The GWLUA was established under NMSA 53-10 as an Unincorporated Association. NMSA 53-10
This statute contains an automatic termination clause of 20 years from the initial establishment of the association. Our initial documents were filed on April 26, 1994, so 20 years is 4/26/2014.
It was our former lawyer’s opinion that the GWLUA, as a business entity has been expired since 2014, and that the Board has been working without legal authority since that date. That means that all document filings since that date are without legal authority, including the attempted filing of Notice of HOA, dated 6/15/2015.
Our community documents are silent as to how they are to be amended, so standard contract law applies, which requires all contract amendments must be formally agreed upon by the parties to the contracts, and those newly amended contracts must be filed in the same jurisdiction as the original contracts. The NM HOA Act is silent as to the percentage of agreement required, however the NM COA Act and the HOA laws of surrounding states, CA and FL, all require a 2/3 agreement by the membership.
There were a few private owners of property at Greater World before the creation of the GWLUA in 1994. It appears that the GWLUA was established and documents amended several times, unilaterally by Michael Reynolds, without community knowledge or agreement. Furthermore, since New Mexico is a ‘no notice’ state, members who owned their properties outright, were never given notice of those filings!
** New info: New purchasers are required to sign a membership agreement form that commits them to adhering to the community documents and covenants. Occasionally, members are asked to sign new agreements. Curiously, these forms have been presented two or more years after amendments were made. While members were provided with the current documents to review, they were not informed that these represented changes to previous documents. Members were coerced into signing the updated Membership Agreements in order to retain their voting rights. So this does not appear to be a freely bargained for exchange, required to establish a new contractual agreement.
Potentially all our founding documents were created in breach of contract law. If so, then the amendments after 1994 are legally unenforceable and voidable. Assuming that the 1994 documents are even valid, they would now control the community and Board actions.
Contained within the 1994 bylaws is another automatic termination clause, listed under 'Duration,' that mandates that the GWLUA be dissolved in 25 years from the document date of 4/26/94.
It may be that the GWLUA was NEVER a valid entity. It’s certainly appears that the business GWLUA terminated in April of 2014 via state law, and the association GWLUA terminated in April of 2019, via our Bylaws. Either way, the GWLUA has now expired.
Since our By-Laws require it, you, the community must decide whether you want an HOA.
Next: do we want an HOA?
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