My HOA fees are skyrocketing $50 a month, but the board won’t fix the ‘crater’ in front of my house – they ‘can’t afford it’

RESIDENTS of a homeowners association are increasingly frustrated with an unfixed pothole in their parking lot.

For more than two years, the homeowners have been dealing with an expanding sinkhole that started with a water leak.

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Several work orders have been filled since the sinkhole began forming and cracking the concrete in 2022, but no permanent solution has been reached.

“They keep telling us they don’t have any money,” resident Carolyn Green told the local CBS affiliate. WBTV-TV.

The HOA states that to pay for the repairs, they would need to take out a loan.

But residents don’t seem to understand how.

Homeowners living in the North Carolina village of Mill Creek have seen their monthly payments skyrocket by about $50 a month since 2020, from $186 years ago to nearly $250 a month now.

“Owner fees continue to rise, but services seem to be stagnant or disappearing,” said owner Cyril Rosato.

Rosato and his wife were unable to use their parking space because of the crater, which is only getting worse due to water leaks from pipes below the surface.

Residents requested detailed financial records, which the HOA must provide by law.

However, they were only provided with simplified budgets and expense sheets.

Despite submitting repair requests and receiving simplified quotes, residents did not receive a detailed financial breakdown or cost estimates for necessary repairs.

Like most HOAs, the Village at Mill Creek hires a management company to oversee its operations.

But Cusick Management, the company hired by the HOA to manage the community, has ties to individuals with questionable records of business transactions.

A former Cusick employee is currently facing charges for embezzling more than $90,000 from the company in 2018.

Cusick also hired her after pleading guilty to stealing money from another company he worked for in 2015.

Another Cusick executive, currently listed as a vice president of the company, pleaded guilty to three counts of HUD fraud in 2013.

She was accused by prosecutors of artificially increasing home prices to inflate her profits and increase the amount needed for a down payment.

What is an HOA?

One in five Americans lives in an area with a Home Owners Association – or HOA. But what exactly do they do?

• An HOA is a homeowners association – an organization that aims to maintain a clean, cohesive place for its residents to live.
• Entire neighborhoods, subdivisions, condominiums, single-family homes or townhouses within “a planned development” will often constitute an HOA.
• They also serve as a regulatory body for the tenants, who manage and finance the HOA through monthly fees.
• Its main goals are to keep the community functional and visually appealing and maintain property values.
• They focus primarily on a neighborhood’s common areas, like roads, parks, and pools — but they can also stipulate what residents can do with their property, like yards and sidewalks.
• These restrictions often impose uniformity on properties, for example, ensuring that most houses look the same and that all sidewalks are free of weeds.
• An HOA Rule Book of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&R) is distributed to all residents, and an elected volunteer board of directors enforces these regulations.
• Violating these rules can result in penalties such as fines and even litigation – as most HOAs are incorporated and subject to state law.
• HOAs are often the subject of controversy, with some members feeling that the rules are too punitive and restrictive, or that the leadership has too much power.
• But other HOAs like this give communities the power of self-government and can ensure a degree of harmony among residents.

Despite these revelations, the HOA’s attorney defended the management company’s performance, stating, “The Village at Mill Creek received excellent, responsive and highly ethical service from its management company.”

But residents don’t agree at all.

The attorney representing the HOA acknowledged the frustrating delays in repairs, attributing them to a lack of funds, and even blamed residents for their resistance to higher assessments.

“Repairs to the Calpella Courthouse are being carried out as quickly as Association funds allow,” the attorney said in a statement, noting that significant repairs require adequate financing, which may require the HOA to take out a loan.

The situation at Mill Creek has drawn attention to broader issues of HOA governance in North Carolina.

The persistent hole and rising fees have left the community feeling neglected and powerless, causing many to call for legislative pressure to force HOAs to comply with the law.

North Carolina Representative Frank Iler says current state laws are a patchwork of statutes that leave many property owners unsure of their rights.

He and other lawmakers are pushing for changes to clarify HOA regulations and ensure greater transparency and accountability, and are even considering creating an HOA oversight committee as a permanent fixture to address residents’ current and future concerns.

The US Sun has reached out to the Mill Creek Townhomes Association and Cusick Management for comment.