Mel
TUG Member
They cannot tax the property as a whole, but it still might be possible to have the HOA act as an agent of the individual owner, and have them pay the taxes that way.I guess you missed the point. You can't tax the property as a whole. Not without invalidating a a citizen's initiative.
Before Prop 13 that's the way it was done. Prop 13 eliminated that as a possibility because one of the off shoots of Prop 13 is that property tax bills be paid by individual owners. There is no legal mechanism to tax a property as a whole.
Our Orlando properties both pay the taxes, and then include them as a separate line item (actually due a month later) on our maintenance bill.
Depending on how tax leins work in CA, I suppose the separate bill to the owner could be an advantage to the HOA - if an owner isn't paying maintenance fees, they're probably also not paying the taxes, and could perhaps take posession through a tax sale, rather than foreclosure, which could end up costing more. Again, it depends on how tax sales work, and if they provide a deed free and clear, or just a lein.