Tag Archives: goonan

Here Come The Special Assessments!

      4 Comments on Here Come The Special Assessments!
guest blog by Deborah Goonan

When buyers consider a condominium association, they are often sold on a “carefree, maintenance free” lifestyle. There are promises that someone else will take care of the landscape, cleaning the sidewalks and parking lots, and most exterior maintenance. It can be very enticing for busy professionals or retirees who don’t have the time or inclination to do the work themselves.

But the reality is that, when you buy into a Association-Governed Residential Community, you are actually purchasing shares in a corporation. And the truth is, all too often that corporation does not perform optimally. There are no guarantees that the developer or owner controlled Association board will operate with efficiency or fairness. Even with the best of intentions, mistakes happen. And sometimes the Board neglects its duties.

Even with a management company, the landscape maintenance might not be done consistently. Traffic signs might be installed incorrectly. That was the case at Villas on the Green Condominium Association, managed by M.M.I. of Palm Beach, FL.

A preventable accident

In 2011, overgrown hedges and a misplaced stop sign obscured visibility for a resident backing out of her driveway. Unfortunately, she did not see 9-year-old Andrew Connor Curtis riding his bicycle on the sidewalk. The result was the untimely death of young Andrew.

The parents of Andrew sued the driver of the vehicle, Villas on the Green Condo Association, and M.M.I. of Palm Beach (the management company), resulting in a $12 million award, 90% of which is payable by the condo association and the management company. The court ruled, and an appellate court upheld, that, as a result of the Condo Association’s and Management Company’s failure to properly maintain visibility at the end of a driveway and roadway intersection, two parents lost their child.

Added risk for HOA and condo owners

Had this accident occurred outside of an Association-Governed Residential Community, only the driver of the vehicle would have been brought to court. Of course, the owner probably would have kept the hedges trimmed to begin with. The municipality would have properly installed the stop sign.

But because the Condo Association is a corporation, it can sue and be sued for various reasons. Even if the condo association is adequately insured against this kind of loss (not all Associations are), future insurance premiums will significantly increase. Every condo owner will pay for this lawsuit, just as they have paid for inadequate maintenance that led to a tragic accident in the first place.

Owners have very little control over these unpredictable liabilities – which they automatically share – yet another hidden cost of owning property in a homeowners, condominium, or cooperative association.

Appeals Court Upholds $12 Million Award in Wrongful Death Lawsuit

http://independentamericancommunities.com/

 

Service Dogs and some Nasty Lawsuits

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guest blog by Deborah Goonan

Not a week goes by that we don’t learn of yet another Fair Housing lawsuit, usually involving discrimination on the basis of disability. This time, the Condo Association will have to answer to two lawsuits, one filed by the owner of a condo unit, and the other by his former tenant.

The latest report comes from Aspen View Condominiums in Colorado. Natasha MacArthur leased one of the 18 units from condo owner Alvara Arnal, beginning in November 2013. MacArthur has a golden retriever, and claims her dog, Stevie Nicks, helps her cope with a seizure disorder.

The condo association forbids dogs, but MacArthur claims her pet is a service animal, and that the association is obligated under Fair Housing law to provide reasonable accommodation to allow Stevie Nicks to reside with her.

According to a report in the Aspen Times, MacArthur provided documentation of her disability from a physician, as well as documentation from the organization that trained the dog as a service animal. The former (now deceased) president of the association interviewed MacArthur in her home for 45 minutes. But the association was still not satisfied that the information provided was sufficient to allow the dog to remain.

Aspen View COA then began fining owner Arnal $50 per day in January 2014. MacArthur moved out of the unit in March 2014, prior to the end of her lease.

Arnal was hit with $1435 in fines, plus $4234 in attorney fees in June. A lien was placed on his unit in July 2014.

In addition to MacArthur’s Fair Housing complaint, Arnal has filed suit against the association and its management company, alleging discrimination, retaliation, and interference with a contract.

The remaining 17 owners of Aspen View better open up their wallets. These two lawsuits will probably cost them a great deal of money in legal expenses and the eventual settlements.

For readers interested in learning more about service animals for people with seizure disorders, I have provided some additional links.

(Aspen HOA denies wrongdoing in service-dog flap)

 

Embezzlement, Texas Style

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guest blog by Deborah Goonan

East Texas, Big Woods Springs HOA is a relatively small community of 85 homes, with low assessment payments of $35 per month. They need the money to maintain their road, a small bridge, and a dam for their lake. Homeowners have just been “blindsided” by the theft of $31,000 from their HOA.

The theft allegedly occurred over a 26-month period, by their neighbor and former Treasurer, Letha Anna Thomas. Owners became suspicious when their repeated requests to see financial statements were ignored.

The new Board members vow to operate with transparency, and intend to conduct background checks on all future Board candidates.

Note that $31,000 represents about a year’s worth of assessment payments for the Association. Most of the residents are on fixed incomes.

Just because the community is small and assessments are low, don’t assume that the HOA cannot be a target for embezzlement.

7 on your side: HOA theft victims say, “We’ve been kept in the dark for years.”

(link to KLTV-TV story on latest embezzlement)

 

To Counter-Act C.A.I. Disinformation

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The Community Associations Institute (CAI) is famous for testifying before state legislatures that it represents all homeowners living in HOAs. Absolute nonsense. In the beginning it probably did. But in the early 1990s a conscious decision was made to turn the organization into a referral group, sending high-dollar referrals in HOA disputes to its member lawyers, property managers and contractors. Under its phony non-profit shield it sent out surveys on how satisfied Americans were with their Homeowners Associations.

Whoa! Any legitimate, honest survey of homeowners living under the HOA yoke should have told a far different story. Finally, some in the anti-HOA movement are releasing studies which appear to be far more legitimate than the pablum being spread by the CAI. It’s hard to get legislators to pay attention to what they see as a non-issue. But surveys like the one linked below tell a more interesting story about homeowner dissatisfaction and abuse.

(link online survey of homeowners, real estate professionals and homeowner associations)

Also, housing consumer advocate Deborah Goonan was interviewed about this story today by Shu Bartholomew, host of OnTheCommons.net. It really is worth listening to.

 

 

Failed Condos: Tax Burdens, Social Problems

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guest blog by Deborah Goonan

For many months I have been following multiple news reports involving Blossom Park Condominium in Orlando, Florida. Blossom Park is a former motel that had been converted to condos about a decade ago. Its units were sold at “affordable” prices, most of them promptly leased to tenants. When the recession hit, so did mortgage defaults. Many owners stopped paying their condo assessments. The condo association couldn’t pay its water utility bills. Within a few years, the aging structure began to deteriorate. The stairways have been deemed unsafe by Orange County building inspectors. The building has been deemed hazardous. The pool has become a slimy green swamp.

For the past 4 or 5 years, no one has served on the Board, and the court had to appoint a receiver. The first receiver was later ousted and replaced by a second receiver. For several years, a criminal element has taken up residence in some of the units. Drug dealers prey upon the residents, mostly tenants, and now Blossom Park has become notorious as a site for drug overdoses. Several fatal shootings have occurred there as well.

Orange County has been trying to relocate residents for months. At this point, only about 40 remain, and half of those are reportedly squatters. Just take a look at the deplorable living conditions. The County has already poured millions of dollars into emergency services, crime control, relocation services, and social services.

But the social costs to condo owners, affected residents, and the surrounding communities are immeasurable.

What if you were one of the owners who bought into this condo conversion back in the early days, the very first person in your family to ever own a home, hoping this would be your small piece of the American Dream? And what if that dream became a nightmare, when you could no longer afford rising assessments? What if your home became worthless as your community started to crumble around you? What if you could not feel safe in your own home?

Imagine if you were a child forced to grow up in this environment, because your family had nowhere else to go. How would you feel? What would you do?

The sad fact is that Blossom Park is but one example of many failed condominium (and homeowners) associations. The housing concept that was supposed to improve upon financially impoverished cities – common ownership governed by private homeowners associations – has ultimately resulted in the lowest home ownership rate since the 1960s.

(link to home ownership in lowest level since 1960s)

(11 heroin overdoses at Blossom Park Condos)

(55 arrests since heroin overdoses near Blossom Park)