HOA Trouble

[worldwander]

We have been getting an excesive amount of fines from our HOA. "Plant litter" is one of them. This is in Arizona, so most of the front "lawns" are rock. The area has many forclosures. Our property manager's opinion is that the HOA is trying to pad the budget off of the home owners backs. What is the best way to fight this? An attourney would be way more than the cost of the fines.

[BLL]

What do the bylaws say?

[Bluemoon06]

What is plant litter?  Are there cat plants?

[JakeRodgers]

"Cat plants"- oh thats funny!, I had to laugh.

[jmd_forest]

Assuming that the officers of the HOA actually live in your development, and that  "plant litter" is often blown around by the wind and other natural weather phenomenon, I'd be ready with a camera nice and early in the morning when some "natural weather phenomenon" blew a whole crapload of "plant litter" into these officers' yards overnight and take a bunch of pictures and ensure they get fined also.

A couple of times of this and I'm sure they'd start to get the message.

jmd_forest

[PositiveOutlook]

JMD, that was a brilliant idea...

As far the HOA goes...  review the By-Laws and Convenants... find what you need to call a meeting and what you need for a quorum... get like-minded individuals together to request a meeting on the subject and make sure you are there... those who DON'T care won't be, and the like-minded individuals can call a motion to the floor for a vote on the matter about removing this, get the majority vote, and problem solved... 

Key is working through your existing By-Laws and Covenants, which the officers are REQUIRED to follow...  also, familiarize yourself with Roberts Rules on meeting process and how to bring a motion to the floor...

Good luck...