Associated Asset Management

The contract started on January 1, 2014 and would apply to records generated between AAM and the Association starting at that time.  We will very gladly share any records with Mr. [redacted]s that were the Association's prior to our contract and any generated since the execution of our contract.  Please identify.

[redacted]’s collection policy states all payments are due by the 1st of the month. There is a 15 day grace period. If a payment is not received by the 15th of the month homeowners are charged a late fee if a payment is still not remitted by the 45th day a demand fee...

will be charged following the late fee. AAM confirmed Mr. [redacted] did go online and pay his assessment on 01/31/2015. Per our 3rd party payment vendor homeowners are advised it takes 3 business days for payments to post. This information is provided on the payment screen before a homeowner submits payment. Mr. [redacted] called AAM and was informed of this information. AAM’s customer service department offered Mr. [redacted] and appeal to have the fees reviewed by the board Mr. [redacted] declined.As a courtesy AAM will waive the demand fee. Mr. [redacted] has been fully informed regarding his communities collection policy and his assessments are current.

The $40.00 demand fee was initiated the same day that the homeowner contacted us to make payment arrangements for his past due balance.  The fee was charged in accordance with the collection policy for the community which is attached.However, because the association appreciates the fact...

that the homeowner is trying to get caught up on the past due balance the $40.00 demand fee will be waived.  The association relies on the timely payment of these assessments so that they can remain current on their monthly operation expenses.

Mr. [redacted] has contcted our offices numerous times.  We have provided him copies of the disclousre statement that was sent to title, the disclosure packet cover sheet that was sent to him in accordance with state statute, and advised him of the day that the welcome packet was sent to him....

 We even verified the mailing address that it was sent to during a phone conversation since the mailing address is different from the property address.I am attaching all of the these documents in support of our position.  AAM received the request from the title company and notification of the pending sale on July 12, 2013.  The statement disclosing the fees to be collected at closing was prepared and returned to the title company ([redacted]) on July 18, 2013.  (See attached)  The disclosure CD and disclosure statement were mailed to Mr. [redacted] on July 19, 2013 to [redacted] which is the address provided by the title company prior to closing. Our records do not indicate that this was ever returned by the postal service as undeliverable.  (See attached)  I have also attached the work flow chart we utilize internally to track this process.AAM complied with the statutes in a timely fashion.  We have no control of the [redacted]. This disclosure packet is not sent out via certified mail so no signature was required.  However it was mailed.The Board of Directors of the [redacted] has reviewed this issue on numerous occasions as requested by Mr. [redacted], but their answer remains the same. They cannot grant a variance of the governing documents for the association.The welcome packet is sent as a follow up to the disclosure packet once escrow has closed on the home. Often times it can take four to six weeks for us to receive a recorded deed and the checks from the title company so that we can update the ownership of the home. This triggers the production of the welcome packet.

The fines in question have been waived from the account.  The association appreciates the homeowner and his tenants desire to keep the home free of weeds and have demonstrated such by hiring a landscaper.There were two fines totaling $75.00 posted to the account for the weeds. ...

Both of those fines have been waived from the account.

This account was referred to the collection attorney that has been selected by the board of directors of the [redacted] in accordance with the attached collection policy.  Numerous notices were sent advising of the past due balance.  The associaiton had not...

received a payment on the account since August.  As you will see in the attached collection policy, the board has authorized the manging agent to enter into a six month payment plan with a delinquent owner.  This was offered to the homeowners on two seperate occasions.  No payment was made nor was an agreement returned formalizing the agreement. Once an account has been referred to the attorney we are unable to speak with the homeowner regarding the account balance or make payment arrangements.

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. Here is my response to the business."I will respond to your claims in the order in which they were addressed in your response. First of all, I think whoever responded to my complaint has never visited my property and only responded based on unfounded information. This is because they failed to paint a true picture of what actually happened. I have done a lot of improvements to my home in the last year, and on each occasion, I have had to contact either the previous Community Manager or [redacted] (Compliance Manager) at AAM to verify whether an HOA authorization was required. I have emails to prove this assertion, so before you accuse me of completing a project in my yard “without approval”, perhaps you need to recheck my files in your office. In addition, I have always referenced the [redacted] (Approved August 2013) before undertaking any project to again confirm that all requirements were met. In essence, I don’t set out to intentionally break the rules of the community. Furthermore, there is no part of the said guidelines that mandates the need for HOA approval to install gravel in my yard. So, it is either you are referencing the incorrect version of the guidelines or telling a complete lie. I have previously complained to the HOA about the confusing and vague composition of the guidelines, and was told that they weren’t etched in stone and that all current information was tentative, albeit, binding. This was back in November 2013.  I noticed that your response failed to comment on the very first damage to my fence back in February 2014, when there was absolutely no gravel in my yard and yet your landscapers damaged my fence. I think that is a very good reference point. So, I wonder what your excuse is for that incident. I seriously think it was time you accepted that your landscapers were indeed reckless in their actions and therefore need to exercise more caution when carrying out their activities. Ironically, it was actually an employee of [redacted] who suggested that I install gravel around the backyard brick-paved walkway to prevent erosion. I had initially planned to install mulch until then. Furthermore, I did explain this to [redacted] during her visit to my house on 1st October 2014, and she did agree that gravel installation was the best option as installing mulch would require yearly replacements. So, is she now saying it was a bad idea to have installed the gravel? The brick-paved walkway/gravel was installed in April 2014, however, the second damage to the fence did not occur until August 20th 2014. I think it’s important to note that [redacted] changes its landscaping crew periodically and I do remember that the crew member who damaged my fence in August was new. I was at home on that day and did speak to him shortly after he damaged the fence. The reason there was no damage in the months between April and August is because [redacted] had a different crew back then.  There is no gravel infiltration in my yard. In fact, there was none even before August 20 2014, the day the second damage occurred. The gravel was installed with landscape fabric in a bed around the paved walkway to prevent any loss or spread of gravel. This was an advice given to me by [redacted] when the gravel was purchased in April. I wonder how you came up with the theory of gravel infiltration because there was nothing of that nature in my yard. Was that your subjective opinion of what could possibly have happened? In fact, if I had to guess, I’ll have to say it was purely subjective. Unless you can prove that there was indeed gravel infiltration in my yard, then your assertion is baseless. I think objectivity is paramount in cases of this nature. Furthermore, I would like [redacted] to revisit my property to point out the location of the gravel infiltration she “thought” was responsible for the damage. My contact details are already available to her should she need to book an appointment. However, I can honestly say that she didn’t see any evidence of gravel infiltration in my yard and simply stated what she had been told by the Landscapers as the potential cause of the problem. Yes, I was told to install border edgings, but the reason was not because there was “rock infiltration” in my yard. Rather, it was meant to serve as a precaution. [redacted] of [redacted] did state that his crew had to work quickly in order to cover the community in the allocated time, essentially confirming that it was possible for mistakes to occur in that process. I don’t have any more gravel in my yard than my neighbors, excluding of course, the paved walkway area. So, your claim is a complete and utter fallacy.   There is a double standard in play here with AAM. I have had issues with the landscapers for some time now, in fact there was a time when they were not servicing my yard at all, even when my gates were left ajar. In addition, when they do decide to mow my lawn, there was always the issue of them not blowing leaf debris off the paved areas. The matter was reported to AAM’s [redacted] earlier this year and her response was that “any homeowner with fence ran the risk of missing landscaping services.” In other words, AAM is not concerned with whatever happens within my yard since I have now erected a fence. However, now that there is a matter that requires them to pay for repairs, they quickly decided it was time to be concerned about what happens within my yard. Hence, the need for the makeshift rule they have recently concocted that mandates the need for HOA approval to install gravel within my yard. I thought this was supposed to be a homeowner’s association, however, I currently feel like I am in a tenant’s association. In addition, I thought the HOA was supposed to look out for the interest of residents and the community as a whole. Instead, it seems that I am dealing with an HOA that is biased and unsympathetic to my plight, yet I have to pay them monthly to keep that up. It’s absolutely unfair.As previously mentioned, I have completed numerous “HOA-approved” projects in my home this year and the HOA was notified of the completion of those projects. This is required per guidelines so that an inspection could be conducted. It is unclear whether they even bothered to conduct any inspection, because I never received any notice to that effect. That should also explain why the gravel installation has become an issue all of a sudden, because all my other projects were never inspected by the HOA. Unless they jumped over the fence to enter my yard, I don’t know how else they could have conducted an inspection in my absence, because the gate to my yard is locked all the time. If they had come for an inspection back in April, I am sure they would have seen the gravel back then but that was not the case. [redacted] left my house on 1st October 2014 saying she was going away to organize the fence repair. She never told me or my wife that she was going to need board approval. In fact, she requested details of our fence agent, and my understanding was that she was going to call them to get a repair estimate and also confirm what the fence agent had told us about the cause of the damage. In hindsight, it seemed her intentions coming to my house was to see what she could use to concoct a case against me in order to avoid repair fees. Unfortunately, the HOA’s contractor is responsible for this damage and therefore needs to accept responsibility. It’s now been almost a month since the damage and yet no repair has been done. If I had been late paying my monthly HOA fees for that length of time, I am sure the HOA would have assessed a fine by now. Again, another example of a double standard on the part of AAM.Your assertion is completely baseless and I do believe you are doing all involved a disservice by prolonging this matter than absolutely necessary. In addition, I was the one who initially contacted the HOA for assistance, not the landscaping company. I called your office when the matter occurred in order to get some assistance.  Subsequently, an email was sent to [redacted] notifying them that the matter had been reported to the HOA. It was then that [redacted] forwarded the email to the HOA. Please get your facts right so that this could be resolved as quickly as possible. My wife and I have made numerous attempts to contact [redacted] on [redacted] but she never answers her phone or return our calls. In addition, she has so far failed to acknowledge or respond to our emails. There is therefore a serious communication issue here that urgently needs addressing. As far as I am concerned, [redacted] promised to repair our fence when we saw her on 1st October 2014 but is now reneging on that promise. At no point did she mention the board of directors’ required referral or confirm that the gravel had been installed without approval. It’s therefore surprising that she’s fabricated that information in such a short period of time. I think AAM needs to handle this matter with tact and diplomacy as it has so far been handled in a slipshod manner. It is also rather convenient for AAM to fabricate non-existent laws just to avoid paying for a repair that is clearly the fault of their contractor. That course of action unfortunately doesn’t say very much for the reputation of the organization. So, I urge you to do the right thing and seize this opportunity to rectify this matter for the benefit of all concerned." Regards,[redacted]

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait until for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.

Regards,

According to our records, the homeowner was submitting one check for two seperate accounts.  She has since corrected that issue once it was brought to her attention that we needed two seperate checks since she owns two seperate lots.  The past due balance does nto come from late fees or...

collection fees as those have all been waived.  The October 2014 assessment in the amount of $178.25 for her property at [redacted] has not been paid.  This assessment came due when the account was being closed at the attorney.The balance due on the home located at [redacted] consists  of the April 2014 assessment in the amount of $173.35 and a portion of the February 2014 assessment in the amount of $37.85.  Again, all late fees and collection costs have been removed from the account.  Our records demonstrate that there have been no additional issues with the payments posting to the correct accounts since she started tendering two seperate checks.  There are no additional fees that can be waived as the balance relates to assessments which the governing documents for the association mandate of each owner.

Thank you for your concerns.  The fine has been waived from your account.  We apoligize that our system was malfunctioning the day the violation was issued.  At the present, photos are not required to issue a fine notification.  Once your payment of the $25.00 arrives, you will...

have a credit on your account that can be applied to your next assessment when it comes due.The board thanks you again for making certain that your home and yard is in compliance with the governing documents at all times.

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

The HOA AAM LLC, has not provided photos of any violation. I have not parked on the street. The HOA AAM LLC has not provided a list of FEES that show fair and impartiality toward all homeowners. The HOA AAM LLC, is acting based on no evidence and claim that I have parked on a street when I haven't. Why would I be charged $25 fee when other homeowners charged $3?

Regards,[redacted]

The Community Manager spoke with Mr. [redacted] yesterday (July 22, 2015) via phone and we believe his concerns have been addressed.  Please let us know if there are any additional concerns.   Thank you!

AAM is enforcing the violation policy as dictates. Attached is a copy of the [redacted] violation policy. The property Mr. [redacted] is referring to is occupied by a renter at this time, due to the property being occupied we cannot go on site and enforce the self-help option (clean up...

on behalf of the homeowner). The Board may decide to send occupied homes with these issues to the attorney for legal enforcement.  Unfortunately the delay in in communication with Mr. [redacted] was due to the Community Manager being on leave due to an illness. There have been several attempts to reach out to Mr. [redacted], an explanation of the violation process has been given;unfortunately he is not willing to except the policy that needs to be followed.

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and while I remain steadfast in my belief that a better collections process can be implemented in order to be more friendly to the residents of [redacted], I find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait until for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.

Regards,

 

Unfortunately as the management company that takes direction from the board, there is nothing further we can do.  The board has reviewed your appeal and has denied the appeal.  The next step would be to attend a board meeting and appeal to the board in person.  We cannot waive or remove fines once the board has indicated they are unwilling to do so.

 

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. 

The response from AAM is unacceptable because AAM has not complied with my lawful request for copies of Association Records.  section 3.12 of their contract (AAM Contract 01 JAN 14.pdf) specifically states that:

"3.12. Ownership Rights:

The Association shall retain all ownership rights in all records that involve Association business, whether directly or indirectly, regardless of whether the record was generated by the community manager, a board member, or some other third party.

Records include but are not limited to, paper documents, electronic documents, such as emails, .pst files, PDF files, TIFF files, word processing files, JPEG files, multimedia or image files (graphics, audio and video, text files, or any other file, document or medium that contains information related to the business of the Association.

When this Contract is terminated, the Association has the right of ownership to its records in the format in which they were typically maintained by the community management company. However, the data files, also known as the .dat files, are owned by the community management company and are not subject to any record request or claim of the Association at any time, including but not limited to the termination of this Contract."

I am not asking for.dat files. I am asking for a copy of the emails used by our Board Treasurer, [redacted], using her AAM account. The language in the ownership clause is written so as to allow a broad, nigh unlimited, access to all documents related to Association business. The notion that the "documents used by AAM to prepare the bid for services" is proprietary is ridiculous. The specifications that they were provided are the intellectual property of the Association. A simple printout of the email that [redacted] sent her employer or a copy of the intake request that shows the specifications they were provided, will show whether or not the Request For Proposal (RFP) was submitted in a fair manner, complied with antitrust practices, and demonstrates whether or not [redacted] and her employer, AAM, adhered to the AACM Code of Ethics, Section 5.01b and Section 9.0. (http://www.aacm.com)

The [redacted] HOA Board President has been complicit with the [redacted] HOA Board Treasurer with their effort to violate open meeting laws IAW ARS 33-1804. (Complaint filed with Dept of Fire, Bldg, Life & Safety on 5/23/14)The information brought to AAM prior to any contract execution was done so in an unauthorized, undocumented, unsanctioned manner by [redacted]. Notwithstanding, her contribution toward the HOA violating ARS 33-1804, she also violated ARS 33-1811 by failing to declare a conflict of interest in an open meeting before any discussion was held or vote taken to hire her employer as the HOA's management company.

[redacted] has openly admitted that no disclosure was made (Email Chain.pdf Apr 19, 2014 at 7:44 PM) despite the contradiction by [redacted] that AAM had assumed that [redacted] did declare a conflict of interest. (Email Chain.pdf Apr 28, 2014 at 5:05 PM)The Executive Minutes for October 8th 2013 show that [redacted] (Executive meeting review.pdf) did solicit and present to the Board, that evening, a bid proposal prepared by her employer (2013 Cover Letterhead [redacted] HOA RFP.pdf) dated October 2nd 2013.

[redacted] stated via phone call with me on April 23rd 2014, that [redacted] had submitted an RFP to AAM via email last year, to which I sent an email (Email Chain.pdf Apr 23, 2014 at 12:55 PM) back requesting that information.

[redacted] responded that she could not locate the original email (Email Chain.pdf Apr 23, 2014 at 2:31 PM) but that it may have been sent to someone in their Business Development department.

[redacted] decided on Apr 28, 2014 that the allegations I had been bringing up regarding conflicts of interest and antitrust compliance were simply too much of a burden and suggested that the [redacted] HOA Board re-bid the contract or AAM would be giving its 30-day termination of notice. (Email Chain.pdf Apr 28, 2014 at 5:05 PM)

[redacted] responded to me the next day (Email Chain.pdf Apr 29, 2014 at 12:17 PM) that the information I had been requesting regarding the original RFP or specifications sent to AAM to prepare their bid proposal, did not exist. I responded by asking the most basic of questions, "How then did AAM prepare a bid proposal dated Oct 2nd 2013, a week before the Board had met to discuss, allegedly for the first time, that there would be a need to change management companies?" (Email Chain.pdf Apr 29, 2014 at 2:12 PM)

I felt insulted, ridiculed and quite fed up that this company felt it would be acceptable to provide such a ridiculous response to my inquiry. I then advised them that I would be going down to their office to obtain this information IAW with the State Laws and their own contractual obligations. After being denied the documents I had been repeatedly requesting, I was once again told that the documents I am looking for do not exist. I was escorted out by the Tempe Police and given a report number of 14-8787 for reference.

I sent [redacted] an email (Email Chain.pdf Apr 29, 2014 at 11:33 PM) advising her of the incident and I was rather naïve to think that she would obtain the documents I sought.

[redacted] then sent an email out the next day (Email Chain.pdf Apr 30, 2014 at 8:06 AM) blaming me for their decision to provide the 30 day notice of termination, even though they had been planning (Email Chain.pdf Apr 28, 2014 at 5:05 PM) for this prior to my sit-in demonstration at their office.

Further email correspondence from [redacted] to the Board insisted that she did nothing wrong and never attempted to hide the fact that she worked for AAM. (Email Chain.pdf May 5, 2014 at 8:25 AM) I later explained to her that I have no issue with her being on the Board while working for AAM. However, when she introduced her employer as a potential bidder for our HOA to hire, she changed the whole dynamic of the relationship and at that time, she needed to declare a conflict of interest in an open meeting of the members of our HOA, IAW ARS 33-1811.

The Executive minutes for the November 7th 2013 (Executive meeting review.pdf) meeting show that [redacted] was present during the reviews between the three different companies bidding their services. If she was the agent who presented the bid proposal to the Board for consideration, why was she allowed to be present during the review of the bids between the competitors? Why weren't the other two companies allowed to have their own representation present to answer any of the Board's questions?

I contend that this was done by design to give AAM an advantage and allow them to win the contract with very little effort or consideration. I contend that our HOA Treasurer violated her duty of loyalty to our Community and manufactured a bid-rig that allowed her company to take over as our statutory agent for management services for our community. Since AAM refuses to comply with their contractual obligation to provide us with the information I have lawfully requested, I maintain my position against this company and reaffirm my complaint that AAM did in fact and continues to, act in bad faith. AAM's failure to produce the original RFP and the Treasurer's emails pertaining to [redacted] Board business, shows that they know something is definitely wrong and they have something to hide.

Regards, 

AAM received a notice 03/09/2016 to update the automatic payment information. Mr. [redacted] checking account information was updated at that time. His checking account was debited on...

04/16/2016 in the amount of $115.00 for the assessment. If he needs further assistance he can contact Renee B[redacted] our Customer Care Supervisor at ###-###-####.

Unfortunately due to an error, the April and May assessments were pulled from the old account.  We have taken the appropriate corrective measures to insure that the June debit will come out of the Chase account.  We sincerely apologize for the error on our part.  Please let us know if any fees are incurred due to our failure to update the account information and we will take care of those promptly.

Subsequent to the first two reports submitted by this homeowner of fence damage resulting from routine landscape maintenance, the community association’s contracted landscape maintenance provider, [redacted], paid for the needed repairs.  However, after the third such incident, [redacted]...

referred the matter to the community association for investigation.  The community manager subsequently learned that the homeowner had, without approval, installed a rock border around the perimeter of a pathway leading from the rear of the homeowner’s garage to the backyard lanai.  The rock border had been initially installed without border edging, which resulted in some of the rock material migrating into the turf immediately adjacent to the pathway.   The homeowner told the community manager that, after the second incident, the [redacted] representative told them to install border edging to prevent further rock migration, which they subsequently accomplished.  However, by that time, there was a significant amount of rock that had already infiltrated the turf.  Thus, when routine periodic mowing of the turf takes place, these rocks may be ejected from beneath the mower, causing further damage.

All of the associated information pertaining to this matter has been provide to the community association’s Board of Directors for review.  A final decision by the Board of Directors is pending at this time.  At no time did the community manager agree to pay for the repairs to the fence without Board approval. [redacted] has replaced [redacted] as Community Manager for [redacted].  She can be reached at [redacted].

Thank you for brining this to our attention.  We are removing $275 in late fees, $175.00 line fee and one $50.00 demand fee which are all of the collection costs affiliated with this matter.  We will also do a rush lien release to have the lien removed and a courtesy copy of the release...

will be emailed to the homeowner.  We have corrected the email address to read [redacted] and have corrected the rest of the contact information with that found in the complaint.