Residents of west Las Vegas condo complex outraged over proposed $490 HOA fee

Denise Holden has had two strokes and lives off a fixed income of $1,208 a month. Her homeowners association fee is set to eat up a chunk of her income, at almost $500 monthly.

Holden, 73, is a eight-year resident of Bavington Court, a condominium community off North Torrey Pines Drive and West Lake Mead Parkway in Las Vegas. In early November, residents of the community were notified by their HOA, Level Community Management, their monthly fee would increase from $275 to $490 a month in January.

“Many, many, many of us here cannot afford the increase at all,” said Holden. According to Holden, many of the residents in the community are seniors or on fixed incomes.

Holden believes there is no reason for the increase, calling the community a “junkyard.”

“The place is a piece of crap now. They have junk all over the place. Nobody picks it up. It’s disgusting,” said Holden.

Holden doesn’t know where her current HOA fee is going, saying she was told there is only $11,000 left in the community’s reserves, asking “Where is our money?”

Many of the community members plan to fight the HOA increase, with a budget ratification meeting on Wednesday at 5 p.m. More than half of community members, which would be around 152, according to Holden, must be present at the meeting or else the proposed budget, including the HOA fee, will pass.

Level Community Management didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Five-year resident Carole Cotero, 70, plans to take work off on Wednesday to knock on doors to rally more residents, enlisting the help of her grandchildren to assist seniors and handicapped residents in getting to the meeting.

Cotero said she can barely afford the $275 a month. Cotero works at a Mexican grocery store and makes $14.50 an hour and uses Social Security to help make her house payment.

“I still have to work to pay my other stuff, my light, my HOA, my gas, car insurance,” said Cotero. “I’m lucky if I could buy $25, $30 of groceries per week, and that’s cutting it.”

Cotero also voiced concerns with the community, saying only one of the three community pools was operational during the summer, and even then it was for limited hours; there are no lights around the property; residents must do their own landscaping; and there is a lack of security, which has led to thefts and car break-ins.

Even with the upcoming meeting, Cotero and Holden are skeptical, citing past issues with the Level Community Management.

“I’ve seen it done twice already, the HOA gets there and there’s always a lot of yelling and disrespectful talking, language, everything,” said Cotero. “They could just call off the meeting whenever they want and walk out the door.”

Contact Emerson Drewes at edrewes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @EmersonDrewes on X.