That’s the headline from an nj.com article laying out how New Jersey lawmakers tend to fix things they see as requiring their attention. For example, among their ideas:
All associations are required to have a reserve study and fund it from their capital reserves. The boards are allowed to determine how much money is kept in those reserves, according to the state Department of Community Affairs.
But why require reserve studies be done when no statutory minimum is put on reserves or set of rules is in place for doing these studies? Our HOA in Connecticut paid $5,500, that could have gone to lowering HOA monthly charges or even been put into reserves, for a reserve study that nobody understood and had no practical application. Are potential buyers likely to be asking about the adequacy of our reserves or how HOA fees are trending (20% annual increase in our case)?