Owner Name

Condo Address Number

Street
—Please choose an option—Charlemagne DrCharente DrDordogne DrSarthe DrSologne CtToulouse Ct

Rentals/Leasing Opinion

The 2009 amendment to the Declaration and the Rules & Regulations have several conflicts, two of particular importance.

The Amendment states that homeowners at the time the amendment was passed are exempt from the prohibition on leasing. It also defines leasing as renting the unit to “a person or persons outside the Owner’s family” and defines family as “persons related by blood or marriage, including adopted children”.

The Rules & Regulations state that only homeowners who were both owners at the time and leasing their units at the time of the amendment’s passage are eligible to lease now. The Rules & Regulations don’t speak to an exemption for the family members of a homeowner occupying the unit in lieu of them personally, but the prior Board was of the opinion that this shouldn’t be allowed.

We have come to learn that the Rules & Regulations reflect what most people believed at the time the Amendment was stating. However, as it stands, these documents are in conflict, and in the event of a conflict the Amendment would supersede any contradictory information in the Rules & Regulations.

Either another amendment to the Declaration is needed to further tighten the rental restrictions, or the contradictory Rules & Regulations need to be stricken or modified so to not conflict with the existing Amendment.

We need to know if you favor a new amendment to further tighten the rental restrictions or modifying the Rules & Regulations to not conflict with the existing Amendment.

—Please choose an option—Tighten restrictions via amendment.Modify rules to reflect existing restrictions.No strong opinion.

Sewer Bill Opinion

Per the Declaration, the association is responsible for paying sewer bills for all of the units. Per the current budget, $51.32 of the $330.00 monthly assessment each owner pays goes towards sewer bills. However, in reviewing the most recent actual bills, 108 households generated a lower bill than this versus 64 that were higher. At times, the disparity has been even greater. Of those 108, 40 generated the lowest bill amount we saw this month of $36.32. In contrast, 8 homeowners generated bills in excess of $100.

Sewer bills are based partially on the size of the land to account for stormwater runoff, but most of the bill is tied to the homeowner’s water usage. This means most homeowners are paying more than they would if they paid the bill themselves, and those who are causing the higher expenses have the ability to reduce the cost if they use less water, fix leaks, etc.

While your monthly assessments pay for more than just sewer and we can’t predict other future expenses, it is reasonable to believe that if we passed an amendment requiring each owner to pay their own sewer bills, the monthly assessment would decrease and most homeowners, even with the added burden of a sewer bill to pay, would pay less overall.

We need to know if you favor an amendment to shift responsibility for sewer billing to the homeowners or maintaining the status quo of this being an association expense covered by monthly assessments.

—Please choose an option—Pursue amendment for owners to pay sewer bills and reduce assessments.Maintain sewer bills as paid by the assessment.No strong opinion.

Sewer Backups

The Declaration states that any sewer lines that serve more than one unit are a common element and the responsibility of the association to maintain, repair and replace. A long-standing Rules & Regulations stipulation says that the association is not responsible for sewer line maintenance, and if a sewer line common to multiple units requires maintenance it is up to the affected homeowners to make the repairs and determine how to share in the cost. A one-time reimbursement is offered by the association if specific plumbers are used.

It is our understanding the purpose of implementing this conflicting rule is that Maryland Heights did not have a sewer lateral replacement program at the time the Declaration was written. As homeowners and taxpayers, you can submit for lateral replacement when needed, which costs thousands of dollars. The association as a corporation would not be eligible for this. This means the association would have to pay out-of-pocket for lateral replacements, and this also means your assessments would need to increase to cover that cost. That’s arguably unnecessary when your tax dollars are paying for the same coverage that then couldn’t benefit you.

However, as with the leasing conflicts, when the Declaration and Rules & Regulations conflict, the Declaration supersedes the Rules & Regulations. Thus, this conflict cannot stand. Either the Declaration needs to be amended to state that sewer maintenance is not an association responsibility, or the Rule on homeowners being responsible for sewer maintenance minus a one-time conditional reimbursement must be stricken.

We need to know if you favor an amendment to maintain the shift in responsibility for sewer maintenance to the homeowners and the need for homeowners to coordinate with their mutually affected neighbors when issues occur or if you favor striking the Rule and making the association responsible for all sewer maintenance if more than one unit is affected, understanding this is likely to cause an increase in assessments to pay for this work.

—Please choose an option—Pursue amendment to keep sewer back-ups owner responsibility.Sewer back-ups become association responsibility, assessments will increase.No strong opinion.

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