Can you sue HOA for not doing the landscape?

It has been 3 months since the landscaper did any work in my area. I brought this up to the HOA at least couple of months ago and on several ocassions. I even have email exchanges but they give me the same answer that they will go out and inspect the work and get back to me or take actions appropriately. The landscape still has not been done.

The last board meeting they had said that they had to cut down on landscaping because our dues couldn't cover enough for landscaping. The issue is that they didn't shop around for better insurance rates and let the policy renew at the new rate thus causing the shortage in funds for other maintenance things. Can they be held liable for not doing any work on their part? Or is this something where all homeowners need to get together and get a new HOA management firm?

What are our options?

Thanks in advance

OK, let me correct myself. I guess I'm not familiar with the terms. Our HOA is composed of the management firm and a couple of board members who are residents.

The HOA is a not-for-profit corporation owned ENTIRELY by all the owners, together - including yourself. You own an undivided percentage of the common area - like owning stock in a corporation. YOU, the owners, elect a board of directors, and they run the day-to-day operations. The board contracts with a management firm to collect the assessments, pay the bills, and other things such as obtaining bids, inspecting the property, supervising contractors, obtaining bids, and making sure the board keeps up with current laws. The management company works for the board - and under the direction of the board.

Unfortunately, most declarations (aka CC&Rs) only allow the board to raise assessments a certain amount every year, unless the owners vote to increase them more. Consequently, as certain expenses go up, if the assessments do not go up, the bills cannot get paid. The Board sometimes makes tough decisions of what they can pay and what they can't. I've had some associations where they had filed a claim on their insurance, and the following year, the premium doubled (or more). If the owners won't vote to increase the assessments, where will the money come from???? Like someone else mentioned, in many areas, there are only a couple of insurance companies left who will insure HOAs.

You need to go to the next board meeting and ask how you can help. Be a part of the solution, not a part of the problem.

You cannot sue the HOA for mismanagement. Even if you did, and you won, you would be suing yourself and your fellow property owners. I am not sure of the type of structure you have in your HOA. It sounds like you have delegated some of the responsibilities to a private firm. Your HOA still must have a board of directors that is responsible for these decisions. Go to them and ask them to fire the management firm. If that does not work, your recourse is to vote the board members out of office at the next election or, if allowed by your bylaws, recall them and replace them.

Good luck.

So .... basically you want to sue yourself.

A better approach would be getting yourself elected to the board so that you can be the one shopping around for rates and doing all the other things you feel they aren't.

1st option. Submit a bid to do the landscaping yourself. Go down to home depot and hire some help.

2nd option. Vote to raise the dues to cover the new increases. If you are in a Hurricane state, your rates probably doubled and even shopping around would not have helped.