Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- Homeowners in South Jordan's Daybreak community face a $240 monthly HOA fee increase.
- The fee hike addresses repairs for damaged homes after unsuccessful legal action against builders.
- Residents express frustration but acknowledge the necessity of repairs to maintain safety standards.
SOUTH JORDAN — Some homeowners in South Jordan's Daybreak community are about to pay hundreds of dollars more a month in HOA fees.
This comes after years of fighting and legal drama over their damaged homes.
Starting Jan. 1, homeowners of the nearly 400 units in the Daybreak Townhomes 1 Owners Association will have to pay $240 more a month. In a recent letter to homeowners, the HOA board acknowledged the painful size of the increase.
"We recognize that additional financial obligations are unwelcome, especially during these economic times, and we did not make this decision lightly," the letter said. "The board has worked vigorously to balance the needs of the individual owners with the association's mandate to maintain and repair certain improvements."
'It's hard to swallow'
Josh Lewis has lived in Daybreak for about eight years. During that time, his townhome has had some problems.
"Under the windows, the wood was popping out," Lewis said. "Water was getting into the whole thing underneath the window, and all the wood was kind of decaying."
Leaky windows and leaky roofs are among the issues that have affected the homes in the homeowners association.
After the problems surfaced, the HOA went after the builders in court but lost. Now, homeowners are stuck paying for the repairs to the tune of an additional $240 a month over 20 years.
"It is a lot," Lewis said. "And it's hard to swallow."
Lewis already pays around $440 a month for his townhome master and sub-homeowners associations. With the increase, Lewis will soon be paying nearly $700 a month in total HOA fees – unless he opts to pay a one-time lump sum for the repairs of nearly $31,000.
Dave Guiness, who lives across from Lewis, said no one is happy about the HOA increase.
"But at the same time," he said, "I'm glad our units are finally going to get fixed to a sufficient standard."
Guiness's unit is already fixed. But he said it's too risky to leave the others unrepaired any longer.
"Other people may be breathing in mold and that kind of stuff," Guiness said, "and to me that kind of risk is unacceptable."
Builder responds
The townhome builders, whom the HOA sued in 2017, were Holmes Homes and Hamlet Homes.
Hamlet Homes declined to comment Wednesday for this story, pointing out the company has not "built any homes in Daybreak since 2008" and was under different ownership.
In a statement, Holmes Homes defended its work, which includes "more than 2,300 homes we have built at Daybreak since 2004."
"The quality of our work was affirmed through comprehensive, independent inspections during construction and by South Jordan city at completion of the townhomes in question," the builder said. "As part of the litigation in which we prevailed, experts stated that our work was consistent with a reasonable standard of care for general contractors and that there was no evidence of defect in the design of the townhomes."
Holmes Homes added, "It is important to note that all buildings require maintenance. The townhomes in this litigation include units that were built more than 17 years ago."
Path forward
Overall, Lewis said he's frustrated with the situation. But he's also resigned to what needs to happen.
"It's just kind of one of those things you come to terms with and realize it's really the best path forward is to kind of tackle it right now," he said.
Guiness agreed.
"This has been an ongoing saga for many years now," he said. "It's nice to be coming up on a conclusion over the next couple years when all the various buildings throughout the sub-HOA will be repaired."
