Note: The DearEsq free 'ask a lawyer' site is offered as a free informational service to the public and is not intended as legal advice. Laws vary from state-to-state, and in addition every situation is unique, and relevant facts may not be known. The answer to the question posed below may not apply to in your state or to your situation. For legal advice in your state and your situation you should consult with an attorney in your state who is familiar with the rules and laws in your state.
‘I live in a small but beautiful rural neighborhood development in NC. My husband and I just bought a beautiful house as a foreclosure from a bank – no one has ever lived in this house and it’s been vacant for four years. We had great difficulty getting the permits needed to obtain a certificate of occupancy, and then we find out we must use the communications package put in place here by developers, in 2006.
Developers in 06 made a sweetheart deal with a cable/phone/ internet company who put in fiber optics to all the lots developed and linked it to satellite dishes in the development. We are billed through this company and locked in to the services they offer, and we must pay them through our HOA dues for a total of 12 years. If we want HD or other channels – services or upgrades, we are billed additionally. We have 8 more years to go. In 07-08, before the amenities were even built (Clubhouse, tennis, etc) the development went into foreclosure and is now owned by a bank, who holds all the undeveloped land. There are maybe 30 property home owners who built here before the real estate plummeted.
One of our neighbors, an attorney, has taken this on and has exhausted himself trying to find a way to get out the contract, now presumably taken over by the now bank owners of our undeveloped development.
Do you have any help you can offer? New rulings/laws? The company is just now offering a new package, but the people here are so tired of terrible service and being ‘ripped off’, they don’t want ANYTHING. Even though they pay the for the service in our HOA dues, many are getting their cable/internet/phone somewhere else. Ridiculous. Seems even unconstitutional somehow, that we have no choices and are enduring a contract set up by already bankrupted individuals.’
Question: I’m not aware of any new laws that might apply to your situation. I could suggest some areas to explore-reviewing the contracts, the HOA documents, and the bankruptcy proceedings spring to mind-but I’m sure your attorney-neighbor has already thought of these.
