properties in the US not freehold then? I can't see why else a homeowners' association would be needed. I assume membership is voluntary?

Maz

No they're freehold, we own outright, but there's a compulsory 'assessment fee' that we have to pay annually to a management company. It's less if you're in a detached house, but a friend of mine in a townhouse pays US$175 a month. But townhouses are a strange thing. You don't own the outside of it, so the assessment fee covers damage to the outside, and all landscaping of the common areas, snow removal in winter, etc.

We have a lake at the back of our house that's owned by the homeowner's association. We pay to have it maintained, and have the grass in the common areas mown.

mazi

Gosh, what a terrible state of affairs. In NZ we lived down a right of way which had 6 properties that had been built on some subdivided land. If anything needed to be done such as the ROW re-tarmacked all the owners would club together, and that is written into the contract when you move in. In London my flat was not freehold - the freehold was owned by a management company who charged something extortionate (actually it was only about 100GBP per year which on the face of it is not extortionate but when you considered what arses they were, was) to do sweet FA and who, it turned out, were out and out crooks. This 100GBP didn't pay for anything, it was just their pocket money as if the building needed to be eg. re-painted, the owners would still have to pay for it - if you had a big flat, you paid more, if you had a small one, less.

thebears

From my knowledge this can be answered by:

"What is a homeowners association"?

Are these more related to "gated communities"?

Maz

Gated communities are like a HOA on steroids, where the fee you pay includes having a security guard and people need to check in and out with the guard. Not my cup of tea at all...

thebears

As soon as they get burgled they start suspecting each other

Then it becomes a gated prison

Everyone I have known that lives in one is insecure and have massive chips on their shoulders - please correct me if others have had more favourable interactions but on mine the people were horrid.

Batty

I saw one of those in Gulf Harbour one day. A woman came to collect her post and locked two gates behind her on the way back into her house It takes all sorts I suppose

Maz, the closest to a 'homeowners association' here would be Body Corporate associations. They mainly deal with apartments and leasehold properties and charge an annual fee and collect money for repairs etc. Otherwise, the only thing you have to pay are your rates to the Council - local and regional in Auckland; I don't know if that's the case everywhere but I presume so.

sky

They sound horrible, yea think the closest you would come here are gated communities where they build a big wall round to keep the riff raff out and charge hugely inflated prices for the houses built in it.

Maz

Yep that's the kind of thing! We went to look at a nearby gated community being built (on lovely fertile farmland, of course! grrrr) with MIL who's having a new house built. The two-bedroom apartments with 1 full bathroom and 1 separate loo, cost US$275K and up. What a rip-off! But at least they had heated underground parking (don't want all those ugly cars littering the streets now, do we?) and lifts all over the place. Good grief, Charlie Brown!

Batty, that is wonderful news, thank you so much! Karma your way (if I can).