Category Archives: military

Civil Forfeiture

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I’m quite sure HOA warriors like George Staropoli and Evan McKenzie have written about this subject. But it’s really kind of spooky to chart the parallels between Civil Forfeiture laws and seizure of private property by Homeowners Associations.

Civil forfeiture laws are a horrendous holdover from the American Civil War and prohibition. They allow police the power to seize vehicles or property of people suspected of carrying on some kind of illegal activity. in the 70s and 80s police began seizing private homes that were suspected of being crack houses. At no time were the police required to prove guilt. Many times a homeowner who unknowingly leased his house to bad people ended up with no rights, no house, and no way to get it back.

In the 1980s Congress allowed police agencies all over the country to keep what they seized, even if there was absolutely no proof that a crime had been committed. Try to board a plane with too much cash in your wallet or purse the money? It can be legally seized. When do you get it back? In most cases, never. All the cops have to do is claim they suspected the money was involved in some kind of crime. No proof of guilt was needed. What rights do you have? You have the right to hire a lawyer and file a lawsuit to get it back. Anything else? No. No due process, no way to prove your innocence. The money simply disappears into what’s little more than a police slush fund.

It’s stunningly evil. In a country where the Constitution created rights to protect citizens against the government, justice has been turned on its ear.

Across the country, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, even millions of homeowners have been victimized in much the same way. Wrong kind of window shades or a kid’s toy left out overnight? A big fine, then a lien, then forfeiture of your house. Your rights? You get to hire a lawyer and sue to try your stuff back. The boards of Homeowners Associations have absolutely the same power of civil forfeiture as the cops. And the money they seize also goes into HOA slush funds, or into the pockets of embezzlers.

What have we done to ourselves, folks?

(link to booklet on civil forfeiture)

http://thf_media.s3.amazonaws.com/2015/pdf/Forfieture-Booklet-FINAL-Full.pdf

From Robert Racansky

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from Ward Lucas:

This poor guy has been battling what appears to be a brain-dead HOA bent on no other goal than destroying a homeowner who stood up to them and won. Here’s his latest letter to me:

 

from Robert Racansky:

What is revealing is the account ledger and how much
they spent on Hindman Sanchez (law firm). Buckingham (atty) told me in person that he was being paid by the insurance company.

Per the account ledger I received yesterday, the total amount of
attorney fees paid to Hindman Sanchez P.C. was $19,184.35.

Obviously I’m biased here, but crap like this a perfect example of the
underlying fundamental problems with H.O.A. corporations — the lies,
the unaccountability, the imbalance of power, the perverse incentives
and moral hazards, etc. The problem is that it’s not as “sexy” as a
story about American flags being banned or an H.O.A. board being dicks
to a dying 6 year old girl, so it’s hard to make our policy makers and
pundits understand what needs to be done. Instead, we get a law
saying “H.O.A.s must have a written collection policy”. However, for
those of us who go through this — as I have been for six years — it
is an INCREDIBLY frustrating experience for so many reasons. 6 years
is more than 10% of my life, and more than 20% of my adult life.

Something else occurred to me last night:

People can — and do — lose their homes over trivial amounts,
sometimes a few pennies, sometimes a few dollars, etc. Sometimes
those amounts are nothing more than arbitrary and artificial
accounting artifacts. But our legislators and courts treat those
amounts as “damage” done to the H.O.A. corporation, which must be
permitted to exercise incredibly draconian powers because….well, I’m
not sure why.

But if an H.O.A. corporation f***s up in the amount of, say, nearly
$7,000, nobody will ever be held accountable. The home owner is
expected to just grin and bear it, because our legislators and courts
don’t treat that as a “damage” that the home owner is entitled to
collect.

“Equality before the law” is a sick lie we’re told as children to make
us accept any injustice in our lives.

 

The Loss of Childhood Innocence

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Today, while driving to the Post Office in my old Denver neighborhood, I passed a little girl’s lemonade stand. She couldn’t have been more than eight years old but she was shouting at motorists like a professional carnival barker. Had I not been in traffic I would have pulled over and bought a cup. In fact, I may even go back tomorrow to see if she’s still there.

It brought back childhood memories of life at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas, where our home was located immediately across the street from a ball field where Army soldiers played softball every weekend. Mom taught us how to make and sell something she called ‘duros.’ It might have been a totally made-up name. I never knew. But a duro was Kool-Aid in a Dixie cup, a Popsicle stick in the center, frozen hard in our big basement freezer. In the hot Texas sun the softball teams lined up to buy duros from my little brother and me.

The coincidence of seeing today’s news story linked below was remarkable. An Overton, Texas cop has put a little girl’s lemonade stand out of business because she didn’t have a permit.

I’m glad I grew up in a more innocent age when political correctness wasn’t used to beat up little kids.

(link to East Texas Popsicle scandal)

 

Disabled and living in an HOA?

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guest blog by Dave Russell

Each day I’m alerted to scores of cases where folks living in HOAs are denied reasonable accommodations for their disabilities. Some of these HOA denials are blatant violations of the Fair Housing Act, while some are not. I’m going to compare two recent cases that have grabbed the attention of the media. While both sound like truly legitimate cases, one homeowner did it right, and the other homeowner technically did it wrong.

Build it and they will come. The HOA that is!

After Michael Broadnax suffered a stroke late last summer, his wife became the head of the household. Charlotte Broadnax retrofitted her house with a small ramp so her husband could come home for rehabilitation. Now, the homeowners association for the Woodlands of Copperstone is threatening to sue the homeowners over the ramp.

Sounds like a clear-cut-case of a fair housing violation? The answer here is NO. Fair Housing allows for a reasonable accommodation, but you must ask your housing provider first. Yes, under the Fair Housing Laws, HOAs are considered ‘housing providers.’

“A resident is not entitled to receive a reasonable accommodation unless he/she asks for one.” (Nolan v. Starlight Homeowner Association)

In this case the homeowner just put up the wheelchair ramp and didn’t inform the HOA first. Of course the HOA will claim they had no idea Mr. Broadnax had become disabled. For all the HOA knows, the ramp could have been placed there just for the hell of it. Well, that’s what they’ll probably claim.

(link to KPHO story on wheelchair controversy)

Doing it right

Shawn Seekings has a disabled son, and he needs a fence to accommodate his boys disability. Unlike Charlotte Broadnax, Mr. Seekings made a reasonable request to the HOA to accommodate his son’s disability. Shawn Seekings did everything right, he asked the HOA for a reasonable accommodation and even backed it up with a written request from a neurologist. Mr. Seekings was smart-enough not to put up the fence first and then ask his HOA for the reasonable accommodation.

The HOA in Mr. Seekings case will probably face a Fair Housing violation for denying the fence. Not only is this my professional opinion, it’s also the opinion of Florida attorney S. David Cooper. I can almost guarantee the Esprit HOA and their management company, Melrose Property Management, are going to get slapped with massive fines and settlement costs by HUD.

(link to story on fence battle over autistic child)

Knowledge is power! Especially when battling it out with your HOA over Fair Housing Laws. Make sure you fully understand your rights under the Fair Housing Act.

(your rights under federal housing law)

 

A Dark Cloud Over St. Cloud, Florida

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

First a little back story about the connections we are making in our fight for justice in HOAs. This time our focus is on a boy in the ESPRIT HOA near Orlando, Florida.

A few weeks ago I was reading a story that was posted on Facebook about an HOA issue. Many comments were made but one stood out for me. It was a man stating his son had special needs and the HOA was refusing to allow a fence around their back yard. I responded to his comment by mentioning he should talk to Dave Russell. Shortly thereafter, Dave Russell came across my comment and took the time to send his personal phone number to the gentleman.

Once Dave talked with Shawn Seekings and learned his son has Asperger’s Syndrome, ADHA, and Epilepsy and his wife, Kristin is pregnant, he took action. As we all know, Dave Russell is a property manager in Arizona and understands the laws pertaining to fair housing and he has connections to the media. Shawn knows the fair housing laws as well. He had already contacted the government agency that he hoped would give him some assistance. But time is of the essence because Kristin is not able to chase the child since he moves much faster than her these days.

The HOA will only allow an open-spaced wrought iron fence. Shawn knows his son will scale that fence and be at risk with the alligators in the water directly behind their house. He has a letter from his son’s doctor outlining his conditions and the need for a vinyl fence. The vinyl would be a surface his son could not climb up and over. On the other side of the HOA the homeowners have vinyl fences, but next to the alligator pit they only allow wrought iron.

I know. I know. It makes no sense to me either! After seeing a video of an alligator that took one bite and removed the plastic bumper from a truck I would want an eighteen inch thick concrete wall around my yard!

In an HOA the rules are the rules and the dictators on the board always follow them except when it applies to them or one of their cronies. They fail to recognize HOAs cannot legally override or violate a federal law. According to attorney S. David Cooper this HOA is violating the Fair Housing Act. The attorney for the HOA will not return phone calls. And, now another child that just needs to go outside and play remains in the middle of an HOA battle!

A special thank you to Louis Bolden of WKMG6 for reporting this story. Long ago we learned the only way to solve HOA issues without nasty expensive litigation is to turn the cameras on and have the reporters take control. I laughed when the property manager decided she should give the reporter some advice to which he responded he didn’t need any advice!

HOAs…they are a guaranteed headache!

(link to Orlando Sentinel article on autistic child’s treatment by HOA)