Chautauqua MUST tell its numbers

To the Anonymous commenter who recently asked if more information was available about the financial dealings going on between the homeowners association and the borough, let me throw this out there.

There is a PA law (in their Planned Communities" Chapter) that REQUIRES the seller of a Chautauqua home to provide a certificate that is supposed to contain a BOATLOAD of this financial information. Seller is also supposed to give you a full copy of the bylaws, etc.

The Seller is supposed to request that the Chauauqua provide this certificate--and the Chautauqua is REQUIRED to provide it, and then Seller is supposed to give it to you, with the bylaws and the other stuff, within ten days of your offer.

If you do not receive this certificate--in its entirety as spelled out in the law, then your contract is void(able).

However, in practice, you will find that the Chautuaqua has NEVER provided such certificate. And, essentially because no one knows their rights, they also never ask to see the information and never get a chance to protect their interests (like the money that they invested in a community that is really a fraudulent scheme designed to allow a small nucleus of persons egregiously inflate their salary and benefits at the homeowners and taxpayers expense.)

And, read the law and chapter for yourself before you let them tell you that the Chautauqua is "grandfathered" or exempted from this requirement. While some sections of the chapter apply to newer HOA's, lots of the laws (like this one) apply to ALL HOA's.

And, by the way, just back in February, Roger Groce ran a story where these same local real estate agents indicated a 12% price drop here and nearly a 50% drop in sales. Guess things changed fast since then....