guest blog by Nila Ridings
When, oh when, will these low IQ HOA boards ever learn? Federal law DOES NOT PERMIT a Homeowners Association to discriminate against handicapped residents!
But the High Meadows (low IQ) Homeowners Association in St. Charles County, Missouri decided that the family of two handicapped girls will not be allowed to purchase a wheelchair-accessible van large enough to carry two wheelchairs.
How many times have we heard of this kind of idiocy by HOA boards and management companies? It’s a slam dunk for a federal discrimation lawsuit.
The sad thing is, when the damages from such a lawsuit are assessed, the ones who’ll have to reach deep into their pockets to pay for legal fees and judgments are High Meadows homeowners who probably never even knew their board was making such stupid rulings.
If anyone knows the names, phone numbers, addresses (email or otherwise) of these board members please share them with me. Since these board members became public figures when they decided to run for office, I’m sure they wouldn’t mind hearing from disabled people across the country.
(click here for KSDK-TV story)
A condo association in Snowmass Village, just outside of Aspen, Colorado, is filing a lawsuit against the town. Owners in the Sonnenblick Condominiums complain that the town council illegally approved the placement of two cell phone antennas on top of the Westin Hotel.
Sprint says it needs the antennas to improve cell phone reception in the Aspen area. These things are not exactly cell phone towers. One of the two antennas will extend beyond the roof line by about three feet. But the condo association says those three extra feet will ruin their view of the mountains.
These kinds of lawsuits sometimes backfire against the plaintiffs who get hit with huge special assessments to pay off all the lawyers.
But these homeowners can afford a frivolous lawsuit here and there. Just to live in a ski town like Snowmass you’ve got to have a mass of money. And all the lawyers involved in this case will take a good-sized chunk of that cash.
All over three feet.
(click here for Aspen Daily News story)
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)
