Tag Archives: HOA Neighborhood

Sometimes the Good Guys Win!

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You might have heard me bloviating about the Andover Forest Homeownes Association in Kentucky. Seems they were going to start fining and/or suing the family of  a three year boy named Cooper.

Cooper has cerebral palsy, you see, and several family doctors have recommended that he be allowed to have a playhouse of his own to help with his therapy.

BAM! That ran into a brick wall of stiff necks at the HOA Board Meeting. “Nobody gets an exemption from the covenents, not even a sick kid!” you can just hear that kind of language being hurled about.

Both sides “lawyered up,” which means thousands of dollars have already been spent.

After tons of national and international publicity, the HOA lawyer, Nathan Billings said, “The Board of Directors would allow the playhouse to stay in the family’s yard for the time being.

“There has not been a denial of the requested accomodation for the playhouse. There is a continued temporary exemption of the playhouse pending the parties mediating the dispute or a court determining what information the association is entitled to.”

Don’t you just love the weasel words that come from most lawyers? What he really means is, “this case is good for some more money. Let’s just keep it moving along, slow down the process, collect our billable hours as long as we can get away with it.”

In the meantime, little Cooper is smiling at us from the window of his nice new playhouse.

Ward Lucas
Author of
Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association

Subject: Editorial in Raleigh News & Observer 2/3/12

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Gather a group of people who are members of different homeowners associations and you’ll hear tales across the spectrum of human behavior. Some HOAs are run by groups of well-intentioned, reasonable people who want to help their neighbors and see to it that their association quietly performs the duties of mowing grass, doing repairs on common areas, maintaining a certain level of neatness, watching safety. They try to do their duty without interfering much in neighbors’ day-to-day lives.

And then there’s the other end of that spectrum, where perhaps one or two association leaders mistake their roles for those of drill sergeants or monarchs. It’s their way or the highway, and if they have a grudge against a neighbor who, say, once dared to complain, they don’t mind using the association to intimidate that person.

There’s a reason why a legislative committee has been hearing various accounts about HOAs with an eye toward further regulation, and it looks as though further regulation is needed. There were too many accounts recently at a committee meeting about associations that went after neighbors, including to the point of trying to foreclose.

The General Assembly can start right there. No homeowners association should have the power of foreclosure, end of story, period. Taking someone’s home because they’re late with dues? No. Some association leaders who appeared before lawmakers actually tried to defend that right. And, there should be a line of appeal for alleged excesses on the part of associations besides an expensive trip to court.

Some HOA leaders resist the idea that anyone needs to tell them how to operate or put limits on their powers. But they need instruction, and they need regulation. Strict regulation, with consequences for associations that don’t comply.

Written by:  A.A. Friedrich — Raleigh, NC, USA

http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/02/03/1826206/whoa-hoa.html#storylink=cpy

Ward Lucas
Author of
Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association

On the 7th Day, God Didn’t Actually Rest: He Sent Mankind an Honest Lawyer

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This blog credits honesty. And in the HOA quagmire that is North Carolina, one lawyer has raised his head and taken an extreme moral, social and safety risk by speaking his heart.  He says he’s seen the HOA mess from both sides and has strong opinions about the need for reforms.

If you’re a Christian, you’d better drop to your knees and thank God for this Jewish lawyer.  He speaks the Truth, and is certain to be crucified for it.

I’ll link his editorial right here. And if you know this guy, tell him you appreciate his honesty.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/02/03/1826206/whoa-hoa.html#storylink=cpy

Ward Lucas
Author of
Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association


“Texas, Our Texas, All Hail the Mighty State…”

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Ah yes, how I remember singing the Texas State Anthem when I was eight or nine years old and studying the Blue Book.  Do Texas kids still study the Blue Book, or is that an antique of the 1950’s?  “Remember the Alamo, remember San Jacinto!”

Since life in Texas, I migrated to Washington DC, and Germany, and Seattle, before finally settling in Colorado.

But after learning about the national HOA movement, I began thinking that Texans were wimpy little pea-brains who’d passively turned their life savings over to the trial lawyers by moving into covenant-protected neighborhoods. Texas homeowners were being raped by the tort system and weren’t even fighting back.

Then I started hearing names like Beany Adolph and Michael Clauer, Harvella Jones, Frank Larison and Becky Oliver. It seems some Texans do have guts after all. They’ve even marched on the State Legislature to demand some changes in the law to prevent gestapo-run HOAs from getting their hands into every cookie jar that wasn’t cemented down.

Yes, the Legislature did pass some OK legislation in the last session. Admittedly, it was a little weak, a little weasel-worded. But still, Texas is now ahead of all other states in trying to protect at least a few of the Constitutional rights Americans have always thought they possessed. At least Texas HOAs can no longer toss out Jews, or Christians, or patriots who want to fly the flag.

God bless Texas.

Ward Lucas
Author of
Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association

Whew! Who Did This Work?

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Sometimes a blogger should just shut up and pay compliments to the work of others.

My readers have learned over the months that I’m massively angry about how easy it is to embezzle money from Homeowners Associations. And because it’s easy, it happens everywhere. In fact, my upcoming book, “Neighbors at War: the Creepy Case Against Your Homeowner Association”  provides a list of hundreds of HOAs where board members have stolen millions and millions of dollars from their neighbors.  And yes. I do publish names and kick butt.  In fact, the new definition of a Homeowner Association Board may be “five arrogant people running wildly through your retirement savings!”

Yes, that’s hyperbole, but it doesn’t miss the mark by much.

OK, I promised to keep my mouth shut and give somebody else a compliment. So, here it is: Whoever decided to assemble the following list of HOA embezzlements and publish them on the web should be nominated as my “hero of the month.”  Admittedly, I have to grit my teeth and acknowledge that the author of the list may be aligned with the Community Associations Institute, an organization which has raised lots of suspicions about their own honesty and intent. Am I sleeping with the Devil? I hope not.  But here’s their embezzling list. Read it and weep.

http://www.communityassociations.net/xmlarticles/fraud_embezzlement.html

Ward Lucas
Author of
Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association