How long can my HOA leave our security gate open before it becomes actionable by the residents?

1. Do not hold back any of your HOA fees. The penalties are expensive, and the HOA Board will win that battle. 2. The courts give HOA Board's very broad discretion in determining how to spend HOA fees for maintenance and when. A court is very unlikely to order such spending. 3. You and your supporters are entitled to demand Internal Dispute Resolution, where one or more Board members are required to meet with you to discuss the issue and try to negotiate a solution or compromise. If that fails, then you can demand mediation or arbitration. The mediation will cost more than repairing the gates, even if the motors need to be replaced completely. Lawyers and mediators are expensive. 4. At IDR and mediation, you should emphasize that if anyone is robbed, beaten or killed, the HOA will be held liable for all of the damages suffered, and the individual board members might be held liable, too. The damages could exceed the insurance the HOA carries. Medical care, rehab, therapy and lost earnings due to a permanent disability caused by a beating, add up, and a jury will not be kind to an HOA which admitted it had a safety issue by having gates, and then failed to maintain them. If you appreciate this free advice, please remember to refer me to any friends or acquaintances who need a lawyer. Referrals are still our best source of new business. Do you have a revocable living trust to protect your heirs against probate? Probate takes forever, is expensive, and is annoying. Do your family a favor. Set up a trust, and put all your property, especially any real property, into the trust. Since it is revocable, you can change it, add to it, take property out of it, or even cancel it completely, at any time. We set up such trusts, provide a pour-over will as a back-up for any property that does not make it into the trust, provide you with blank durable powers of attorney for health care and financial decisions, in case you become incapable of making such decisions while still alive, and convey one piece of real property to the trust, usually the family home, for $1500.00. If you would like to hire me to do this, let me know, and I'll send you a list of the information I need. Dana Sack