# Special Assessment: Kensington Woods



## Richardsdeals (Jun 6, 2015)

I received a notice today that there is a Special Assessment of $900 for Kennsington Woods owners.  Due in September.

We bought our contracts on the resale market last year, so this is our first Special Assessment.  How often do these occur?  Is there anything I should know about paying one other than what is in the letter?

Richard


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## Cheryl20772 (Jun 7, 2015)

Special assessments normally are voted on by the owners at their owners' association meeting... either at the annual meeting or at a special meeting. If you want to stay on top of these you need to pay attention to their mail and attend meetings.

Did the bill come with any explanation? Most assessments like this result from overdue repairs and refurbishments to bring a property to code or to deal with an unexpected problem like flood damage or remedial like mold removal. We had to pay one once at another resort for the deductible on insurance after a hurricane. Then another was to help pay for bad debt during the recession. It's often an indication of poor financial management.

Sorry you got socked so soon after buying. One wonders if the seller knew and failed to disclose.


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## DeniseM (Jun 7, 2015)

I think special assessments are usually voted on by the BOD (with a great deal of influence from the Mgmt. Co.) - not the owners.


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## Richardsdeals (Jun 7, 2015)

How frequent are they?


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## DeniseM (Jun 7, 2015)

Richardsdeals said:


> How frequent are they?



Some/most resorts never has a SA, because they have adequate reserves built into the regular budget.


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## cnewton (Jun 7, 2015)

*Special Assessment Kensington Woods*

I have owned a unit in Kensington Woods at Fairfield Glade for over 20 years and this is the first SA I have had, but there has been a steady increase in the annual fee over the years which should have generated funds to routinely maintain the units!  There was no notice of a proposed SA, even for the Annual Meeting which I usually peruse for anything noteworthy.  I think the SA is suspect and right now am inclined to refuse to pay and see what happens!


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## scootr5 (Jun 7, 2015)

cnewton said:


> I have owned a unit in Kensington Woods at Fairfield Glade for over 20 years and this is the first SA I have had, but there has been a steady increase in the annual fee over the years which should have generated funds to routinely maintain the units!  There was no notice of a proposed SA, even for the Annual Meeting which I usually peruse for anything noteworthy.  I think the SA is suspect and right now am inclined to refuse to pay and see what happens!




The only thing that will really happen is Wyndham will lock you out of usage and charge you late fees.


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## Richardsdeals (Jun 7, 2015)

There was a letter that explained all the renovations that are planned.  Seems legit.


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## uscav8r (Jun 8, 2015)

Richardsdeals said:


> There was a letter that explained all the renovations that are planned.  Seems legit.


If they really were planned, then they should have been covered by the MF reserves (assuming an on-the-ball HOA).

It still should be legit, but it seems it is this HOA's approach to keep the MF artificially low.


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## TravelTyme (Jun 10, 2015)

The MF for Kensington Woods is not low.  We own there also.  We have owned there for 33 years and this is our first experience with a SA.  A number of years ago I believe they increased the amount of the reserve portion of the fees.  Also, with increased defaults/foreclosures over the past several years, we have now ended up with this SA.  As far as your seller having a heads up, I don't think so.  I just learned of this the other day when I got the assessment in the mail.  We have five timeshares and have never seen a SA before.  Maybe we have been lucky until now!

Sharon


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## Whichway (Jun 12, 2015)

We just received our letter after returning from vacation. I'm very frustrated and points to mismanagement that this wasn't handled as part of normal maintenance fees. All of the items listed are items which should be addressed on a rotation basis instead of through a special assessment. Also disappointing that this was only approved by the board and not the members.


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## DeniseM (Jun 12, 2015)

Whichway said:


> We just received our letter after returning from vacation. I'm very frustrated and points to mismanagement that this wasn't handled as part of normal maintenance fees. All of the items listed are items which should be addressed on a rotation basis instead of through a special assessment. Also disappointing that this was only approved by the board and not the members.



This is standard procedure with timeshares.  In theory, the BOD is elected to represent the owners.  It would be rare for owners to vote.


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## Bigrob (Jun 12, 2015)

IIRC, there is at least one other association at Fairfield Glade that recently had a Special Assessment. 

Fairfield Glade is a large, older resort that is spread out and has a number of different associations. The age of the units and sprawling nature of the resort lead to an environment that makes Special Assessments more likely. And while one could argue that maintenance fees are not "low"; based on the way maintenance fees get assessed, they are rather low, given the level of maintenance required for units that are approaching or past 40 years old. For example; a 2BR unit here has a maintenance fee around $750. A 2BR unit at National Harbor is closer to $850, despite all being in the same building, little grounds to maintain, much less exterior per unit to maintain, and a much newer building. 

I don't think it's surprising that a Special Assessment would be required after this amount of time. The only other choice the BOD would have is to "over-reserve" so that when a significant event or renovation was required, they could use the surplus reserve that had been collected. Personally, I would rather they take the measured approach rather than an ultra-conservative approach that stores up a "war chest" for a rainy day.

That said, I also don't agree with the one Bonnet Creek Association that voted to eliminate the reserve one year to keep the maintenance fees at the same level.


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## uscav8r (Jun 12, 2015)

TravelTyme said:


> The MF for Kensington Woods is not low.  We own there also.  We have owned there for 33 years and this is our first experience with a SA.  A number of years ago I believe they increased the amount of the reserve portion of the fees.  Also, with increased defaults/foreclosures over the past several years, we have now ended up with this SA.  As far as your seller having a heads up, I don't think so.  I just learned of this the other day when I got the assessment in the mail.  We have five timeshares and have never seen a SA before.  Maybe we have been lucky until now!
> 
> Sharon


"Artificially low" does not imply a low MF rate overall. Avoiding full reserve funding to make MF simply high, instead of "really high," is an artificial manipulation. 

That said, your other comments do bring up other potential causes for a SA... But why would not the foreclosures have simply manifested as increased MF instead of a SA? Usually an SA would mention the specific work for which it is paying and why it was not covered in the MF. 

You'll likely know more about the HOA BOD competence than myself, of course. I do hope that your luck at keeping the SA specter away for so long returns!


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## uscav8r (Jun 12, 2015)

Bigrob said:


> ...
> That said, I also don't agree with the one Bonnet Creek Association that voted to eliminate the reserve one year to keep the maintenance fees at the same level.


I, too, am leary of that decision. It was done under the guise of paying down a bond or something like that?

And where is all the MF savings from terminating the shuttle to Disney (and making it pay-as-you-go)?


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## massvacationer (Jun 12, 2015)

Wellington (another association at Fairfield Glade) had a SA last fall.  The Association provided pictures and a description of what was needed. I remember the siding and roofs had big issues (rot, etc).


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## Ron2 (Jun 13, 2015)

uscav8r said:


> I, too, am leary of that decision. It was done under the guise of paying down a bond or something like that?
> 
> And where is all the MF savings from terminating the shuttle to Disney (and making it pay-as-you-go)?



Hopefully there won’t be any special assessments at Bonnet Creek. They’re a couple years into that special bond pay off plan - so far with no SA and only a slight MF increase. They were claiming multi-million dollar savings by paying early. I guess only time will tell. They have been renovating units in each of the towers with Tower 6 scheduled for this fall so apparently they have reserve funds for those improvements. Hopefully the bond will be paid off before the reserves are depleted.


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## 1950bing (Jun 13, 2015)

The SA. A great way to rip off owners !


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## drknight (Jun 15, 2015)

*Not in my experience*



scootr5 said:


> The only thing that will really happen is Wyndham will lock you out of usage and charge you late fees.



I decided to try just that a couple of years ago, and the resort has now turned all financial management over to Wyndham and they turned it over to Wyndham collections.  Even after I decided to anti-up my $850 MF, it took months to get them to stop calling all day every day.

Now this stupid SA.  I just want rid of this week!


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## Jayboy55 (Oct 11, 2015)

Richardsdeals said:


> I received a notice today that there is a Special Assessment of $900 for Kennsington Woods owners.  Due in September.
> 
> We bought our contracts on the resale market last year, so this is our first Special Assessment.  How often do these occur?  Is there anything I should know about paying one other than what is in the letter?
> 
> Richard



Kensington Woods was another area where the POA had not done regular maintenance on the shingles and roof.  This special assessment is allowing them to redo the exterior, windows, deck, roof, shingles with a Special assessment.  And you're getting a short notice just like Wellington Place owners did last year.  Oak Knoll will be next.


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## 55plus (Oct 11, 2015)

Wyndham Durango has a special assessment pending of $9.92 per 1000 points.


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## pagosajim (Oct 12, 2015)

Here's my take on the situation.

The SA has roots in bad debt for the Association.  They've been forced to pull money out of reserves to cover their operating costs for a few years now and there's just not enough left to do the necessary repairs.  They've been trying to foreclose on the delinquent units, but it's a costly and time consuming process and many times run into dead ends in tracking down those owners.

Enter Wyndham.  They will help to track down the delinquent owners and will assume a large portion of the initial costs to do so (say, the first $2000 of the foreclosure process is on Wyndham).  Once foreclosed or deeded back, Wyndham will accept the week immediately into their program as a paying customer and resell under CWA.  The catch?  Bring your property up to the "standards" that new owners expect and we have a deal.  There's the basis for the current SA.

It's happened in Pagosa with 4 of the fixed week associations.  Takes a couple of years to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it is working from a fiscal point of view.


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