HOA management company charges ARC fee

Q: Our homeowners association never charged to submit an Architectural Review Committee form. New management is on board, now, and with no written notice to homeowners, they are charging a fee. I would think that we should be notified. What’s the ruling on that?

Also, we are having a problem with management seeing through a problem that deals with a homeowner that is disabled. Months have gone by and nothing is being done. We have just contacted Americans with Disabilities Act (filed a complaint) and waiting for a response. Please give your suggestion and opinion on this ruling.

A: As to your first question: A number of management companies are now charging an architectural fee. This fee is probably included in the management contract that was agreed upon by your board. Some management contracts have a clause, which allows the management company to impose additional reimbursable charges after the first year of management with a written notice to the board prior to the new calendar year. There is no specific section in Nevada Revised Statutes 116 about any notification of a new fee to the homeowners.

As to the second question: You did not provide any additional information as to the issue concerning the disabled homeowner. ADA is the abbreviation for the American Disability Act. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA (42 U.S.C. § 12101) is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964,[1] which made discrimination based on race, religion, sex, national origin and other characteristics illegal, and later sexual orientation. In addition, unlike the Civil Rights Act, the ADA also requires covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities, and imposes accessibility requirements on public accommodations.[2]

The Fair Housing Act (FHA) of 1968 applies to residential communities, both apartments and homeowner associations. Within this body of laws, there is a disability section. In most cases, an association would have an FHA claim against them as opposed to an ADA claim.

It would not surprise me that this association is waiting for some response from the federal government. Many agencies are still not up to speed because of the lingering pandemic. My advice is to contact them on a regular basis if needed but don’t expect a fast resolution.

Barbara Holland is an author and educator on real estate management. Questions may be sent to holland744o@gmail.com.