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Carefully check your settlement statement for the home. There should be a line item in there that discusses HOA assessments. Typically, when you buy a house in an HOA, the Seller may have monies coming back to them, and you will have to pay your pro-rata share of the assessment.
If that line item is NOT there – there’s most likely no HOA.
The second item is examine the name of the HOA on your violation letter. In most States, I’m not sure about LA., but in MOST States, the HOA must register with the State as a business. If they are collecting monies (Assessments), they have to have a company, and must be incorporated. Check online with the State of Louisianna, go to this website, enter the name of the HOA. https://coraweb.sos.la.gov/commercialsearch/commercialsearch.aspx
This will give you the legal name of the HOA and the registered agent and possibly the names of the Board members – the amount of information you get varies by State.
You should have been provided with a coupon book, or a letter that tells you who and where to send your assessments along with an address.
Check your closing documents and the hundreds of times you initialed or signed you name – LOL – if one of those says that you were “issued, received, and you read and understand and will comply with the CC&R’s of the HOA”, then you’re pretty well sunk and need to reach out to the HOA and get a set of CC&R’s and get into compliance.
Just off-hand and going ONLY by the information you provided, this is either a scam, OR there’s really an HOA and they’re probably run very poorly.
In the meantime – keep ALL documentation you have received and sent (if any), and a record of all phone calls made and who you spoke with and sumamrize what they say.
Good Luck – and please post here any updates, you have a lot of us wondering what’s going on there and we may learn from your unfortunate situation.
