Homeowners Associations: Rights Regarding HOA and Dealing with Unprofessional Management of Rental Units

I own a town home for 10 years now and ran into some serious health issues that resulted in 4 surgeries within the past 4 years and as a result I have not been able to pay my HOA fees the past 3 yrs. I have NEVER received a copy of the bylaws, NEVER has there been any meeting, basically nothing proving that a HOA even exists. Now three years ago our fees went up from $110 to $150 PER MONTH after a new owner bought the majority of the units (He only has 18 of the units while 1 owned by myself which I live in and 3 owned by another person who like the majority owner rents his out.)

Now call me crazy but $150 per month HOA fees I feel is too excessive considering that there is only a total of 30 units on an 1 1/4 acre of land that does not even have:

1. No Pool
2. No Laundry Mat
3. No Gym
4. No Playground
5. No longer a Gate
6. Nothing that should constitute $150 per month

Now we do have:

1. 1 dumpster that gets emptied 2 times a week
2. 6 Parking Lot Lights
3. They are suppose to carry the insurance on the outer part of the building and the owners only cover the insurance of what is under the roof
4. Lawn Care (except in your own back yard)

Now six days ago I woke up took my dog out back to potty and there was a man who decided to let himself into my back yard by reaching over the gate and unlatching it himself to use my outdoor power socket. It scared me senseless and I informed him that he was trespassing and my fenced in yard and unit was private property. After which he replied that the property manager told him that he could do so. I was so mad I have never even met the new property manager and so I called him and he made it sound like the vendor he hired was in the wrong then told me that I should not complain since I am behind on my HOA fees, which I will pay this week since I finally got my share of an inheritance.

My question is what are my rights regarding the entire situation and is there a legal way that I do not ever have to deal with property manager ever again and keep him and his vendors from trespassing or even from knocking on my door asking if they can use my outlet (which they do often). Also, I work from home and can not have people ringing my doorbell or knocking on my door since I do tech support from home.

Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance. :o





My question involves real estate located in the State of: GA

Homeowners Associations: Rights Regarding HOA and Dealing with Unprofessional Management of Rental Units