Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: CID assessments paying for social events

[Becky Weaver (beckyweaver]

Norm,
 
It seems to me that you have a larger situation to resolve, namely, that you 
have two households in your cohousing community that do not want to be 
cohousers. I realize that you have stated just one issue here; but is your 
group working through the larger question as well? 
 
If you've already done that, and the CID assessment issue is part of the final 
cleanup process, excuse me for being presumptuous. :-) 
 
As far as the legalities go, I would say you're going to have to ask your 
lawyer. But wouldn't you be better off developing consensus on what is best for 
the health of your community? If there are strongly differing opinions about 
the CID assessments, whether only one solution is legal is, I believe, less 
relevant than that your community is in conflict over the role of these 
particular households in your community. 
 
Even if it is legal to collect this portion of the assessments, it is a slow, 
painful, and often futile process to collect money from someone who doesn't 
want to pay it. Even if it is illegal to collect this portion, the fact that 
some of your members want to try, and the households (apparently) do not want 
to pay it, leads me to believe that the larger issue still needs some work. 
 
Becky Weaver
Central Austin Cohousing/Kaleidoscope Village
Austin, Texas

OCC11NG <normangauss [at] charter.net> wrote:
Sharon:

So what you are saying is that if our association presents itself as a 
social organization and expects new residents to sign an agreement to 
financially support this kind of activity, then we can expect them to pay 
all expenses.

Unfortunately, two new units were sold recently by realtors and no 
agreements were signed by the new owners acknowledging that they understood 
we were a cohousing association. All they knew was that we are a simple 
HOA. I think to suddenly declare "Surprise! You owe us for social expenses" 
is not defensible in a court of law. I think that they can refuse to pay 
the surcharge if they want.

Norm Gauss