COVID-19 and HOA Fees: You Still Need to Pay Them

Living in a community with a homeowner’s association (“HOA”) has a lot of perks (gym, maintained property, security, pool, etc.,) and a lot of extra costs in the form of HOA fees, which pay for those perks. COVID-19 has forced many of these perks to be put on hiatus for the safety of the residents. Naturally, people wonder “I’m getting less than what I’m paying for with my HOA fees, shouldn’t my HOA fees be reduced?” The answer is a resounding no. 
While some HOAs have waived fees, they are not obligated to do so. Most HOAs require you to agree to covenants, conditions, and restrictions (“CC&Rs”) in order to live in the community. These CC&Rs burden the property rather than the person, e.g., in order to have ownership you need to comply with those rules (excluding illegal ones). As such, you did not contract for the HOAs services, you agreed to pay the HOA money to maintain the property in the community (the distinction is one gives the expectation that you will receive the services you are paying for, while the other is a generic fund for the HOA to use).
HOAs generally work on a “zero-based budget,” though they may place funds in reserve for maintenance; the rest of the money is forwarded to other entities. At it’s core, the HOA has fixed costs; they cannot agree to grant homeowners a reprieve from HOA fees because: (A) they generally don’t have much in reserves (if they wanted reserves they’d have to charge more); and (B) they have fixed costs that generally mirror their total monthly income from HOA fees. While COVID may have shut down the amenities, the HOA still needs to maintain those amenities. 
According to a recent study, roughly 90% of homeowners were still paying their HOA fees in the beginning of May 2020; though 20% have asked for some kind of payment plan to make those payments (e.g., pay half the fee in the beginning of the month, and half at the end of the month). If you are struggling to make ends meet, reach out to the HOA board, they may be able to help. Remember, the Great Recession was only 12 years ago, many HOA boards are familiar with the struggle families felt at that time and will try to help as best they can.
At the Chernov Team we understand that knowledge is power, and knowledge of how HOA fees work is powerful knowledge indeed. At the Chernov Team we know that whoever comes to the table most prepared leaves with the most, and the Chernov Team always leaves the table with the most.