My jurisdiction is: California
I submitted an "architectural" application to the board because when I purchased my condo it was a foreclosure, and the previous owner was a handy man and was doing his own remodel. When i bought the condo it had missing drywall, exposed electric etc....it was uninhabitable. The application mentioned no fee as being part of the approval process. The CC&R's do not mention this either. I was asked to "deposit" $750 3 weeks after i submitted the application for documents i would need to sign in order to obtain approval. They would not let me see the documents that the $750 was supposed to pay for nor could they tell me how much money I could expect back or what was in the docs. When I received the docs there were many rules that they wanted me to comply with in order to obtain their approval...a 1million dollar insurance policy naming them as additional insured being one of those requirements. After 2 mos of discussion with them they agreed to modify the documents although there were still things I was being asked to comply with that no other homeowners who did renovations had to. One month after modification of the docs they told me that because of the discussions we had they were charging me an additional $1500 and that I could not do the renovation until that was paid. It has been 5 months and I am paying for an apartment and a condo i cant even live in. I am up to date on HOA dues.....Can they keep asking me to pay money that was never mentioned in the CC and R's, application etc? I feel like im being blackmailed because I cant move forward or keep paying for an apartment and a condo that is just sitting there. They have never sent a bill for the $1500, they keep calling it a "deposit" nor can they tell me specifically where ANY of my money has gone.
HELP!!
I submitted an "architectural" application to the board because when I purchased my condo it was a foreclosure, and the previous owner was a handy man and was doing his own remodel. When i bought the condo it had missing drywall, exposed electric etc....it was uninhabitable. The application mentioned no fee as being part of the approval process. The CC&R's do not mention this either. I was asked to "deposit" $750 3 weeks after i submitted the application for documents i would need to sign in order to obtain approval. They would not let me see the documents that the $750 was supposed to pay for nor could they tell me how much money I could expect back or what was in the docs. When I received the docs there were many rules that they wanted me to comply with in order to obtain their approval...a 1million dollar insurance policy naming them as additional insured being one of those requirements. After 2 mos of discussion with them they agreed to modify the documents although there were still things I was being asked to comply with that no other homeowners who did renovations had to. One month after modification of the docs they told me that because of the discussions we had they were charging me an additional $1500 and that I could not do the renovation until that was paid. It has been 5 months and I am paying for an apartment and a condo i cant even live in. I am up to date on HOA dues.....Can they keep asking me to pay money that was never mentioned in the CC and R's, application etc? I feel like im being blackmailed because I cant move forward or keep paying for an apartment and a condo that is just sitting there. They have never sent a bill for the $1500, they keep calling it a "deposit" nor can they tell me specifically where ANY of my money has gone.
HELP!!
