Tag Archives: Ward Lucas

Craziest Homeowners Association Laws

      No Comments on Craziest Homeowners Association Laws

Get to know your neighbors

That used to be such wise advice handed out by law enforcement organizations. But times have changed, times have changed. These days it’s far more important to your safety and your financial health to get to know your neighborhood rules. (I continue to collect examples of such rules, so please feel free to contact me with new ones!)

The rules

Some New York co-ops don’t want just any itinerant artist in the building, only art projects officially approved by the board.

In some HOAs….no high heels. (understandable)

In an HOA in Iowa…no visits by a mother-in-law! (Actually, that’s a marvelous excuse. One could get to like that rule)

No smoking in your own home or any place on your property. (Increasingly common, and backed up by court after court)

No outdoor laundry drying. (Very common. Lady in ‘enviro-friendly’ Oregon fined a thousand bucks.)

No cross or other Christian symbol near or on your from door or visible from the street. (gotta erase any remnant of Jesus)

No Mezuza or any other Jewish symbol visible from the street. (court cases up the wazoo)

Absolute restriction on the number of rose bushes (famous case which cost one poor sucker his house)

No lemonade stands (remember the rule against home-based businesses? Besides, who wants snotty nosed kids visible from the street?)

Kids may not play outside. (Unbelievable, but this is a current case involving some Florida Homeowners Associations!)

Please, please, I’m a glutton for punishment. If you’re all steamed up about some stupid HOA rule, please drop me a line. I’ve heard most of them, but am always looking for more. You’ll see a ton of them in my upcoming book, Neighbors At War: the Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association, but I need volunteers in my anti-HOA army!

Talk to me at wardlucas@gmail.com

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

What Homeowners Associations Can Do For You, or To You

      No Comments on What Homeowners Associations Can Do For You, or To You

For you

A staggering number of communities across the nation have Homeowner $B!G (Bs Associations. Twenty percent of all American homes are in HOAs. But that belies the read figure. Almost 100% of all NEW homes are in Homeowners Associations. That’s because developers cannot get permits to build unless they agree to create restrictive covenants that subsume some of the traditional duties of government. It’s a form of tax-shifting. Instead of additional taxes, you pay neighborhood ‘dues’. It doesn’t feel like taxes, and it doesn’t create some of the legal complications involved in raising taxes.

Some people enjoy HOA life. They feel it gives them more security and provides certain community services unavailable in traditional neighborhoods. A nice front entrance. A gated community. Preservation of property values (that last one is a myth that I’ll destroy in some future blog).

The local government jurisdiction has other reasons for liking HOAs. Snow removal isn’t as important. Let those rich folks plow their own snow. Contracts for trash collection. Let ’em find their own garbage companies. Christmas lights at the entrance (Oops! Gotta take Christ out of Christmas or risk an ACLU suit!)

But for every yin there’s a yang, for every pro there’s a con. And what the HOA can to TO YOU is dizzying.

To you

The typical Homeowners Association is a police power that isn’t tied down by Constitutional restrictions on police powers. It’s a private non-profit corporation, you see? Even though it’s next to impossible to buy a new home outside of an HOA, they’re not yet considered de facto governments. Therefore the HOA can do some incredibly stinking things. Like keep out blacks. Or Jews. Or Mexicans. Or it can make life so rotten for blacks and Jews and Mexicans that they decid to create their own HOAs. If you don’t believe me, then think Shoal Creek and the quick scrambling they had to do when Tiger Woods started winning tournaments. Incidentally, we owe Tiger Woods a huge debt of gratitude for inadvertantly focusing attention on certain country club practices.

But HOAs have other stinky things they can do. They can keep out the disabled. (Don’t believe it? You’ve gotta read my upcoming book!

They can intentionally poison pets! (An actual case in Arizona where a board president ordered members to set out poison for housecats)

They can keep out the young. Keep out the old. Keep out the singles. Keep out the gays. You name the population you don’t want, and I’ll show you the caselaw where it’s happened.

They can siphon millions of dollars from construction defect litigation and sneak it into the pockets of favored contractors and law firms! (Pay attention to the burgeoning scandal in Las Vegas!)

But in thousands and thousands of cases around America, HOAs file lawsuits. Lawsuits over weeds in the lawn, grass a half inch longer than the two inch maximum, the installation of a Christian cross or a Jewish Mezuzah on a door. These are neighbors suing neighbors. These are tiny little disputes provoked by tiny little minds who get themselves elected by tiny vote margins on tiny minded HOA boards. What’s not tiny is the massive legal fees that are generated. This isn’t just lawsuit abuse, it’s the American tort system on steroids. Billions and billions of dollars are vanishing down the maw of the American lawsuit machine.

Next time you attend the neighborhood Christmas party, take a look around. Then ponder for a moment why there are so few attendees.

Ah! And follow me on Twitter. I hope I tick you off! @ward_lucas

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

Your HOA Can Give You Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

      1 Comment on Your HOA Can Give You Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

I had to laugh when I read the seemingly scientific paper written by Professor Gary Solomon. It was hilarious, so tongue-in-cheek and so incredibly well delivered. Page after page was so creative, inventive and…… WTF? Was he being serious? I tracked him down at his home in Nevada to compliment him on his prize-winning work of creative fiction.

He put me straight in the first fifteen seconds. “That’s not fiction,” he said. “It’s real. It’s a real medical syndrome.”

I was absolutely stunned. Here was a well-educated, well-known Professor of Psychology saying that Homeowners Associations were actually capable of generating physical illness in some of their residents!

Professor Solomon said he had lived in a community with an HOA and he noticed that some of his neighbors were suffering from various symptoms like obsessive rumination, depression, physical health problems, and paranoia. The symptoms were similar to those often associated with PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Battle fatigue caused by life in an HOA? Seriously, Professor, you’ve got to be kidding?

Nope. He’s not. Dr. Solomon has named the anxiety disorder experienced by homeowners as HOA Syndrome.

Dr. Solomon says the cause of HOA Syndrome is the fear of harassment, and powerlessness in the face of threats of fines, fees and lawsuits. Other symptoms of this anxiety disorder include anxiousness, depression, worrying, sleeping disorder, paranoia, fear of going to one’s own mailbox, hyper-vigilance and stress.

I think I have it.

Ward Lucas

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