Mel Pittel has waged a years-long fight to bring transparency to his Meadow Creek Homeowners Association in a suburb of Minneapolis. Pittel was even voted in by fellow homeowners as a board member. But the board got a restraining order preventing him from even attending board meetings. Now, a judge has refused the board’s attempt to get the restraining order extended. “Free speech,” said the judge.
Pittel has worked long and hard to inform other HOA members of what he suspects is financial mismanagement by the board. The fight has taken a heavy toll on his finances. But this country has a long history of people who’ve sacrificed everything for their fellow man. The link below is worth reading.
Florida and Nevada are probably the worst states in the country for HOA abuse. There are a thousand ways to steal private homes from their rightful owners, and it happens many times each day, probably each hour. It’s a national tragedy that state and federal politicians are absolutely unwilling to examine. No, it’s much easier to turn your back in the direction of the proffered cash. A shame, for sure.
At least more and more members of the media are ‘getting it.’ The latest is Orlando Sentinel reporter Beth Kassab. Yes, if she Googles her own name, she’ll see this post!
This one happened right under my nose here in the Denver area. The Denver vicinity, as some of you know, is home to one of the biggest HOA embezzling cases in the country. A management company stole homeowners blind in a largely minority community. But these homeowners were smart enough to catch this jerk. The bitterness, though, never really goes away.
Now there’s another incident, this one in the same part of town. David W. Martin, PMG Enterprises Inc., has had to surrender his state license to manage Homeowners Associations. He may be the first to do so under Colorado’s new licensing law. The law isn’t perfect. It has very few teeth and some appointed state officials who are really out of their league.
For the record, here’s a link to the story in the Denver Business Journal.
For you HOA board members who are planning on buying drones to spy on your neighbors, you’ll have to watch out for some new regulations. Your drones will have to be registered in a federal database. Although I generally hate excess federal regulations, this one is kind of cool because your name and address will go into a database which is a public record. We’ll all be able to learn which board members or management companies are using this incredibly invasive technology.
Florida is choked with Homeowners Associations and their regulations can sometimes be draconian, such as no drying of clothing on the backyard clothes line. Here we are facing a worldwide energy crisis, we’re supposedly facing global warming. Yet HOAs threaten to fine, lien and foreclose on homes where somebody tries to save energy by hanging some towels out on the line.
Florida actually passed a law prohibiting HOAs from enforcing such prohibitions. HOAs and property managers should know the law. But they’re more comfortable bullying than in recognizing homeowners’ rights. The story linked below is about a Fort Myers homeowner who did know the law. But she’s now being targeted by the Cross Creek Estates Homeowners Association.
She’s going to lose, of course, because HOAs know that by the time a controversy has been settled the homeowners who try to stand up for their rights have to spend a fortune on legal bills. That’s why I frequently refer to the ‘national HOA scam.’ It’s all about funneling money into the pockets of lawyers, all the while claiming to protect property values.
At least this lady is getting a little emotional support from the news media. If you have friends in Florida just let them know about that state’s Right-To-Dry law. And drop this lady a note thanking her for her courage.
