What is a Maintenance Corporation?

The short version is that when a subdivision is built, there is often shared open or natural space. That could be in the form of a park, a field, woods, etc. The developer who built the development enters into an agreement with the local government to have the shared space maintained, forming a maintenance corp. This maintenance corp becomes deeded to each property owner as lots of the subdivision sell and ultimately the maintenance corp is effectively handed over to the property owners to manage. This is written into the deed of each property and is always included with the property if it transfers from one person to another. More detailed information can be found in the New Castle County Maintenance Corporation Manual (also linked at the top of this site).

The GVMC is not a HOA, however. Where a HOA may regulate how certain aspects of your home or neighborhood must look, or what you can and cannot do, the GVMC is strictly for maintaining the shared parcel know as Clover Court Park across from our townhomes. It does not settle disputes among owners, it does not monitor owners home improvements. It simply exists to maintain the Clover Court Park parcel.

Do I have to participate?

Unfortunately, yes if you are a property owner on Clover Court. Participation as a property owner is mandatory. When you bought your townhouse, you (by law) entered into the Maintenance Corp agreement as it was included on the deed to your property. By purchasing your home, you agreed to become part owner / steward of the GVMC.

What happens if I don’t pay my annual dues?

The short answer is: it hurts everyone. Please don’t let it come to that.

Consequences on individuals must be taken because if they aren’t, then the County itself will enforce the law and place those consequences on all of us as owners. That means that if you have not paid your dues, it is within the power and rights of the GVMC to put a lien on your house until such dues are paid. If the GVMC sat idly by and did not enforce dues collection, or was not able to pay the full amount because at least one owner did not pay, then the County would put a lien on ALL of our houses as owners. That is not a situation anyone wants to be in.

If you are having trouble making the payment, reach out to one of the officers and have a conversation with them. Non-communication sends a very different message than simply letting someone know what is going on and working with you to find a solution.

Will the annual fee ever change?

Short answer: Maybe. Historically, thanks to owners volunteering /donating to help keep the area in shape, the GVMC has been able to keep expenses fairly low. A little “sweat equity” if you will. At the current rate of $125 annually per owner, this is extremely low considering how much we are paying for lawn care, snow removal, upkeep, etc that is provided year-round. However, the less we do as a volunteer, the more we have to pay for and that will cause your annual fee to go up. To be transparent, even with volunteers and donations, the cost of goods and services is going up each year and the GVMC may have no choice to raise the annual fee to cover its expenses. You can find out more details under the Finances section of this website.

When is the New Castle County inspection and what happens if we fail?

New Castle County inspectors will visit the parcel periodically. <insert deadline information here> Through the GVMC officers they will collect feedback as to what actions we must take to bring the parcel into compliance and that will be shared with the owners. If we do not take actions to bring the parcel into compliance by the deadline, then New Castle County will bring a team in and do it for us. Then the County will send us (the GVMC) an invoice for the work they did. Failure to pay that invoice will result in the County putting a lien on ALL of our properties. To date, the volunteer work and donations have kept the County from having to bring their own team in to do this work. But rest assured, any invoice we would have to pay is 1) not in the GVMC annual budget and 2) likely to bankrupt us without raising the annual dues.

Does all of Green Valley belong to the Maintenance Corp?

No. Just Clover Court. The larger Green Valley subdivision is part of a Civic Association. Their website can be found here: https://www.greenvalleyde.com/

Likewise, Clover Court does not belong to the Green Valley Civic Association.

How does the GVMC board / officer positions work?

The GVMC officers serve on a volunteer basis. There is no term limit and they may choose to retire or step down from the position at their will. The board (officers) are chosen by the members of the GVMC.

Typically in a maintenance corp, nominations are solicited for the governing body and each household has one vote. This is all determined by the maintenance corps bylaws.

The GVMC is very small and as such, historically we have had minimal interest from the owners to serve on the board with some small exceptions. As a result the current officers have served in their positions for the good of the community for a very long time.

If there are less than or equal number volunteers to the open board positions then those volunteers are automatically elected to the board.

If no one volunteers to be part of the board, there is no one to manage the GVMC and there is no one to pay our expenses. This means we’re back to the County putting liens on all of our properties again.