All Forum Posts by: Jared Campbell

Thanks for the replies everyone.

So I think I'm going to try and get this resolved and basically say, 'sorry i messed up, i'm a great owner though, here's how this would add value to everyone, please approve my request'.  If that doesn't work, I may even offer to pay a fine of say $1,000.

I think you guys are right too, legal action is probably the last thing I would want to do.  But I think if they still won't approve me, I'll send a letter to everyone in the community (100+ units), explaining the situation and see if anyone else has had issues, or if we can apply pressure to the board.  Or maybe someone else even would be willing to run for President.

Last option would be to hire a lawyer.

I really don't want to sell as this property is cash flowing $500+/mo right now and value has gone up around 30-40% since I purchased in 2009.

Summary: I didn't get approval for the installation of new laminate floors and now the board/HOA won't approve my flooring request even though the padding I have is much quieter than what they require. Now they're fining me and threatening potential legal action.

Long version: I own a property in California and have been renting it out for about 5 years.  After my last tenant moved out, I decided to install laminate floors and used one of the top rated companies in my area - paid about $6,500 and the new floors look great!

On the first day of construction, my HOA e-mailed me and said I needed to stop work immediately since I didn't get approval for the new floors. So the next day, I submitted a flooring form and after a couple days, the board got back to me denying my request. They said that the material I wanted to use was tested on a concrete slab and not the wood joint system that the building is built on.

At this point, the floors were already basically done since I had a new tenant coming in within a few days.  The architectural application form says that the floors must produce an IIC rating of at least 55 decibels.  The flooring I installed was tested and produced a rating of 75 decibels, which is much quieter than what's required.

Now the HOA/board has fined me $100 so far and says that I face continued fines and potential legal action. Obviously I'd prefer not to continue getting fined and/or get sued but I also feel like that I am in the right.

What should I do? I should have done the application ahead of time so I feel the first fine is warranted for that, but does a condo board have arbitrary power to deny requests like this?  This is my unit after all and since I went above/beyond to use padding that is very quiet, I don't see why the board can deny this request.  The new floors also increase the value of my unit and benefit the other owners in general too.

So what should I do?

PS - Yes I know I should have gotten approval first for the floors but you can see why I didn't want to do it in the first place. Going forward though, I've learned my lesson (despite what will happen) and will succumb to all of the inane HOA rules in the future. But I will never buy in an HOA again if I can help it.

I have a small kitchen in a 1,100 sq. ft condo and am looking into refacing the kitchen cabinets.  The first couple places I've called from Yelp have quoted me $5-$6k which seems super expensive compared to when I search online for 'cabinet refacing cost' it tells me $1-$2k.

I'm in the San Diego area, any tips on how to find a decent cabinet refacing company and about how much should I expect to pay?

@Ron T. This worked pretty well - thx for this strategy.  Tenant still wants the kitchen/bath cabinets re-painted though and I sort of agree with him.  My last handyman just painted over the cabinets with regular paint and no primer so there are a bunch of small chips around handle area on all the cabinets from regular use.  Not awful but doesn't look great.

Should I find someone to re-paint and do it right?  Other option would be re-facing the cabinets which in the kitchen would probably look way better (all SS appliances, granite counters, new tile floor but cabinets are the only dated part) but pretty expensive ($4-$6k).  Painting the cabinets would be $1-$2k i think.

Bathroom has old white tile counters though so not sure it makes a lot of sense to spend money to re-paint those?  Just touch em up and tell tenant to live with it?

Thanks for the responses guys.

@James Mikel, I could probably get comparable rent - maybe $1-$200/mo more best case scenario.  I think the transitional strip is a great idea, that's probably the best solution to the carpet issue.

As for the paint on walls and cabinets, yea I could propose that I pay for materials and he do it himself.  What if he says no though?  Which I think he will :)

Painting the walls seems like the easiest thing but painting all the cabinets (kitchen and 2 bathrooms) seems like it would be pretty costly.  The problem with the last paint job is that there was no primer used so it chips a lot easier than normal.

So I've had the same tenant for 2.5 years and he's currently 6 months into a 2 year lease.  He's always been a great tenant and never had any major requests and I've been pretty quick to get everything fixed that has come up.

There are a few items though that he's asked about that I'm not sure if I'm responsible for or not.  I had my handyman go out there and he reported that they all look like normal wear and tear stuff.

My tenant wants me to fix/repair:

1.  The paint on the kitchen and bathroom cabinets is chipping off here and there (small chips) because they were painted over - probably will have to keep being re-painted unless they are re-surfaced.  They are old cabinets for sure, not sure what to do here other than just paint the cabinets or spend a couple thousand (at least) on re-facing?

2.  There is flat paint on a few of the walls making it difficult to clean - so there are some dirt/smudge marks.  My handyman estimated $600 to get it done.  Doable but am I responsible for dirty walls?

3.  Carpet has normal wear and tear (5 years old) - starting to become threadbare at the tile entry transition and transition into the kitchen.  Don't think the carpet is at the end of it's life but if they moved out, I'd probably replace it.

So do you guys think I'm responsible to fix all of the above or what's my best option?  I