As if you didn’t need one more reason to never ever buy into an HOA!
The zoning department in Chesterfield County, Virginia has filed suit against the Edgehill Condominium Association for massively ignoring county zoning and building laws. Usually, Homeowners Associations sue their own members for not properly maintaining their units. But finally….finally, a zoning department is actually doing its job and forcing an association board to clean up its own dirty work.
City and County building codes are far superior and far more fair than a Homeowners Association throwing around its tyrannical edicts against homeowners it presumes to be guilty of one violation or another. Now, a zoning board is finally doing its lawful duty… suing an HOA board for misconduct.
Sure, the individual homeowners will end up getting stuck with the tab. They always do. But in this case the homeowners won’t get stuck with phony fines, liens and artificially jacked up legal fees.
Wow! Does this ever hit home. These folks have the exact same issues that my HOA had five years ago….and still trying to get them all repaired…a never ending job. Wood rot so severe it has caused structural damage is serious stuff. We’ve had that, and still do. We’ve had breach of contract lawsuits for failure to maintain the property in a reasonable fashion. Dr. Cruickshanks should be suing for more than $85,000. He also has a loss in value. This message is out in the media…this places aren’t going to drop in value like rocks. He should also have his attorney investigate whether this case would fall under their state Consumer Protection laws. Not to mention the fiduciary failure on the part of the board members. Also, he should inquire as to the terms of the contract of the property management company. They were hired to maintain the property…were they not? I think he needs to amend his petition and hope to get a settlement out of the HOA’s insurance company. He’ll have a battle on his hands but he can use the cases here in Kansas for reference. If somebody knows this dentist, please fill him in.
As for our situation…our city codes enforcement has been after this place for five years to get it all corrected. The property manager got busted by one of his own employees when he became a whistle blower and said he was told to pull the rotten siding off and if the saw frame damage to put new siding over it and not tell the homeowner. What did our board do about that? Renewed the contract with the property manager and gave him a raise!!! You can’t fix stupid, and this just proved it. Now, we have houses with rotten frames and your guess is as good as mine which ones they are. Except I know mine isn’t one of them because I hired my own licensed professional contractors and watched them work every day.
Nice find on this story, Ward. Lots of people will get a good education from this one!