Tag Archives: HOA Nightmare Stories

Here We Go Again! HOA Lawyers Siphoning Off Your Money!

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Yes, it’s the old American Flag dispute again. Across the country homeowners have been winning disputes when the HOA lawyers decide flags are illegal. But states have begun  passing laws to keep the HOA lawn Nazis from hassling patriotic homeowners.

The dispute in Forrest Lake Townhouse Association in Texas flag involved veteran Billy Martin. He complained to the board the community flag was looking tattered. They did nothing to improve things so he put up his own flag to display Old Glory.

The HOA began fining him two hundred bucks a day. Two years earlier, after another HOA ordered a homeowner to rip down his flag, the Texas legislature passed a law saying flying the American flag was a right, even in Homeowners Associations.

THE LAW IS ALREADY ON THE BOOKS! So why is this new Homeowners Association challenging the law?

In the story linked below you’ll see a completely frivolous lawsuit and the lengths the lawyers are going to stretch out their case and build up their billable hours.

Disgusting.

(click here for Chronicle article)

 

Crap Flies Sky High Over Virginia Capitol

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It’s extraordinarily rare for a homeowner to win a lawsuit against a Homeowners Association. The most memorable victory last year was by a couple in Olde Belhaven Town Owners Association in Northern Virginia. As you may recall, the couple put up an Obama for President sign in their front yard. Their HOA ordered it taken down because it was four inches too wide.

After the dust settled from the lawsuits, the couple won when the judge ruled that an HOA board couldn’t create resolutions to assess fines unless the covenants contemplated such actions.

This HOA, by the way, declared bankruptcy to try to keep the couple from collecting a dime.

In any event, the Virginia Legislature, ever anxious to protect the cash flow to lawyers, is now contemplating a new state law which would permit Virginia Homeowners Associations to assess fines against residents without having to change their covenants.

As always, there are greasy fingers all over this legislation. The Community Associations Institute (CAI) is out in force lobbying for this awful law. CAI rakes in billions of dollars each year on behalf of lawyers and management companies who kick back dues to the CAI. 

As I’ve continued to say on this blog, you don’t have to be a Republican, Democrat, Tea Partier or Libertarian to be repulsed by this kind of anti-homeowner legislation. It’s all wrong.

But as long as you have cash in your pocket and equity in your home, someone is trying to take it.

(click here for text to proposed Virginia legislation, HB791 – LeMunyon)

After reading this bill, consider contacting your Representative or State Legislator.

 

Neighbor Complaints Lead To ‘Felony Egg/Drug Bust’ At Justin Beiber’s House

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Justin Beiber apparently hasn’t been the most wonderful neighbor in his ritzy California Homeowners Association. Talk about a neighborhood war. His speeding and loud parties have attracted not only HOA attention, but after eggs were thrown from Beiber’s property onto the home of a next door neighbor police snagged a search warrant and used a battering ram to get through his front door.

Beiber wasn’t arrested, although cops are continuing to search through home security video. Since this is a felony assault charge Beiber could face some time behind bars.

During the raid, though, it appears that at least one of Beiber’s guests could face felony charges. Rapper Lil Za was arrested for possession of cocaine inside the singer’s home.

(click here for TMZ story on egg raid)

 

Seniors Squeezed in DC

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Many retirees and people about to retire in the nation’s capitol are learning that all the money they’d set aside for their golden years is at risk. What’s the conventional wisdom for people preparing to transition from a paycheck to a Social Security payment? Pay off your mortgage. Reduce your debts and expenses.

But when seniors buy a piece of managed housing, a condo, townhome or apartment unit their neighbors now have access to every dime those older folks own. Rising HOA or condo fees and special assessments aren’t things that homeowners can decide not to pay. And the elderly who get behind in their dues are promptly foreclosed upon, their property turned over to association lawyers and auctioned off to pay massive legal and collection costs. 

The story linked below is worth reading, understanding, and passing on to others. If you have equity in your home, and if you’re elderly you have a huge target on your back.

Believe it.

(link to story in Washington Post)

 

 

Outrage in Minnesota

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I wrote about this subject in my book, Neighbors At War, but now that the court cases are before the Minnesota Court of Appeals, it’s worth discussing again.

At issue is an ordinance in the college town of Winona, Minnesota, which prohibits some property owners from renting out their properties. Landlords have to register their properties with the city. But once a ratio of renters to homeowners is approached, property owners are prohibited from leasing their properties to others. That means that in some neighborhoods, owners are prohibited from leasing their properties, while people on the adjacent block are allowed to lease. It’s apparently the first case in the nation where property owners are prohibited from exercising their historic rights. 

If this law is ruled constitutional, the implications are enormous.

(click here for FoxNews story on rental property rights in Minnesota)