A group of Tobiano homeowners are looking to start up their own registered association in an effort to have a say in their community.
The decision to create a new homeowners association came following a meeting amongst the group on Thursday evening.
Tobiano Homeowner Carole Mains explaining it comes as their group is frustrated with their developer – Diverse Properties – due to what they say is a lack of transparency as to why their resort fees nearly tripled this year and where that additional money is being spent.
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Mains says their new homeowner’s association currently in the process of being established, will be set up as a B.C. Society – similar to the Tobiano Resort Association – however, she explains it will be representative of the owners.
“All of the owners of Tobiano Property will be invited to become members of this association, all of them, and they will all be voting members too, so hopefully that can be the representation that we have within our dealings with them (Diverse Properties).”
It comes as Mains says Diverse lawyers wrote letters to the owners back in February, saying the homeowners in their group are not members of the Tobiano Resort Association, meaning the developer (Diverse Properties) holds the one and only vote for the TRA bylaws, and that they have the right to collect fees however they see fit.
By having their group create a registered association, Mains says their hope is it will send a clear message to Diverse Properties that their group wants transparency and representation.
“So that will hopefully give the message to Diverse that we are not a small group of crazy women,” she chuckled.
“We just want them to recognize the homeowners to have some respect for the fact that we want to know what they’re doing with their money. We don’t need to have votes or anything else, we need to know what they’re doing and that they have to stop providing very misleading information and just shutting the door.”
Meanwhile, Mains says many group members have decided to refrain from paying their resort fees for the next couple of months, noting they are hoping it will enforce their message.
“Many people have decided that if they’re (Diverse Properties) only going to talk to us in August, they’re going to postpone paying their fees for July and August to get a message through, pending what it is Diverse as to say at their focus groups in August.”
Mains says every individual is welcome to make their own decision, whether they want to participate in postponing paying their July and August resort fees or not.