Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Georgia
I own a fee simple townhome in GA. Association have been maintaining outside of townhome(s). I disagree with the way my townhome is being maintained and or quality of contractors work. Can I refuse to allow Home Owner's Association to Maintain my townhome and restrict their maintenance to common area grounds? I have fee simple ownership. Only common area is grounds. They are lax in maintenance of property. I would like to restrict their power to maintenance of common areas. In addition to lax maintenance, they recently allowed another fee simple owner to build on the common area grounds with no vote from the community. Any case law on maintenance of fee simple townhome in GA by association and or case law on taking common area property away from owner(s) and allowing another fee simple owner to extend the footprint of their townhome and encroach on the common area property in GA?
2 Answers from Attorneys
No one here has your documents and you do not tell us what they say on the issue. Read them and you'll likely find the answer. It is very unlikely they allow you to do what you propose. The way you change it is to vote on new officers and board members who agree with you, or get residents together to push for changes in the way the property is maintained, not to hire a lawyer and spend thousands of dollars on legal fees.
It is unlikely the Association is "maintaining" your townhome as you describe. They are most likely maintaining only the common elements.
Note however that should you fail to maintain your areas, the Association can hire a contractor to maintain it for you and send you the bill.
In regards to the "building" on the common areas, it is almost impossible to tell whether that is allowed or not based on your post. Most likely, no "vote" per se is required.
In regards to case law...please tell me you are not researching case law by yourself. You are completely unqualified to do any such thing, unless you have gone to law school for 3 years.
If you would like a consultation regarding the above, feel free to contact my office and I will be happy to look over the governing documents for you and we can move from there.
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