Florida has a new law that allows HOAs to evict a homeowner who’s behind on dues and lease the house to a tenant to make up for the lost money. The Bridgewater Community Association in Wesley Chapel has taken that to extremes.
Joanne McCarn says she missed a $225 dues payment in 2009 when her mother died. She claims she knew nothing about the overdue payment until recently. The HOA began tacking on late fees, attorney’s fees, and collection costs. By the time Joanne found out about her missed payment, the HOA was demanding $2,565, more than ten times the original amount. Joanne and her husband both tried to contact Association officials, who refused to talk to them.
The McCarn family had leased their home to a renter. But the HOA used the new Florida law to kick out the McCarn’s renter and put in a renter of their own. Joanne says it’s completely outrageous because the house hasn’t been foreclosed upon.
“I still own this house,” she says. “The HOA changed the locks on the doors and they call the sheriff if I come near the property.”
A Homeowners Association lawyer in Florida says the HOA’s actions are illegal. If so, then homeowners in the Bridgewater Association may be hit with a special assessment to cover a hefty lawsuit against the community.
A 40 unit apartment building in Titusville, Florida caught fire four years ago and most of the units were severely damaged. Obviously, all those in the building lost their homes. But the Bay Towers Homeowners Association is now foreclosing on dozens of displaced fire victims because they haven’t been paying their HOA dues. Apparently, even if your home is destroyed by fire, your HOA dues in some cases could technically go on forever!
One homeowner, Mike McDaniel, acknowledges he owes $8000 in HOA dues. But he says he’s now being sued for $48,000 for a place he’s not even allowed to set foot in.
The developer has been fined by the City of Titusville for almost two million dollars for not repairing the fire damage. The developer, in turn, is suing dozens of the former homeowners like McDaniels in addition to suing the insurance company.
McDaniel’s attorney told reporters from WFTV that all the lawsuits could give the developer control of the condos. If so, he’ll probably eventually get a better price for them.
(Good reporting by WFTV. We need more HOA coverage like this!)
It’s happened in Florida. It has happened in other states. Now Denver, Colorado is the scene of the latest HOA atrocity committed against a struggling homeowner.
The Green Valley Ranch Homeowners Association noticed that Lori Wortham’s front lawn had some brown spots. True, the City of Denver has declared a Stage One drought. True, there are severe watering restrictions on homeowners who put too much water on their lawns.
But a $200 fine for a brown spot? Outrageous, says Wortham. She says she’s tried to put down new grass seed and water, but the brown spots aren’t going away during the record heat wave and drought. And HOA president James Tanner says Wortham has been warned before that she needs to take better care of her lawn. As long as the brown spots remain, the fines will keep coming.
President Tanner says a brown lawn lowers property values for all of Lori Wortham’s neighbors. He doesn’t say anything about how punitive HOA fines wreck the reputation of the entire neighborhood and lower the value of all properties in the HOA. That’s the law of “Unintended Consequences.”
Good reporting by Denver’s Channel 7 TV.
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/31276276/detail.html
