Frequently Asked Questions
We've compiled a list of some Frequently Asked Questions below.
- What is a homeowner's association?
- What are the CC&Rs?
- What are the Bylaws?
- What is the Board of Directors?
- Are there any other rules?
- If I am having a problem with a neighbor for a violation of the Policies and Guidelines, what can I do?
- Are Board Meetings open to all residents? If so, where and when are they held?
- If I want to serve on a committee, how do I find out what committees are active and how I can get involved?
- What is my monthly fee?
- How is the amount of my monthly fee determined?
- Will my monthly fee go up?
- What is an assessment?
- What is the difference between an assessment and a monthly fee?
- What happens if I don't pay my fees or fines?
- If a unit interior or its contents suffers water damage due to a roof leak, who is responsible for the repair of the interior?
- What colors are approved for exterior doors?
Q: What is a homeowner's association?
A: It is a non-profit corporation registered with the State and managed by a duly elected Board of Directors. Its purpose is to maintain all common areas and to govern the community in accordance with the provision of the legal documents: CC&Rs, Bylaws, and Articles of Incorporation. The governing legal documents for the association may be viewed online within the Resource Center page of this site. The corporation is financially supported by all members of the homeowners association. Membership in such communities brings significant advantages to home ownership: generally more space for a given amount of money and lower costs of maintenance, improvement, insurance and services through economies of scale gained in the combined buying power of all association members. Membership is both automatic and mandatory for owners of homes that are governed by the association.
A: The Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC&Rs) are the governing legal documents that set up guidelines for operating the planned community as a non-profit corporation. For Woodstone the relevant CC&Rs comprise the Horizontal Property Act of the State of Tennessee, the Woodstone Master Deed and the Woodstone Bylaws. The CC&Rs were recorded by the Washington County recorder's office and are included in the title to your property. Failure to abide by the CC&Rs may result in a fine to a homeowner or other penalty imposed by the Association. The governing legal documents for the association may be viewed online within the Resource Center page of this site.
A: The Bylaws are the guidelines for operating the non-profit corporation. The Bylaws define the duties of various offices of the Board of Directors, terms of the Directors, the membership's voting rights, required meetings and notices of meetings, and the principal office of the Association, as well as other specific items that are necessary to run the Association as a business. The Bylaws for the association may be viewed online within the Resource Center page of this site.
Q: What is the Board of Directors?
A: The Homeowner's Association is a corporation and therefore a governing body that is required to oversee its business. The Board of Directors is elected by the homeowners at their annual March meeting of the Council of Co-Owners, as specified in the bylaws. Any homeowner who is not in arrears in their financial obligations to the Association may run for office (consult the Election Procedures guide in the Resource Center>Governing Documents of this site). Limitations and restrictions of the powers of the Board of Directors are outlined in the Association Governing Gocuments, especially the Bylaws, found within the Resource Center page of this site. You may reach the board through email at board@woodstonecondos.org.
A: Most associations have developed Rules and Regulations as provided for in the CC&Rs and adopted by the Board of Directors. Rules are established to provide direction to the homeowners for common courtesies with regard to parking, vehicles, pets and pool use hours, etc. In addition, your Association will adopt Architectural Guidelines with procedures for submitting requests to make exterior changes to your home. Such changes needing management approval include patio covers, decks, landscaping, exterior color changes or extensive interior changes and additions. These rules and guidelines are set up to maintain the aesthetic value and integrity of the community on behalf of all owners, and hopefully protect the market value of your investment as well. Violations of these rules may result in action by the Board of Directors and a fine. In addition, if you proceed with an exterior improvement or change, without written approval of the Board of Directors, or Architectural Committee, as applicable, you will be required to remove or correct the alteration and/or be fined for the violation. For more information about this topic visit the Resource Center page of this site.
A: If residents cannot resolve a situation between themselves, then turn to your Association. Should you have a situation that does not appear to be resolved through neighborly means, and you are willing to actively participate in the enforcement provided by the Policies and Guidelines, you may complete a Complaint/Service Request (CSR) form online. The Violation form may be found within the Management Office page on this site. If the situation is deemed in violation of the Policies and Guidelines, the Board of Directors will institute the enforcement policy. Your continued assistance may be required.
Q: Are Board Meetings open to all residents? If so, where and when are they held?
A: Several years ago the Board stopped holding routine open meetings simply because in such meetings it proved difficult to actually address and adequately discuss business matters. However, homeowners may ask to attend Board meetings by contacting the Board President. Note that during the meeting it is entirely up to the Board whether to interact with attendees not actually on the Board. Notice of the time and place of any regular board meeting will be noted in the community newsletter, or accessed online on the Calendar page.
A: The Contact Us page of this website will inform you of the status of current committees organized and committee contact information. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact the committee chair or fill out the online volunteer form found on the Management Office page of this site. If there is some project you think needs launching, contact the Property Manager and/or the Board of Directors and suggest how a committee could be organized to accomplish its goals.
A: The monthly fee is the periodic amount due from each homeowner to cover Association operating expenses of the common areas and to provide for reserve funds for replacement of common facilities in future years. Monthly fees are due on the first of the month. Homeowners are encouraged to contact the Manager to set up automatic payment of monthly fees through their bank. No one likes to pay fees but each homeowner should realize that the Woodstone monthly fee pays for a lot of services: water, exterior and building insurance, tree pruning, outside maintenance, landscaping, trash pickup, sewer/outside plumbing, pest control, snow removal, driveway repair (amortized), roof repair (amortized), swimming pool. Recent calculations estimate that an independent homeowner would pay $615 or more per month compared to the Woodstone monthly fee of $325. Such "economy of scale" is one of the practical advantages of living in a condominium community that contracts for goods and services in bulk, rather than as an independent homeowner.
Q: How is the amount of my monthly fee determined?
A: The Bylaws authorize the Board of Directors to set fees and assessments as necessary for the maintenance and improvement of Woodstone. Each year the Board develops a budget that anticipates income and expenditures for the forthcoming year. Subsequent budgets are developed by the Board of Directors and adjusted periodically to meet anticipated expenses. The monthly fee amount, which is the same for every unit owner, is set by the Board to an amount sufficient to meet budget requirements.
A: Being Woodstone homeowners themselves, the Board is reluctant to increase the monthly fee but from time to time increasing costs of services and maintenance make it necessary. The Board of Directors may approve an increased budget and increase your fee along with that of everyone else in order to cover higher costs of operating and maintaining the common areas and sufficient reserve funds.
A: Unexpected major projects may be required to deal with unforeseen events not covered by insurance. For example, several years ago a number of major sewer lines had become clogged and had to be replaced. All homeowners were assessed for a share of the unanticipated and unbudgeted expense of the sewer project.
Q: What is the difference between an assessment and a monthly fee?
A: Generally, the monthly fee represents a homeowner's share of the budgeted expense of ongoing operations and maintenance at Woodstone. An assessment, on the other hand, is a one-time payment of an amount that represents a homeowner's share of a large expenditure that was not covered in the regular budgeting process.
Q: What happens if I don't pay my fees or fines?
A: The maintenance and management services incurred by the Association are dependent upon timely receipt of the monthly fees due from each homeowner. Late payments will result in a late charge as monthly fees are due on the first of the month and are late ten days thereafter. When a homeowner becomes two months in arrears, in addition to the late payment fine, a warning is sent that water service to the unit will be shut off unless the homeowner pays their obligation. If payment is not made within 30 days water service is terminated. Once water service is terminated there will be an additional fee charged to have it turned back on again once all past due fees and fines are paid in full. In addition, the CC&Rs allows the Association to charge late charges and interest and proceed with a lien on a delinquent homeowner's property, or even institute foreclosure proceeding for nonpayment of fees, fines or assessments.
A: First, note the difference between routine maintenance issues and catastrophic events. The inevitable failures associated with aging buildings suffering ongoing effects of weather is normal and expected. This is different from the damage inflicted by a 'casualty event' such as a tornado, a falling tree, or catastrophic fire. Casualty events are usually covered by insurance: association insurance for events outside the unit, the homeowner's insurance for events inside the unit. This discussion is directed only towards normal maintenance repair and responsibility for costs of associated damage.
In ARTICLE XIII the Woodstone Bylaws establish a shared responsibility for unit maintenance and repairs. In basic terms, the Woodstone Council of Homeowners is responsible for the common elements, utility services to each building, and each building structure and exterior (except doors and windows); each unit owner is responsible for unit doors and windows, the building interior and its contents and the interior utility services (plumbing, electrical, etc. within the unit itself).
In the case of a roof, it is inevitable that eventually it will leak. The appearance of a leak is how one knows that a roof is in need of repair or replacement. Woodstone is responsible for repairing a defective roof. But note that Woodstone only becomes aware of such a problem when notified by the homeowner. If, upon timely notification, Woodstone acts in a timely manner to perform a requested maintenance repair, any damage done to the unit interior falls within the maintenance repair responsibilities of the unit owner.
A circumstance where responsibility for damage to a unit interior can shift to Woodstone Council of Homeowners involves the theory of common law negligence. If the damage caused to the interior of the unit results from the negligence of Woodstone, then Woodstone is responsible for repairing the damage even if the damage would normally be within the unit owner's responsibility. In the example of a leaking roof, if Woodstone knowingly fails to timely perform repairs or replacement of the roof and the unit continues to suffer water damage, at some point Woodstone becomes responsible for the damage to the unit interior and its contents. This shift of responsibility occurs because Woodstone has been negligent in the discharge of its maintenance obligations. However, if a roof leaks and Woodstone responds in a timely manner to perform appropriate repairs, the unit owner is responsible for damages to the unit interior and its contents.
Q: What colors are approved for exterior doors?
A: Owners are responsible for maintaining doors and windows but since they are visible from outside the unit any changes must conform to guidelines established to protect property values and maintain a harmonious setting. In dealing with color, please note that color samples displayed on computer monitor screens will look much lighter and brighter than the corresponding color of a painted surface or paint sample. For this reason it is very important that colors are selected by actual manufacturer's paint number rather than attempting to visually match paint to any displayed colors. (Computer screens vary widely in how they render colors.) The color swatches shown below are provided only to give a very approximate idea of the colors approved by the Board of Directors. Color names and numbers listed here are for paints manufactured by Valspar , which are available from Lowe's and other suppliers.