It’s not often that the lowly homeowner has much of a chance of getting a fair hearing in court. The vast majority of all rulings are against the homeowner and in favor of the private non-profit corporation. And many’s the judge who’s told a miserable homeowner that he or she should have read his covenants before signing the real estate documents.
Last week’s ruling, though, by the Supreme Court of Virginia was a clarion call to the National Homeowners Association Movement that it can’t stomp on the homeowner’s Constitutional rights forever. Basically the court ruled that the Shadowood Condominium complex in Reston, Virginia cannot assess fines against residents because there was no such permission granted in the development’s master deed. Bam! Pow!
Since I’ve covered chicken wars in the past, I figured I’d link the latest pertinent news story. One of my neighbors has a chicken coop. Never in a million years would I complain. But I have to confess to having accepted some eggs in the past.
More and more Homeowners Associations around the country are actually demanding and getting police powers. Most homeowners are standing idly by and letting it happen.
In Illinois, in Colorado, in Florida and elsewhere HOA boards are purchasing traffic radar equipment and handing out speeding tickets. Fines against speeding homeowners can run anywhere from 50 to 3500 dollars! All by itself, that’s an outrage. But like gasoline thrown on a campfire, HOAs are actually fining homeowners when their guests are caught speeding!
As crazy as it seems, a case bubbling through the court system in Illinois has actually made it to that state’s supreme court.
It’s not often that I post blogs from lawyers or law firms in the HOA industry. But when one of them truly ‘gets it’, they deserve praise. Jean Winters, an attorney who frequently blogs and answers questions in Florida’s Sun Central, occasionally shows a spark of brilliance. I’d be dishonest if I didn’t pass such material along.
BTW, most of you know, but my new book, “Neighbors At War,” has been out for two weeks and sales have already started! I duplicate this blog over on my website, NeighborsAtWar.com Just click on the HOA HELL button to reach all these same blog posts. You can purchase my book from the webpage, or buy it on Amazon. Just run “Ward Lucas” in the book section and it should pop up.
