Tag Archives: HOA Hell

Trash Can Craziness Crosses State Lines

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

Bent Creek HOA in Nolensville, Tennessee is keeping a close watch on the outcome of the Turnberry Reserve trash can saga in Orlando. Remember that story? Where the board president may soon be sleeping and running the HOA business from a jail cell? Plus paying a hefty fine for ordering the theft of homeowners’ trash containers?

Up to this point, Bent Creek board members have chosen to use the legal system to fight their battle, but their covenants do not address the storage issue.  Andrea Barnes says, “Bent Creek residents are anxiously awaiting the decision by the Orange-Osceola State attorney’s office.” 

I have hoped these blogs would provide not only a resource for “who” “when” and “where” but also insight on “what” destroys an HOA.  It seems Bent Creek may have learned something here and taken a “wait and see” position.
 
The HOA where I live has this same trash container issue.  One day out of nowhere our driveways looked like the trash container stork made a massive green and yellow delivery: One for trash and one for recycling.  Combined, they take half the square footage of a compact car! Garages were not built to accommodate vehicles and trash containers at the same time.  It’s obvious this is one of those “not-so-well” thought out plans.  
 
There are many reasons these containers have become nightmares…and for the HOAs an eyesore.  And in my case, our city codes do not allow trash cans to be visible from the street.
 
Somebody, please do something to stop this insanity over trash cans before people start throwing their bags of trash in the ditches to avoid all this hassle! 
 
How do we solve this nationwide problem?  Perhaps somebody could start a “trash can home addition” that can be constructed on a Saturday afternoon and installed next to the garage? Be sure to paint it the basic HOA beige or make it look like an overgrown rose bush. Sounds like a “biz op” for some creative carpenters, doesn’t it?  Maybe they could generate some marketing by promoting it on “Shark Tank.”  
 
A special thank you to Mike Holfeld, the investigative reporter at Local 6 in Orlando for keeping us updated!
 
 
BTW, in accordance with our recent policy about re-posting public figure contact info, here’s a a list of all this HOA’s email and phone info which they’ve already published on the web:
 
Bent Creek Homeowners Association 
Board of Directors 
 
President: Bill Kottas 
Cates-Kottas Development, LLC 
 
Homeowner Representative: 
Jimmy W. Reaves 
E-Mail: JimmyReaves@Comcast.net 
 
Homeowner Representative: 
Steve Cody 
E-Mail: stevecody81@gmail.com 
 
Developer Representative: 
Cynthia Smith 
Email: cynthia_smith@rocketmail.com 
 
Elecia Lewis, CMCA 
Community 
Association Manager: 
elecia.lewis@ghertner.com 
 
Homeowner Service Center: 
615-277-0358 
 
Bent Creek Website: www.BentCreekHOA.org
 
 

LOL! God Bless Google!

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Homeowners across the country have wonderful ways to track the criminals who get themselves elected to positions of power on HOA boards. It’s heady power, indeed. And according to one of my regular searches on the web, they frequently arm themselves to take down enemies.

The greatest Google search is simply…. HOA president arrested.

That’s all! And it turns up a treasury.

The most recent incident happened last month in a Homeowners Association in the San Diego area. A 59 year old HOA president apparently didn’t like the work done by a man hired to do some work in the neighborhood. The HOA president pulled out a blade and stabbed the younger man. This gem of a neighborhood leader was arrested.

More to come.

(story from San Diego)

 

 

Common Sense in Arizona?

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Well, just a couple of weeks ago, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that a family’s right to post a ‘for sale’ sign had more support from the law than an HOA’s right to pull them down.

Some tyrannical HOAs forbid sales signs altogether. Some say ‘for sale’ signs are OK, just as long as they’re brown and tan and are not easily seen by potential buyers. Egads, the warped minds of these control freaks! 

At least there’s hope for the future. A rogue HOA in Northern Virginia told a couple their Obama sign was four inches too big and the HOA thugs destroyed it for them. But the last laugh was with the couple. They sued the HOA, the judge ordered the HOA to pay the couples’ legal costs which forced the whole neighborhood to declare bankruptcy.

It’s so nice to stroll through a peaceful neighborhood where the lawns are all cared for and no pink, polka-dotted homes. I just came from visiting someone in such a nice and caring neighborhood, and not surprisingly, there was no HOA. They were just neighbors who respected each other and worked together to keep the place nice. 

And of course, no annual meeting where people are screaming at each other.

(click here for AZ Supreme Court Decision) 

http://azdailysun.com/news/local/state-and-regional/pine-canyon-hoa-must-allow-for-sale-signs/article_43f97a0a-1521-11e3-9975-0019bb2963f4.html

Immunity for HOA President!

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This story has been batted about for a few months but It’s a fascinating look at abuse of homeowners by their Associations. It took place in Celina, Texas.

Dozens of homeowners had to replace their roofs after last year’s big hailstorm. But four or five homeowners are being fined up to $500 per day because their roof tiles are a slightly different shade from the rest of the neighborhood. The Carter Ranch Homeowners Association demands that all roofs be “weathered wood.” But there’s no single shade that goes by such a name. There are multiple colors of weathered wood. So the HOA is threatening to lien and foreclose on the homes that the HOA board deemed were the wrong shade.

The kicker to the story, though, is video of a home whose owner painted his driveway and the sidewalks past his home bright white. It’s an obvious violation of the Carter Ranch covenants. But this homeowner doesn’t get fined, liened or foreclosed.

He’s the HOA president.

(click here for WFAA story)

http://www.khou.com/news/texas-news?fId=223692861&fPath=/news/local/&fDomain=10247

 

 

How Can We React?

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It has dawned on me several times over the past few years that HOA outrages are most often reversed when a rogue HOA gets a ton of phone calls and email from angry people across the country. If you know that you, as a board officer or manager, are being watched by the whole country, you might be a little less rotten to your neighbor. In a well publicized case where an HOA official’s viciousness is widely publicized, would that official be more willing to step back and mull over the action he or she is planning to take? Certainly, when you lift up a big rock the vermin tend to scatter in the light of day.

We currently have more than 31,000 people regularly reading this blog. That means an army of folks in every state. Should we begin publicizing home phone numbers, HOA phone numbers, email addresses and management phone numbers whenever we hear of the actions of a rogue HOA board?

I’d like to hear your thoughts publicly or privately. And if we ever began such a policy it would require your help to look up and verify any numbers or addresses of those we publicize.

Your thoughts?