If HOA has decided to make improvements, are they allowed to charge for them?

It depends on what it says in your CC&Rs. They are the constitution of your community. The HOA Board cannot do anything that is not allowed by the CC&Rs. If it is allowed, then the courts give the HOA Board very wide latitude  and discretion in choosing how to apply the CC&Rs and make decisions. Judges will assume that the HOA Board knows better than the judge can, about the details, intricacies and complexities of the HOA and its property. I have written and reviewed a lot of CC&Rs. I would be surprised if your community's CC&Rs did not allow the HOA Board to swap out all the doors, and i would be just as surprised if making the individual owners pay for it were not allowed. Whether the HOA pays for it and then raises everyone's dues to make up the expenditure in order to keep the reserve fund fully funded, or collects the cost of replacing the doors by a special assessment, either way, you're going to pay your share. Don't refuse to pay. If you want to contest the charge, do it via your HOA's Internal Dispute Resolution procedure or by third party mediation to get your money back. If you don't pay, the association can impose fines, late charges and penalty interest, turn collection over to an attorney and add the attorney's fees and expenses to what you owe, and sell your condo at a foreclosure sale and evict you, all over the cost of a $500.00 door. If you appreciate this free advice, please remember to refer me to any friends or acquaintances who need a lawyer. Referrals are still our best source of new business. Do you have a revocable living trust to protect your heirs against probate? Probate takes forever, is expensive, and is annoying. Do your family a favor. Set up a trust, and put all your property, especially any real property, into the trust. Since it is revocable, you can change it, add to it, take property out of it, or even cancel it completely, at any time. We set up such trusts, provide a pour-over will as a back-up for any property that does not make it into the trust, provide you with blank durable powers of attorney for health care and financial decisions, in case you become incapable of making such decisions while still alive, and convey one piece of real property to the trust, usually the family home, for $1500.00. If you would like to hire me to do this, let me know, and I'll send you a list of the information I need. Dana Sack