By Sylvia Dunnavant Hines
Texas Metro News Correspondent
Photos: Sylvia Dunnavant Hines
During a Tuesday evening DeSoto City Council Meeting local residents of Ten Mile Creek Estates took advantage of the time allotted for community concerns to voice their dissatisfaction over the recent implementation of a mandatory Homeowners Association (HOA) in their area.
“A week ago, we received a notice and a letter about pending HOA dues. They came at different times. The notices came as a complete shock to me and our neighbors,” said Byron Bradford, who purchased his home in 2006.
According to Bradford, it was never disclosed to him that he was moving into an HOA area.
“When we purchased our home, we were not given the Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions guidelines. According to the Property Code Title II. Restrictive Covenants, 207, Disclosure of Information by Property Owner Associations. Section .003 Delivery of Subdivision Information to Owner. The Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions guidelines were to be given to us before closing on our home,” said Bradford.
Voicing the concerns of his community, Bradford added, “It has been 17 years and now a disclosure comes in the form of a homeowner association bill from NewRoc Services.”
After receiving notices about the HOA fees there was a special call meeting last Friday with DeSoto City Manager, Brandon Wright ; Councilmember for Place 6, Crystal Chism; and, a representative of NewRoc Property Management Services.
During this meeting, Bradford found out that he was not alone. There are about 129 residents being impacted by this new ordinance, which will be a $50-a-month fee to take care of upkeep for two common areas for this community.
In a written statement to Texas Metro News, Wright said, “The City is aware of the issues between the residents of Ten Mile Creek Phase III and the developer/builder together with the property management company.
In 2001, this development was approved by the City to require a Home Owners’ Association to maintain common areas such as the main entryway and drainage areas. The City is continuing to engage with all parties to help bring about a resolution to their concerns.
Councilmember Chism said that a member of NewRoc Management Company reached out to her to inform her that there was an HOA forming in her area.
“He stated that the developer had hired his company to enact an ordinance that had been in place for 20 years. I personally have not seen a developer take 20 years to finish billing out,” said Chism.
According to Chism, the reason for the HOA is that Sumeer Homes, which developed the subdivision in DeSoto years ago, no longer wanted to be responsible for taking care of the common areas.
“I am most disappointed because this is not the first subdivision that Sumeer Homes has done this with. They did the same thing with another subdivision in DeSoto a year ago,” said Chism.
“I have sent a formal letter to the Mayor to the City Manager, and to our City Attorney, asking that the ordinance be brought before the City Council to review,” said Chism.
It is Chism’s goal to have her colleagues do something that is not traditionally done. She wants the City Council to amend the ordinance of the developer so that the language can be adjusted to not include the HOA. This will allow the City to decide what to do regarding the common areas.
“The 129 residents believe that Harlan Properties, LLC now known as Sumeer Homes have breached the contract by this nondisclosure, allowing the City of Desoto now with the opportunity to amend & dissolve the city Ordinance no. 1417-01 for Ten Mile Creek Estates, because they have misled the tax paying citizens of this city,” said Bradford.
Donna Phillips with NewRoc Property Management, the company hired by Sumeer Homes to handle the HOA, said the residents of 10 Mile Creek are a part of Phase III, and they are in already in an HOA. The meeting on Friday was just to help to inform them of the ordinance which was included in their deeds.
“We only manage Phase III. I have heard the City Manager put flyers on doors in that area about the HOA, but we only manage Phase III,” said Phillips.
The residents of Ten Mile Creek Estate Phase III are committed to letting the City of Desoto know that they do have a choice in this process regarding the HOA ordinance.
“There are so many words that I can say. I can say that I am mad, shocked, dumbfounded. To find out that we are now mandated to pay a fee for a mandatory HOA,” said Daniel Cruz who is one of the Desoto residents impacted by this new ordinance.
“When I closed on my house five years ago, I was not aware of an HOA. This is what everyone in the community is saying, we were not told or disclosed that there would be a mandatory HOA,” said Cruz. “We were just shocked by this information. We have no idea why this is happening. We are here at the City Council meeting to figure it out. What can we do? Point blank, nobody in the community wants an HOA.”
