Good News / Bad News on REntal Registration Fees

8/29/2021 38 Comments

Good News / Bad News on REntal Registration Fees

The good news is that the Rental Registration Fee has been reduced from $500 to $350. The bad news is that the Board did not rescind the fee increase and return us to $100. An email will be sent out to all homeowners with the boards explanation for the fee increase and a statement that the HOA will not provide any additional supporting data for its decision.

This raises some Questions:

If the Board decided it needed $500 and reduced the fee to $350, where is the budget shortfall coming from?
If we question the validity of a board decision and request supporting data for a decision, are we now going to be told that it requires too much time and effort by the HOA or there are privacy issues or our lawyers won't let us release the data?
Does the HOA work for the Homeowners or for the Board?

The blog would like to hear your thoughts.

38 Comments

Melanie

8/29/2021 08:17:15 pm

Well I think we should hire lawyers to get involved and get the Better business bureau involved we pay high HOA land fees and now this maybe we need people who no what there doing will collect signatures to start all this

Joe Thomas

8/29/2021 08:20:19 pm

There is only one thing the good old boys on the board care about is golf. They never cared about anything else as much as they care about golf. It has become oh so evident that they will do anything to keep the golf course going even though is is not pulling in the # of golfers or income that is needed to run the entire number of golf holes that they tried so diligently to acquire a couple of years ago. Time to get the old boys off the board. This is why they are increasing all of the fees.

Gilbert Caldwell

8/30/2021 03:44:16 am

Agree

Kenneth Harris

8/29/2021 08:42:47 pm

Why can't the board give us a straight answer as to why the fee even has to be 350?
I heard the board meeting was like an auction... Do I hear 500? Do I hear 275? Sold to the board for 350!!
What a JOKE

jesse Martinez

8/29/2021 09:01:39 pm

can we recall board members and have a special election?

Done with the Tyrant

8/29/2021 09:08:24 pm

My primary concern, is that this board, makes decisions without factual data. And, they operate in secrecy. So many times, we are told things like "We can do it and we will do it" and "This is the end of the road, we will not be discussing this any further." The President of this board, operates according to the definition of a TYRANT. The matter relating to the rentals is just a catalyst to display and disclose to all of the homeowners the attitude taken by some members of this board. They seem to prefer to operate without transparency and do not operate according to facts. They are not SERVING, they are RULING. They are rogue and are seeming to really enjoy this play of power over others. It is has been displayed time and time again. The power the board is granted is a privilege and that of service to all of the homeowners. That power the BOD is granted is not to be taken lightly or misused. It should be respected and logic and reason should prevail, with decisions made based on factual data. Brad B. continually shares accurate data, with actual and factual calculations and the majority of this board completely disregards this data. This data, is that which the board should be preparing themselves prior to making any decision for our community. And they clearly don't. At the most recent meeting, 6 of the 7 board members, pulled random amounts out of the air, literally, to revise the rental application fee- Based on NO data! And with NO regard that we don't need another patrol person. There is absolutely NO justification for that.
So here you have, someone else (in this case, Brad), not on the board, who takes their time to prepare and then shares proper data for various matters, that they completely disregard every time!
There is no other explanation for this level of disregard, other than that, the HOA is run by a tyrant (and minions who serve him), who is self serving and doesn't give a darn about anyone or anything but his own priorities. He doesn't care if you are on a fixed income. He doesn't care if the monthly HOA dues eventually get to a point where those on a fixed income can no longer afford them. He doesn't care if you are in a position where you need to sell your place to make a life change and can't get out of it because no one wants to take on the excessive HOA dues. (That may not be the situation with the real estate market now; but it's all a cycle, and the tide WILL change. It always does.) He doesn't care if he continues digging into the reserve fund to overspend on unnecessary items. He doesn't care if he takes more money from some groups, as long as it funds his priorities. He doesn't care about most people and he shows it at every interaction! No heart, lacks empathy and throws logic and reason out the window!

Tony Angelicola

8/29/2021 09:26:12 pm

No surprise. This and prior boards have made major decisions without membership approval
There needs to be more equity between golf
Members and villa owners

george sayre

8/31/2021 08:16:26 am

The DP was started as a golf resort and we bought our place there because it is a golf resort. Most owners at DP, whether they play golf or not, have the benefit of great golf course views. It seems, though, that some non-golfing owners now resent the fact that they pay a portion of their HOA dues towards maintaining the golf courses. That seems to me to be short-sighted.

K Muraco

8/29/2021 09:48:44 pm

This whole episode just concretes my decision to sell. Thanks for nothing Board members.

Takis P Vartelas

8/29/2021 09:56:49 pm

I do not know what to say anymore about our Board. Yes we should hire attorneys to help us. And yes we should push for the people that play golf to pay more. And yes we should try to recall few of the board members. And yes we should get the State of California involved. I do not understand why this authoritarian attitude exists by the board. Let's all get together and see what we can do. WE NEED TO FIGHT BACK people. And we need to have a huge meeting to show them our power.

Karen Wirtz

8/29/2021 10:01:08 pm

I think that it has gone for too long unchecked. Our dues and fees can't be arbitrary. Our community is becoming unaffordable.

Kathryn Hanley

8/30/2021 05:32:03 am

It’s really quite simple. If we can’t get our questions answered, if they refuse transparency, if they say we have NO RIGHT to know what’s going on , then THEY ARE HIDING SOMETHING. We deserve to know how OUR money is spent. Who do the lawyers work for? The HOA? The Board? The Management company ? Bottom line is who pays them??? We do. They better start giving us some answers. Why would there be “privacy issues” ?

Vivian

8/30/2021 07:57:21 am

This was reported by Security in last month's newsletter ( see attached ). Is this why the Board determined that it was necessary to raise the rental fees by 400% ? So they could hire another employee and buy another vehicle ? But then reduce it to $350 as a good faith gesture ? Quite possibly the need for this budget increase is not all due to renters. Quite possibly most renters generate more revenue than expenses. We rented our place out for two months this year and our tenant golfed every day at DP.

Criminal Activity There has been an average 10% increase in criminal activity for the entire Coachella Valley this year-todate. Desert Princess, comparatively, has seen a similar trend of the increase in activity from the norm for this time of year: about 8% increase. From the months of January through June, Patrol Services received 26 reports of criminal activity. These reports were handled appropriately; we work directly with the Cathedral City Police Department when residents file police reports.

Compliance Violations There has been an overall increase in the number of compliance violations this year-to-date over last yearto-date: PARKING VIOLATIONS have increased 240% OPEN GARAGE VIOLATIONS have increased 363% OTHER VIOLATIONS have increased 364% (this would include dogs off leash, unregistered golf carts, failure to clean up after pet, littering, etc.) Though the above is true, traffic violations have DECREASED by 40%. Great job on the safe driving!

We would like to specifically point out the trend of increased crime; this correlates directly with the trend of Open Garage Violations. We received a number of reports of smaller items being stolen, often from open garages. We ask that the community take special care to ensure all valuables are locked and secured appropriately, and that anything that may be stolen is reported to both Patrol Services AND the Cathedral City Police Department!

Valorie Farber

8/30/2021 09:33:12 am

Thank you for sharing. This is absolutely correct re., visitors bring in revenue to our Country Club Amenities. The staff at the restaurant will tell you that it was the rentals' guests that saved the restaurant last year during Covid lockdowns. This is exactly why more attention needs to be given to generating revenue from an audience beyond the residents to support our Country Club Amenities.
There are thousands (approx. 15,500 according to Google) golf courses in the United States. And somehow, they manage to support themselves as profitable entities and are NOT subsidized by homeowners! There IS a way to make our course a SUCCESSFUL golf course. There IS a way to make our restaurant a SUCCESSFUL restaurant. We just don't have the right people running them. Like it or not, that is the truth. "The proof is in the pudding." We need successful business minded people on the board with proven success records.
Think of the AMAZING things we could do in our community if the course and restaurant didn't require so much subsidies. If that were the case, we could and should have plenty of money to maintain our depreciating assets and properly replenish the reserve account WITHOUT continuing to raise dues at the rate we have seen them increase.

Valorie A Farber

8/30/2021 10:07:09 am

I would like to add an addition to my previous post. We DO have the right restaurant manager! Dan Randalls is fantastic. He has excellent ideas. He needs a supportive BOD to allow him to execute the great ideas he has. We are SO lucky that he is a part of the organization and heading up the restaurant. But again, I suspect he must be hindered. That is the only thing that makes sense because he has GREAT ideas that if allowed the freedom and means, I am confident he could improve the revenue of the restaurant.

Mary Maloney

9/1/2021 10:09:29 am

26 reports from January to June.....that is .14 incidents per day.....WHERE is the rental data that justifies another patrol officer and another vehicle??

Bert Brecht

8/30/2021 08:33:05 am

There is not a good reason (backed up by data or anything else of substance) for an increase to be applied to a subsection of the residents. To say the landlords are a business and therefore should pay more is wrong. Could the unwritten motivation for these fines be based on eletism and a stereotyped bias against having an "undesirible" (aka... renter) next door. Sorry, the rules and regulations allow for rentals and fining landlords for doing nothing wrong is awful. The reduction to $350 does nothing but show how arbitrary this whole ugly process is.

K Muraco

8/30/2021 09:52:05 am

We should all revolt and either decide together to pay the $100 or not to pay at all.
If we stick together maybe this will show the TRUE OWNERS Will until proof of necessity is shown.
All those in favor of one or the other ? Do we stand together? We shouldn’t cave in to this unfair treatment.

TERRY Albright

8/30/2021 10:08:32 am

Actually the HOA ( the employee's thereof ) work for and are employed by the Management Trust. The question should be who does the Management Trust work for? Answer; themselves. The issues with the Board could not be more obvious.

Michelle Simson

8/30/2021 11:02:48 am

Management Trust works for our community taking direction from the Board, who in turn have been elected by the owners. They can make recommendations to the Board, but ultimately the buck stops with them, not MT.

Unfortunately, our Board is currently chaired by a President who has not expressed any interest in promoting open, honest governance. He has, on numerous occasions, publicly demonstrated his disrespect and yes, even contempt for any owner in disagreement with his arbitrary rulings. As I've stated before, the rate of the pack is set by the leader and it appears our President tends to favor rule by exclusion and divisiveness. History repeating itself, I'm afraid.

TERRY Albright

8/31/2021 04:26:41 pm

Michelle, I respect your opinions as you have been there done that. I don't believe that the MT works for the community. They are a for profit company that works in their own best interests. I did not say that the MT is the last word. Obviously the BOD has the final word. There are a few good board members but most don't have the sense to get out of their own way.

8/30/2021 01:56:10 pm

They reduced the fees because there are 3 Board Seats up next election.

And they are hoping you will accept this compromise and go away.
Like you have always done in the past.

Correction:
They only thing these guys care about is getting RE-ELECTED --so they can keep their private
golf course and clubhouse as long as you are foolish enough to keep paying for it.

Want the fee back to $100?
Form a rental organization of owners.
Elect officers. Set up a website. Vote.

Get your friends and neighbors to VOTE.
Cover the Board Meetings and ask questions and print how they respond.
Find someone competent to run for each of the 3 seats.

Disgruntled Stvr owner

8/30/2021 02:21:01 pm

Watch your email in the next couple of days. We will not let our a.. get kicked anymore!

Jeanette Morocco

8/30/2021 03:31:28 pm

I responded earlier but using my cell phone. Do not see my message posted ...so I am re submitting.
This increase is NOT ACCEPTABLE !!! The $100 in my opinion was nuts and not warranted ? What was done related to this $ 100 fee ??? What will the additional benefits be for any increase in this fee ?
Doesn't this board recognize that without these renters...the snow birds ... that the Desert Princess CC would lose a tremendous amount of money . These vacationers spend alot of money supporting the development by participating in Golf, Tennis, Pickle Ball Restaurant and Bar . With this Craziness ..vacationers will be scared away as the homeowner will have to pass this expense on...and or not rent . As pointed out in the "session" this past Friday...most of these renters are elderly very respectful renters. If there has been issues (which in all the years I have owner) I HAVE NEVER EVER HEARD OF ANY ISSUES !!! This is not a young and rowdy crowd that rents on this development. These are elderly retired folks
THE INCREASE IN UNREASONABLE AND MOSTLY NOT WARRANTED. Good luck to those who are pushing this increase thru and do not see the long term loss of revenue to the desert Princess when renters decide to rent elsewhere !
Return the fee to the $ 100 that is surly NOT even justified ......But accepted by those of us who have to rent to hold onto our property.

Bill

8/31/2021 08:02:36 pm

You stated that you have never heard of any issues with renters. Well allow me to give you a recent one. Last weekend the renters partying so loud and hard that I didn't get much sleep because the first night they partied until 4 a.m. and the second night I finally I got Patrol Services to shut them down at 5:15 in the morning. So now you've heard of an issue.

Vivian

9/1/2021 07:03:03 am

So here is a perfect example. The homeowner is identified and should be fined. Why should all the other homeowners who rent in DP have to subsidize these costs. It's pretty well known throughout the community which homes tend to have regular parties and it's NOT always renters !

MJC link

8/30/2021 05:13:26 pm

I received my hard copy of the Annual Budget in the mail. I read it. Have all of you? Your thoughts, please.

Disgruntled Stvr owner

8/30/2021 06:04:06 pm

Please note..what you received in the mail is only a summary of the budget..you must request from the HOA a full budget…call them.

Beatrice

8/30/2021 06:07:46 pm

Where is it stated that the Board, whom we elected, isn't required to give us reasons for their actions?

Disgruntled STVR Owner

8/30/2021 07:14:05 pm

How Magnanimous the board was to reduce the rental fee to $350. They still have not explained where their data came from or what the data was that supports the increase from $100. Our fealess HOA president. Peter Webb does not want to deal with the issue anymore. He is trying to shut this issue down. Soon we will hear from the Treasurer, Russ Holowachuk, who oversees the Finance Committee that recommended the $500 increase. Lets hope that he shows us the data used by the Finance Committee that justified the increase.

For the last month, the HOA has been trying to figure out how many rentals properties are at Desert Princess. How difficult is it to add up all the registrations submitted in the last year? It must have been the same people to calculated the $500 fee increase and then decided to reduce it to $350

Maggie Hood

9/4/2021 05:18:24 pm

I was not in attendance at the August meeting, however I did attend the entire July meeting. I was just appalled that Jerry Storage , our CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER here, (who someone told me is paid by $250,000 per year, made two statements: 1. It costs us $127,000 per year to manage/oversee the rentals here and we need to hire another person. and the second thing he stated was 2. " we have no control over our costs". I find these two statements to be unbelievable. I presented a whole list of cost-saving suggestions when I spoke in July, and during my comments I was rudely interrupted by Peter Webb. I simply cannot believe that providing help to us when we need a new responder is going to cost them $50....and they have to "pass on to the owners" Really? It takes the receptionist 5 minutes - write down our name, then walk outside and put on a window........THAT is $50 worth of someone's time? And for an executive to simply throw hands up in the air and cry about what he cannot do to control costs is just being lazy, and ineffective. I was a manager once. I was told by my boss "cut 10% out of your budget". so I did. Who on earth is running the show here? I'm glad to see people are ""mad as hell and not going to take it anymore" We need to change the way things are run.

Paul

8/30/2021 08:02:49 pm

I do believe Peter Webb qualifies to be censured by the Board.

According to Davis-Stirling, it qualifies that action as this:
-disruption of meetings (shouting, use of profanity, personal attacks against fellow directors)
-breach of confidences
-interference with association operations
-breach of fiduciary duties
-improper behavior toward association vendors or employees
-undisclosed conflicts of interest

We have all bared witness to Peter Webb repeatedly publicly personally attacking at least one board member on a regular basis. Among other things on this list.

Check it out for yourself:
https://www.davis-stirling.com/HOME/Censuring-Directors

Jeanette Morocco

8/31/2021 04:44:34 pm

I am with whoever said - "let's revolt" unless they - the board can justify and fee what so ever .....$ 500 , 350 or even $ 100 is crazy . What services does this cover ??
the Board should be grateful that we as homeowners take the risk of rental . These renter BRING IN LOTS OF REVENUE TO THE DPCC !! We'd be in a big HOLE without the spending time and money here. The board should not penalize homeowners for bringing folks in that will spend there money here

Revolt is harsh - bit we should all get together and fight this fee that is out of line and not warranted. What are we getting from this fee charged ??

Bill

8/31/2021 08:07:26 pm

I think one of the biggest problems is that the board discusses issues in executive session that should be discussed in open session. That's the law, but they fail to follow it. You can tell from looking at the agendas and the board summaries that with respect to things discussed in executive session, they are not following the law. If they discussed many of these items in Open session like they are required to, all of you would know a lot more of what is going on. All of the debates and rationale for many decisions should be discussed right out in the open in front of the homeowners. That would be true transparency!

Disgruntled STVR Owner

9/1/2021 07:37:01 pm

The Board just sent out a newsletter on Condo Communities explaining that the HOA needs increased Fee's for Rental registration and Transponders. This explanation does not contain any facts only "Needs". Any the Board has directed the HOA not to provide any facts. Its no wonder that a recall has been started for Peter Webb, The President of the Board who has shut down the possibility of getting any facts on rentals and transponder costs.

So how do we get the facts, we vote to remove Peter Webb and replace him with a board member who will work with the homeowners, be transparent and work to unite our community.

For those who are interested in signing the petition, I have added two links below one is the letter from an Ex Board member explaining why we need a recall and the other link is to the Petition to recall Peter Webb.

Recall Letter: https://www.dropbox.com/s/d0evxbu3un4awu2/A%20PETITION%20TO%20RECALL%20AND%20REMOVE%20SELECTED%20MEMBERS%20OF%20THE%20DESERT%20PRINCESS%20BOARD%20OF%20DIRECTORS.pdf?dl=0

Recall Petition:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vgv37m7kd4v9gb8/2021%20Recall%20Individual%20Petition%20-%20FINAL%20-%20MULTIPLE.pdf?dl=0

steven

9/21/2021 10:12:46 am

Has there been any discussion what action will the HOA take in light of the recent Brown vs Mission Hills ruling, limiting the ability to implement rental restrictions by a common interest development

Changed were made or related section 4740 and the passing of 3182 and the addition of 4741 which prevents the HOA from imposing an after purchase rental restrictions.

From what I read, there are no more appeals possible on this case, which is now law. Those who purchased before the new restrictions on minimum rental duration of 3 nights are not legally required to comply. The HOA may only limit for owners purchasing after the rule chage took effect.

Valorie Farber

9/21/2021 01:10:13 pm

Hi Steven,
I have read of that also. While that new law applies to HOAs, I am unsure how that then coincides with the City of Cathedral City's ordinance titled "Chapter 5.96 SHORT-TERM VACATION RENTAL UNITS" that stipulates a min. of 3 nights/4 days.
A call to the City might be a good idea to inquire about it for more information. If the new law applies only to HOAs and not to Cities, I would think that the City's ordinance takes precedence over the HOAs.
I see this on the web:
"HOA rules cannot supersede city ordinances, Lettelleir said. If an HOA rule requires less than what the city requires, then city ordinances take precedent. If an HOA rule requires more than what the city requires, then it is up to the HOA to enforce those rules."

So then the question becomes, does Civil Code section 4740 apply to Cities also or just HOAs?

Lynn M.

9/26/2021 11:21:54 pm

Not sure why the Board thinks the solution to a few partiers is to slap the rest of us with heavy fees who rent to many respectful renters. And remember, there are also partiers who are NOT renters in Desert Princess. Why not patrol and fine those owners for noise infractions rather than levy all owners with rental fees.

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Charter

This blog is designed as a means to provide transparency and informative access to the policies and protocols of the Desert Princess Palm Springs Homeowners Association, the governance of the HOA Board of Directors and the management of the community’s assets by The Management Trust. The expressed intent is to establish a neighborhood hub for trusted connections and the exchange of helpful information, goods, and services; it is hoped that homeowners will use it to build a stronger and safer Desert Princess Palm Springs.

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