A letter from our HOA

Back in March we got a notice from our Home Owners Association about the building we live in. Apparently we have had too many problems in the past few months with the boiler that controls the water for our building (and 4 others). In an effort to help prevent future issues that cost the HOA a great deal of money (and every owner by default), the board has voted to be proactive about the situation and require that owners in our building make their home available for a plumbing inspection.

Essentially they fear that OWNERS aren't addressing issues that they are responsible for because RENTERS aren't reporting issues to their owners... or people don't mind leaky faucets because water is included in the HOA bill....

They gave us two days to choose from to have an inspection, a Saturday and a Sunday. As an added convenience, the HOA also worked out a deal with one of the plumbing companies to offer a 10% discount on any mandatory repairs that they find. The inspection itself is free

I'm actually all for this because for the past few months not a week has gone by where i've gone to get the mail and NOT seen a water shut off notice affecting my building... and when you do laundry on a Monday because its your day off and the water is scheduled to be off... it's such a pain!

So, I tried to call up the HOA and make my appointment like a good owner... but unfortunately no one in the office was there so I left a message with the answering machine company and waited... and waited... But no one returned my call. I called back again, talked to the answering machine company for a second time and left a message.... and still no one called me back. 

The first date of the inspection passed so I continued to call for the second inspection and got the same song and dance. After that inspection date came and left, I called again to complain about how I tried to be in compliance with the letter... and still no one returned my call. 

I'd actually forgot all about it in its entirety until I got another notice the week saying that they would be having the plumbers come out AGAIN because I failed to set up an appointment. 

(the nerve...) 

Just FYI, the association is in GREAT financial standing because the board members are awesome... we just can't afford a pricey property management company and we are stuck with this lady until we can get enough money together for a better company. If I personally have a problem, I'll attend a meeting to ensure my issue is handled.  

So I called the HOA again around 10pm and this time I got the person in charge... (the key to getting a hold of her is to apparently call after 10pm because she's more likely to pick up thinking its an emergency). When I told her I was calling to schedule my appointment for my unit inspection, she tried to tell me I had the date wrong even though I was reading from her letter... (I ultimately had to tell her to look at the letter and then a calendar)...

All in all, I was finally able to make my appointment. I wasn't worried about having an inspection because I had all my hoses and my shut off valves replaced when I remodeled my unit less than 2 years ago (and I got good ones). 

Since I was at work for the inspection, my fiance handled everything. The guy was a bit late (because the HOA told him the wrong time to show up), but once he started with the washing machine and saw the new valves the inspection went off without a hitch and didn't take very long at all (he was actually relieved to see how great our place was)... He told my fiance that the last unit he looked at had a kitchen sink leak that was going to cost 2k to fix...  

Hopefully the other owners will call in and get their units inspected and fix the problems so my water stops getting turned off... But I doubt it. The lady from the HOA told me that only one other unit in my building had called in to make their appointment. It's times like this that i'm glad I have a second floor unit so I don't have to worry about getting flooded because other people didn't fix their plumbing issues.