I have a doozy of a nightmare with an HOA I fought with for 4.5 ears until I finally moved out. Lesgislation needs to be passed to prevent HOA's like Circletree from ripping off the Homeowners.
In 2/97 I bought a 2 bed/2 ba Condo in Mesa, AZ in the Circletree Condominium complex. It was a decent pad at a good price and it was my first home purchase so I probably wasn't the most selective and a little naive but I liked the place. At the time Lee Chatman was the property manager and he seemed to be taking good care of the property. Its a big complex about 250 units. 15 buildings or so. I cannot remember what actual mgmt company Lee was working for but the problems really started when the HOA decided to save a few bucks and hire this worthless mgmt team called B & J Enterprises, Jack was now the property manager. Dues were 86.00 a month at this time. I think this was maybe in late 97 or early 98.
I flushed my toilet and for some reason it overflowed, water ran everywhere. I then went to the other toilet, flushed it and it almost overflowed. I then noticed my bathtubs filling up with dirty water. I immediately called the HOA for help and they called Coyote plumbing who came out and unclogged the main line into our building. It turns out this is not the first time this happened and there was some bad piping into my building which had not been fixed and the people like me on the bottom units got everyone else's sewage when this happened.
I called and spoke to Jack who said the problem had been fixed and it shouldn't happen anymore.
A few months later I came home from work and my whole place was flooded! I screamed and cried and called the HOA who told me, again, the main line had stopped up again and i asked when it was going to be fixed and he said it should be fixed. Jack told me to call ServiceMaster and the HOA would pay the bill. I called Servicemaster and they came out, shampooed and cleaned my carpets, dried out some spots, but the man from Servicemaster said I should have my carpets replaced due to the sanitary issues. Servicemaster gave me a 160.00 bill and I gave it to the HOA who took 6 months to pay it! Jack actualy had the nerve to tell me the board voted down paying the bill, EVEN though the HOA is negligent for not properly fixing the problem. I told Jack the HOA WILL pay the bill and they finally did.
About a year later another flood. Again. This time again while I was at work. Jack this time said for me to get new carpets and the HOA would pay for them. They sent an insurance adjuster out and between my insurance and the HOA i had all new carpet put in my place. During this time the main pipe still wasnt fixed but they had huge ugly manholes dug everywhere with boards covering them. Why? Because the HOA claimed to not have money to get the manholes done so the holes remained there for a good year.
Then I think it was August of 98 I heard the toilets stopping up again. Lucky I was home so I turned the water off. A few hours later again the problem was fixed but I had to use buckets to remove the water coming up in my bathtub.
At this point in time, the HOA dues went up every year. Now the dues were over 90.00 a month and I noticed alot of undesirables were moving into the complex. It was starting to be destroyed by renters and it was obvious the HOA was not enforcing the CCCR's which required landlords to do background checks on renters.
The HOA paid thousands of dollars for the gates, then had to remove them because they didnt have a permit from the city!
So a few months later they paid for an automatic gate system which didn;t help alot as the side gates were continously being left open (they were not self shut) so car thefts and breakins were still happening.
The property started to really deteriorate as the walkways were dangerous and some manholes were in danger of people falling through. The stucco was coming off some of the buildings. The parking lot a slope in it which causes major flooding when it rained which I found out is a code violation. Circletree refused to put a bigger drain in the lot or have that part of the lot paved out to prevent the slope from flooding.
The car ports were badly dented and very old and run down looking giving a rundown look to the property.
As time progresses, the dues keep going up and up and the property is looking worse and worse. The cops are there almost every night. Crime and drug dealing is happening, and the complex is being taken over by low income renters and soon there were very few owner occupied units in the complex.
It appears no preventive maint. Is being done on the property. Mgmt feels as long as the pools are cleaned and the grass is green that is good enough for them.
5 I notice again, one loser after another moving in. Owner Occupancy is down to probably less than 40%. One beat up 20 year old car after another occupying the parking spots.in the middle of the night I catch a scuzzy looking gang banger trying to break in through my kitchen. I call the police who never found him but I vaguely recognized him as possibly living in the complex somewhere. I put the place up for sale and move out.
Immediately after I move, property mgmt switches its now back to Lee and he promises that he will clean the place up. They pass an assessment of 600.00 per unit to get the walkways done. I speak to Lee right before I move and tell him how horrible this complex has gotten. He informs me there is no record of my previous complaints (even written in) of the water problems in my bldg. He appeared pretty disgusted at the complex and previous mgmt.
6 update. My friend still lives and owns there so he keeps me informed. Dues are now a whopping 105.00 a month. Where does it all go? They still are trying to pass assessments. A fire completely destroys one building including the office and the clubhouse. Over a dozen people are left homeless. It was on the news. Guess what? Complex is underinsured and the clubhouse has no insurance is what my friend is telling me. He thinks they will try to pass yet another assessment to make up for the lack of proper insurance. Thry have ruled out electrical or a meth lab as being the cause so the word arson now comes to mind.
Cirlcletree HOA is a joke! Laws and legislature need to be passed to protect people from crooks like these.
Anonymous
Mesa, Arizona
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