Category Archives: lawyers

Christians are Considered ‘Icky’ to HOAs?

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Christmas. What a wonderful holiday. I love it as much as I love Hanukkah and the Seder and all the other religious holidays. In fact, I love any religious person’s special days. It’s just what we do in America.

But why, oh why, are Homeowners Associations coming down so hard on holiday lights? I get it that some light displays are over the top. I get it that gorgeous light displays bring more traffic into a neighborhood. But the greater spirit I see during the holidays satisfies an inner part of my soul. Homeowners Associations, as far as I know, are the only entity in America where expressing your religious beliefs is verboten.

(link to another story about HOA Christmas hatred)

 

HOA Racism

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Deborah Goonan, one of the nation’s most articulate homeowners rights advocates, has posted on her website an important story about racial discrimination by a Homeowners Association. It’s blatant. It’s actionable. And it’s a story that should be read by everyone who respects all races, ethnicities and religions.

by Deborah Goonan (IndependentAmericanCommunities.com)

According to DNAInfo (article linked below), after ending a relationship with her fiance (a white man and a Wall Street executive), Hanying Liu says the cooperative board refused to transfer her fiance’s shares to Liu.

Liu is the only non-white resident of Spice Lofthouse, and alleges cooperative members have made disparaging and discriminatory statements related to her race. She says that the board has not provided a valid reason for denying her full ownership. Liu also alleges that Chinese friends and family have been interrogated by cooperative members, and her daughter, who resides with her, has been mistreated.

NY State Division of Human Rights has investigated Liu’s complaints, and recently filed a discrimination lawsuit against the 15-unit, multi-million dollar cooperative association.

TriBeCa Co-Op Board Discriminates Against Chinese Resident, State Says

(link to article on discrimination lawsuit)

Quote from Ms. Liu, in reference to her cooperative association:

“They are trying to push me and my daughter from our home,” she said.

“They only want you here if you are white — they only tolerated me before because my fiance was white and he worked on Wall Street.

“They are worse than the communists in China — they police me and my friends.”

Boom Goes The Egg Money!

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That’s Pennsylvania Dutch, and you can look it up if you’re interested.

But it basically means that a homeowner’s savings are all gone. And that’s exactly what’s happening as FEMA redraws its maps for flood zones. A couple of years ago 20,000 homes were damaged or destroyed in a devastating flood in Boulder, Colorado. I remember it well because a close friend and I spent 12 hours trying to find a way out of the flooded streets, the collapsing pavement and entire homes drifting down the middle of major boulevards. We survived, but we had to endure waves of water crashing over my 2001 Blazer. I can personally testify that Chevy Blazers actually float…at least for a little while.

The federal flood maps didn’t list any of those Boulder neighborhoods as flood zones and many homeowners discovered, to their horror, that as members of HOA corporations they didn’t qualify for federal emergency relief. If you own a home you get federal relief. If you’re in a Homeowners Association you are considered a stock holder, not a homeowner. Who knew?

Now, thousands of people around the country are discovering that their membership in Homeowners Associations won’t save them from future weather disasters as FEMA re-draws all the flood maps. What does that do to HOA property values? You get just one guess!

(link to the redrawing of flood maps by FEMA)

 

 

A Victory For Colorado Homeowners!

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It seems like each state has a hero in the anti-HOA movement. Colorado has Stan Hrincevich. He has worked long and hard to get some kind of state control over the HOA scam. Here’s his latest update on HOA legislation in our state:

The HOA Property Manager (aka Community Association Manager (CAM)) licensing law was fully implemented July 15, 2015. This law provides homeowners a chance to help clean-up abusive industry practices and provide a forum for home owners to rein in violations of State law and HOA governing documents. HB 13-1277 is the licensing law.

The complaint process involves an on-line/web application and is fully explained in our Complaint Guide and should not take more than 15-20 minutes. Since the State HOA Office has no investigative or enforcement authority we suggest you direct all your HOA problems that you want investigated to the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) under the licensing law. The State HOA Office can also be apprised.

Several CAM violations stand out and we ask you and your fellow homeowners to pursue via a complaint:

1) CAM is not licensed (simple lookup on your part)

2) violations in conducting elections, meetings, extremely poor property maintenance, records release (items a,b,and/or c below) and

3) charging HOA Transfer Fees (items “a” and “c” below). All are applicable to CAM complaints. Each one requires a separate complaint.

The explanation of your CAM complaint involves:

1) a description of your problem including how you understand it violates your rights. Include one or more of the below statements extracted from the licensing law to support your complaint.

2) Evidence such as you paid a Transfer Fee documented on your home closing papers, your request for documents has been refused, etc.

Supporting all complaints should be your documentation including an email informing BOTH the HOA Board and CAM of your problem, allow 7-10 days for resolution and if not resolved file a complaint. If you need guidance let us know. Complaints are confidential with DORA.

Let’s all participate to surface problems and hold violators accountable.

Extracts from CAM Licensing Law:

a. KNOWINGLY VIOLATING OR KNOWINGLY DIRECTING OTHERS TO VIOLATE CCIOA (or your HOA governing documents)

b. HAVING DEMONSTRATED UNWORTHINESS OR INCOMPETENCY TO ACT AS A COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION MANAGER BY CONDUCTING BUSINESS IN SUCH A MANNER AS TO ENDANGER THE INTEREST OF THE PUBLIC

c. ANY OTHER CONDUCT, WHETHER OF THE SAME OR A DIFFERENT CHARACTER THAN SPECIFIED IN THIS SUBSECTION (1), THAT CONSTITUTES DISHONEST DEALING.

Stan Hrincevich
Colorado HOA Forum LLC
www.coloradohoaforum.com
email: coloradohoaforum@gmail.com or coloradohoaforum@coloradohoaforum.com

 

 

Thank You For Stupid People!

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On this Thanksgiving, I am thankful for stupid people. Without them I wouldn’t have much material to share with you on this website.

Some HOA Nazis in Altamonte Springs, Florida called the cops and told them there was an illegal mahjong game being played in the Escondido Community Condo Association clubhouse. Well, the vice cops hit the doors, busted up the illegal game and arrested the criminals, all ladies between the ages of 87 and 95.

Ya gotta love those HOA Nazis.

(link to CBS Tampa story about these old lady criminals)