Tag Archives: HOA Abuse

Whoa! Is this the Beginning?!?

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There are some scattered court cases which may have an interesting impact on Homeowners Associations, an impact many of us would love to see. From the National Law Review, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals ruled that HOAs are debt collectors. We all know they file liens and harrass homeowners into paying dues, fines, collection costs, attorneys’ fees. But if they’re debt collectors then they have to follow all the laws governing debt collections. With what we know about HOA bullies that could subject associations to huge fines.

(link to National Law Review discussion of HOA debt collectors)

The Supreme Court’s recent disparate impact decision has been discussed before on Neighbors At War. It will most likely lead to a huge increase in lawsuits because people were discriminated against even if there was no intent to discriminate. Well, housing discrimination is basically the middle name of many HOA board bullies. This creates tremendous financial liability for all HOA communities.

(link to National Law Review article on disparate impact decision)

Then there’s the Nevada high court ruling that HOA liens have super-priority status over mortgage companies. Nearly two dozen states have such rules. Lenders might become extremely wary of lending money to potential buyers of HOA property. Once that trend starts, HOA home values will crash because buyers won’t be able to find lenders.

(link to recent FHFA warning about super-priority liens)

The tide may be turning against the so-called lure of HOA life!

HOA Parking in Texas

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An old joke by deadpan standup comedian Steven Wright ponders an amusing twist in the English language. He asks “Why we drive on a parkway, but we park on a driveway?”

Well, a Homeowners Association in Frisco, Texas may have solved half that riddle. Homeowners can no longer park on their own driveways in the Stonebriar Village HOA. All cars must be concealed in garages because they make a neighborhood look so ugly.

There are other things that make a neighborhood much uglier. Fascism. Bullying. Property values that never rise because Americans are waking up and paying attention to warnings about life in an HOA.

(link to Dallas News story on Stonebriar Village parking rule)

And just for fun, a link to more really offbeat humor from Steven Wright:

Pathetic Excuse for a Judge

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It’s another sad day for Nevada homeowners. Federal Judge James Mahan has given another one of the Las Vegas HOA swindlers a sissy sentence. Organized crime swindler Charles McChesney was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison. Ultimately, he’ll only spend 15 months there.

Homeowners in Nevada lost untold millions of dollars when this crime ring ripped off Homeowners Associations all across the valley. They’ll never get a dime of that back. This was a vicious financial crime that completely changed the lives of many decent working and/or retired people. To give these swindlers only 30 months is a crime in itself. Even though only a dozen Homeowners Associations were named as victims in the case, inside information says there may have been hundreds more.

The FBI generated about four million pages of evidence and testimony. Had the investigation exposed the entire Nevada scam the evidence could have run into the hundreds of millions of pages.

Think of this: If crooked HOAs and management companies across the country were put through the same kind of investigative scrutiny there would be millions of convictions. There just aren’t enough prisons to hold everyone.

Yes, it’s a sad day for Nevada. But it’s even sadder for the rest of the country.

(link to Review Journal article on the prison sentence)

HOA Objects to Deliveries from Food Pantry

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guest blog by Deborah Goonan

I could hardly believe my eyes and ears when I read this article and watched the videos in the Bradenton Herald article regarding Carlyn Estates Mobile Home Park in Palmetto, Manatee County, Florida. I honestly had to dry the tears from my eyes. You MUST watch these short videos, particularly the video of the mobile home resident who is vehemently against having the local Food Pantry distribute free boxes of food to 28 of her neighbors. 

Talk about nasty. She thinks that her fellow HOA members should get help from their families, or call social services and “hand over their checks” to a nursing home. Wow. A total lack of compassion. 

Here’s the reality: for many seniors, there are no family members to assist them. These 28 seniors are unable to get to the food pantry, because of illness, disability, or lack of transportation, so the Hope Center Food Pantry has been making weekly distributions where they live. One resident, recently widowed, is quoted in the article, stating that the owner of the mobile home park, Tonia Sonju, is denying her the right to take care of herself, and causing her physical and emotional stress.  

What’s the issue?

You see, according to another article in the Miami Herald, the HOA policy, written by Sonju, prohibits “soliciting” of any kind. Residents have received violation notices from the Park owner, that state the following:

“No peddling or soliciting or operation of a commercial enterprise is allowed in the park without prior consent of the management. You continue to operate a commercial food bank in Carlyn Estates in violation of Rule 52 which causes the disruption of the park, causes unsightly and unsanitary conditions, significant trash, along with rats, roaches, and mice, etc.”

Christie Castro, President of the Manatee County Senior Advocacy Council has tried to speak to Sonju on behalf of the senior residents, but Sonju has refused to talk to her. Lenworth Gordon, director of the Hope Center Food Pantry in Palmetto, has spoken to Sonju, but was unable to change her mind regarding HOA policy. They argue that since the food is donated, there is no “solicitation” and no commercial business activity. There is no stockpile of food to attract pests. 

Castro believes that these seniors need advocates to prevent them from being bullied in their HOA. The residents tried to attend the last HOA meeting to discuss the issue, but it was cancelled at the last minute. Now the residents are trying to arrange a meeting at one of the local churches. The advocacy group is hoping a local attorney will provide pro bono assistance in resolving this matter. 

The local Meals on Wheels has offered to provide delivery of meals to those residents who qualify. 

Kudos to Hope Center Food Pantry, Manatee County Senior Advocacy Council, Meals on Wheels PLUS, and both the Bradenton and Maimi Herald news companies for bringing this important issue to the attention of Floridians, and the general public. 

(link to Bradenton Herald article with videos) 

(link to Miami Herald article)

 

HOA Burglars!

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I guess we learn things all the time and this one is interesting. It’s a paper published in the University of Cincinnati Law Review about the 2008-2009 mortgage meltdown. Lending institutions are way behind on dealing with all the foreclosed properties. They’ve hired property management companies to help deal with the overload.

Now there’s been a rash of lawsuits by homeowners late on their payments who’ve come back to find that their homes have been trashed and their personal property stolen. Seems it’s being done by these third-party contractors hired by the mortgage companies.

I wonder if there’s any spillover by management companies that foreclose on liens on people in Homeowners Associations?

(link to paper on mortgage burglaries)