Tag Archives: Homeowner’s Associations

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

“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

Legacy Park Community Association – An HOA Thief In Their Midst

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We’ve frequently talked in this blog about thieves who steal from their Homeowners Associations.  There’s another one. There’s always another one.

Douglas Gilpatrick Tulper, a treasurer for the Legacy Park Men’s Club took almost 18,000 dollars from his organization which is part of the Legacy Park Community Association in Kennesaw, Georgia. He says he needed it to pay bills.

His attorney may use his age as an excuse. He’s 78. But the problem isn’t age, or senility, or dementia. The problem is that HOA officers can do whatever the heck they want to with other people’s money. There is no oversight. There are no rules. And where there is no oversight, greed has no chains. It’s extremely rare when somebody actually gets caught.

America has 300,000 Homeowner Associations, little fiefdoms where the U.S. Constitution is not observed, respected or acknowledged.

Embezzlement arrests are rare in our gated communities. Yet every one seems to have some little “bit of history” with HOA thieves.

Isn’t something wrong here?

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

Do You Smell Something Rotting in the Air of Las Vegas?

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With several dozen Las Vegas Homeowner Associations mired in the muck of a federal corruption investigation, members of one association have learned they may be targeted by huge IRS assessments and fines.

Sun City Summerlin Community Association is not one of the Nevada HOAs where investigators have found corrupt cops and judges and lawyers. But this HOA’s accounting practices are attracting lots of federal attention.

The HOA operates several commercial golf courses and restaurants. So in addition to HOA dues, there’s a chunk of money coming into the coffers of the HOA from outside sources. Theoretically, taxes should be paid on that income. But Sun City Summerlin Association has been deferring millions of dollars on its annual tax forms. Homeowners don’t seem to be aware that their snowbird homes may end up as tax magnets instead of tax shelters.

Sun City Summerlin is a not-for-profit organization, so theoretically homeowners should have been given some rather large refunds. Instead, each homeowner may be given some rather large surprise tax assessments.

Other Homeowners Associations across the country area are closely watching what happens in Las Vegas. Elderly homeowners may suddenly discover a downside to investing their life savings in a retirement home in the Sun Belt.

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

The Wonders of Childhood

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Seven youngsters in the Twin Cities area will always remember the winter they learned to skate.

On a small piece of land where their backyards adjoined, their dads nailed some boards on top of one another. When the Minnesota skies turned frigid, the families turned on their garden hoses and filled the enclosure with water. It froze over, and they poured in another inch of water. Then another.

After just a week or so the families had created a miniature ice rink. The youngsters strapped on their new Christmas skates and with pint-sized paddles they learned to swat a puck back and forth. Eventually, two nets went up and the dads began teaching their youngsters all the finer mysteries of the sport of hockey. The miniature ice rink was envied by other children in the neighborhood and each afternoon they’d gather and play. They learned the rules of sportsmanship. And of friendship. And of taking turns.

Then the letter from the Homeowners Association arrived. The ice rink was illegal and had to be immediately removed. A violation of the demand would mean fines, liens, lawyers and lawsuits. There was no one to appeal to, no neighborhood gathering where the kids could plead their case. The ice rink had to go.

Seven youngsters will always remember the winter they learned to skate. And the winter they learned their backyard activities weren’t welcomed.

Yes, those seven children will always remember their childhood in Oakdale, Minnesota. And the Oak Run Shores Homeowners Association.

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