Homeowners Association: The pros and Cons.
Pros
and Cons of a Residential Associations in Kenya
With more
gated communities coming up in
Kenya, this has led to growth of homeowner’s associations. These entities help
to maintain a clean and cohesive atmosphere in the neighborhood and ensures
that residents can influence decisions about the management and maintenance of their
neighborhood. One of the most active associations in Kenya is the Syokimau
Residents Association. These resident associations can then become
members of The Kenya Alliance of Resident Associations (KARA), the
umbrella body representing the voice and proactive action of Resident
Associations on consumers and taxpayer’s rights countrywide.
Resident
associations pass and enforces rules for property within a community and derives its
powers from members. Some resident associations
are relatively lenient, and others impose rules about how association members
must maintain, protect and even utilize their property.
The
Pros of Homeowners association
1. Your neighborhood will look good.
Resident
associations establish rules to ensure the neighbourhood
looks good. Some regulations
may cover guidelines about keeping
lawns manicured, restrictions on parking, maintaining roads and common areas.
2. Protecting property value
The main reason most gated communities have resident’s associations is
to protect
and secure their property value. Regulations around the type of buildings one can set
up eliminates issues with one or two properties
weighing down all property values due to an unpleasant exterior.
3.
Conflict resolutions
If the neighbours decide to go against the rules or
fails to abide there are guidelines to find solutions on how to solve such
problems on behalf of the entire community. The resident associations organize
forums to get to know each other and this eliminates most conflicts.
4. The HOA helps manage the common areas
One of the benefits of living within an area governed
by resident
associations is that the associations helps
in the management of common areas. This includes areas
around the pool, landscaping, playgrounds, and community centers. The spaces
can be utilized and used without worrying about their upkeep.
The Cons of Homeowners Association
1. Imposes Rules and Regulations
At times working with the resident’s associations might
seem like a minor inconvenience, especially if the monthly fee is affordable.
But even in a situation where everything is okay, resident’s associations sets
rules about the appearance of your home.
They decide on what colours are to be painted on
some areas of the home. They can even place restrictions on the outside décor
and the number of vehicles you can park in the community which can stifle personal
freedom.
What I mean by hands being tied is that if you buy a
home in controlled community, and you want to
make some changes to your property, you must involve resident’s
associations for approval. It is highly or much possible that resident’s associations can
possibly prevent some changes on
your home.
It may sound that working with the resident’s
associations can make you feel like there are a
lot of restrictions, as you have to consider situations like an example,
you want a pool in your backyard you will have to get the process or go-ahead
from the resident’s associations.
3. Cost
The resident’s
associations costs money to belong to them and they also cost
money to keep them running. The social amenities and common areas are maintained by resident’s associations and good maintenance
requires good money. If you are planning to buy in controlled community, make sure you understand all the fees and try to track down
information on the history of those fees.
If you are part of a residents
association and wondering how to manage your accounts, Kodisher provides you with software
that improves the management of associations’ accounts so
that you can focus on making necessary decisions that make your community
better. If you need help in setting
up regulations for your community, we can link you with a legal expert to help
you develop these.
In Summary
When buying or renting property with an active resident’s association,
ensure you get copies of the resident’s association rules
and regulations so that you know what you are getting
yourself into. Get the services of a lawyer if you need to. If you are a real
estate agent, it’s your duty to help your clients understand the regulations.