Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: HOA acting as distributor

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Dec 18, 2004, at 2:00 PM, <normangauss [at] charter.net> wrote:

> Rob:
>
>    The way you described it, each club makes its own rules, decides 
> how to
> spend money it has coming in, but arranges to have the billing and
> collection of funds performed by the HOA.
>
>     Is anyone aware of a situation where a contract is made between an
> outside vendor and the HOA on behalf of the buyers club?

In the first instance, I think you can make a case for using your group 
accounting and billing structure for the convenience of members. Our 
treasurer would draw the line at getting involved in a lot of 
transactions that would not involve everyone. And the IRS might look a 
little wary of homeowners who are deducting for home office charges if 
they include association fees that include payments for wine or 
truffles.

In the second instance, the whole association would have to agree to 
assume this responsibility and be sure it is within the laws of your 
state and city for your specific legal structure. Our bylaws would 
prevent the board from making such a commitment without the consensus 
of members, and our lawyer I think would say this is shaky -- you are 
not operating within what condo law intends to regulate.

We just negotiated a contract for the biannual maintenance of HVAC 
units in each household for which we will each pay $165 a year as added 
to our condo fees. Doing it this way (one check, all units serviced 
twice a year at the same time) allowed us to get a significant discount 
on maintenance individually and also for the commonhouse units. But 
this includes everyone, and HVAC maintenance is directly related to 
homeownership. One would have a hard time making that case about a wine 
club.

Sharon
-----
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org