Homeowner Association bullies continue to show their utter stupidity in the face of the horrible southwest water drought. I have two links for you. The first is the idiotic treatment of a homeowner by the Aviara Master Association in northern San Diego County.
The second link is even more fascinating. It’s about the mind-blowing drought in the Middle East and what happens when you don’t respect Mother Nature.
(link to story on HOA drought idiocy)
(link to story on Middle East drought)
Ward, it never ceases to amaze me how certain HOA Board members think that laws do not apply to them! And talk about warped priorities — insisting that keeping a water-thirsty lush green lawn is more imporant than conserving water in a drought, and harassing owners who are willing to spend their own money to add a drought tolerant landscape. To what end? How much money went to the attorneys involved? How much will homeowners have to pay for this nonsense?
There are many beautiful plants in the world that have adapted to dry climates. I think the new landscape looks great, and it will save water and money for the homeowner in the long run.
I’ve been to the Middle East, specifically Dubai. The entire city is filled with common interest communities — from high-rise condos to gated compounds. So many empty “units” and so much construction in progress. Palm trees, man-made islands, private parks, lush golf courses, massive over-the-top indoor shopping malls the size of a small town. The surrounding area is nothing but a desolate desert. The dust and the haze hang in the air every morning and then again at sunset. No, I did not drink the tap water!
Yet the Aviara H.O.A. corporation fined the home owner $250, even though it had no legal standing to do so.
In addition to the illegal $250 fine, home owner Trace Buck had to spend nearly $10,000 (legal fees?) in order to do something that is explicitly allowed by the law. Yet I can find nothing in AB-2104 that provides any relief for the victimized home owner, or penalizes the H.O.A. corporation for when the H.O.A. corporation violates the law. Even if the offending H.O.A. corporation was somehow penalized, it would just pass that cost back to the home owners, so that the attorneys and managers can continue to get rich by feeding off home owners.
This is the problem with H.O.A. “reform” measures that do nothing more than create an affirmative defense for the home owner (e.g., home owners shall be allowed to xeriscape, home owners shall be allowed to display the American flag, etc.) The H.O.A. corporation, and its managers and attorneys, still have every perverse incentive and moral hazard to violate the law. The profit motive ensures that it can be no other way, especially when only a small percentage of home owners will even attempt to assert their rights. As Evan McKenzie once told Shu Bartholomew,
This is just another example of how worthless most H.O.A. reform legislation — even the well-intentioned measures — are. Our policy makers need to make some fundamental changes, but that would require questioning the very assumptions upon which the H.O.A. system is built. And I see absolutely no sign of that happening any time soon. Things are going to get a lot worse for home owners before they get any better (if they ever do).
Robert’s comment is why, as soon as we can, we will sell our home in an HOA and purchase another NOT in an HOA or COA. It might be an older home in an older neighborhood, but right now I know it is the best way to live the way we want to live. Once you’ve lived under tyrannical rule, it’s very difficult to trust another board to manage in the best interest of the community. We seem to have the majority of the tyrants here in Florida, and the Florida justice system is not favorable to homeowners’ rights.