Member- cmbr
- 4 years ago
- Wedding: August 2013
Sorry for the novel, but I could use some advice on dealing with our HOA. TL;DR version at the end.
My husband and I bought a condo/townhouse almost a year ago. In November, I came home from work at 6pm to find a notice taped to our door, informing us that a pest control company would be entering all of the units at 9am the next morning to spray for bugs.
I was confused for a number of reasons. When I rented, legally the landlord always had to give us a minimum of 24 hours notice before entering the apartment. I left for work that day after noon, and the notice still wasn’t up. This isn’t even renting — I own this place and pay hefty property taxes and association fees to do so.
When we were looking into buying the condo, we were never informed about this. There’s nothing in the HOA bylaws or informational papers that talk about pest control and/or the ability of other people to enter our home.
I have allergies to a lot of chemical products, and there was no way that I wanted a stranger entering my home and spraying unknown chemicals around. We tried contacting the HOA that night, and nobody answered either the “emergency” phone line or email. We finally got a response at 9am the next morning, 15 hours later, saying that they got our email, no one would spray our unit, and that they would give us more notice in the future in circumstances like this.
Fast forward to last week. I’m working from home, and the doorbell rings. I start to head for the front door when I hear a key in the lock. The door opens, and a strange man enters my house. He tells me that he’s from pest control and that we should have been informed that he was coming. Uh, no. No notice whatsoever. I tell him that my unit doesn’t get sprayed due to my allergies. His response: well I’m sure glad you were here today to tell me that then!
Dudes, I’m pissed. In my last condo, no one had keys but me. Now there is a creepy pesticide man with a key to my house and no notice of when he’s coming. Beyond that, I don’t WANT pesticides sprayed in my home. I contacted the HOA and complained but haven’t heard back yet.
So my question to you — is this normal? Townhouse/condo owning people, does your association have a key to your house? Do they mandate pesticide spraying? What kind of notice do you get beforehand? What would you do if you were me?
TL;DR: Bought a townhouse, find out that the association has a copy of my house key when a creepy man busts in my front door last week to come spray my house down with pesticides.
