City threatens water shutoff to Henderson complex if HOA doesn’t make fixes

The married couple knew the townhouse they bought in an east Henderson complex earlier this summer wasn’t in a newer, flashy neighborhood, but they cherished the financial security of having a place to call their own.

“I was kind of expecting it to look a little run down,” Rick Martinez, 32, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Tuesday.

What Rick and Sarah Martinez, 25, didn’t foresee was that a pink envelope taped to their door Monday contained a notice that’s threatened to turn the lives of Somerset Park residents upside down.

Henderson officials are threatening to shut off water services at the complex, an action that would force residents to vacate their homes indefinitely, unless a broken water system is fixed within two weeks, according to the letter.

The homeowners association — which is responsible for maintaining the private water distribution system of the complex near Sunset and Pabco roads — told officials that it can’t cover the repair costs, according to the letter.

“I just bought this house, and none of this was disclosed to me,” Rick Martinez said. “The letter is the first we’ve heard of it.”

The city told residents that the broken water system poses an “imminent hazard to the health, safety, and welfare of the public.” Shutting down the water would mean that the fire hydrants also wouldn’t function.

Henderson officials said that the system and affected infrastructure has to be “fully repaired” to be in compliance with the city’s municipal code, suggesting that residents won’t be able to return until that occurs.

“This situation is subject to change at any time depending on the severity of the ongoing leaks …” the city added.

Henderson gave the HOA and residents a Sept. 10 deadline.

The Martinezes, who live with their pet dog Rocky, placed a substantial down payment that brought their monthly mortgage to about $1,200. They said they pay about $330 in monthly HOA fees.

Asked about the prospect of having to find a new place to live, Sarah Martinez succinctly said: “It looks like homelessness.”

No ‘leeway’

In a statement to the Review-Journal, the city said that the residents’ safety was paramount.

“If the HOA is unable to implement a repair plan, the City will consider any necessary and appropriate steps to protect the residents of Somerset Park and the City,” officials wrote. “The City of Henderson urges the HOA to immediately implement a repair plan to and eliminate the danger to the life, health and safety of the Somerset Park residents.”

One of two proposals the Henderson City Council approved last week to send to the Legislature for the 2025 session would address a similar problem.

The bill draft request proposes giving local governments the ability to designate a neighborhood improvement district for water or sewer repairs in certain neighborhoods.

“If signed into law, this tool could potentially aid in preventing situations like Somerset Park where residents are displaced due to safety risks caused by a failing water or sewer system maintained by a common interest community,” the city said in a separate statement.

CAMCO Homeowners Association, which manages the property, did not respond to inquiries for comment.

Rick Martinez said the association took over the complex about a year ago, and that a representative told the couple that the company inherited the property from another association that was plagued by financial mismanagement.

The representative, according to Martinez, said that the city was not providing any “leeway” or aid to resolve the water issue.

HOA ‘not pulling their weight’

“Deterioration of the private water distribution system at Somerset Park has resulted in ongoing water leaks causing damage to private roadways, parking lots, and potentially structures,” the city’s letter said.

A walk through the aging complex Tuesday showed a dilapidated property.

The empty pool was littered and landscape was left to die and dry. Puddles of water were seen throughout the parking lots. Shingles from an abandoned repair job sat on the roof of one of the buildings.

“The HOA obviously isn’t pulling their weight,” Sarah Martinez said. “The pool is broken, there’s trash everywhere, the landscaping has gone to (expletive), all the bushes are all dried up and ugly.”

“There’s a sinkhole,” she added.

The city said it made “emergency” repairs and barricaded the area a couple of weeks ago. But now that section of parking is closed off.

Rick Martinez said the HOA packet they received after they closed on their home doesn’t provide information on how the dues are spent.

Cheryl Baldwin, 68, remembers what the property looked like when she and her husband bought their home nearly 25 years ago.

The grass was plush, the pool was full and the landscaping was well-kept, she said.

“My condo is paid for and now I’m going through all this crap because the association can’t handle money right,” she said. “It’s not our fault, but we’re the ones who are going to have to pay the price if they turn the water off on us.”

Baldwin said she, her husband and their cat have nowhere else to stay, and no idea how long it would be before they could return if the water is shut off.

Baldwin said it’s been about a decade since the HOA has taken care of the complex, and that since she received the letter with the fateful news, she can’t get hold of the current association.

“Maybe the place can go back to the way it was when I moved in,” she said. “This was a beautiful place to live — it was well managed, well taken care of.”

Rebecca Mejia, 29, her husband, two children and their dog live in a rental.

“We’re paying a decent amount for HOA a month,” she said. “What are they doing with it?”

She described feeling scared and intimidated by the letter.

“We don’t know if it’s a tactic for the HOA to do something,” Mejia said.

While the HOA responds to some fixes, she said, “they don’t really fix the big problems.”

Mejia added: “The water’s been a big problem.”

Her family is in “limbo,” exploring a contingency plan in case they have to leave, Mejia said.

“You can’t prepare for something like this,” she said.

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com. Contact Annie Vong at avong@reviewjournal.com.