Category Archives: privacy

The Hydra Begins to Emerge

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In Greek mythology, the Hydra was a terrifying sea monster that had many heads and used them to devour innocent seafarers. Our hero, Heracles, forced the Hydra into the open and began chopping off its heads. But each time a head was severed two new ones grew back. It seemed like a hopeless task but Heracles was undaunted. He finally figured out that if he used a torch to cauterize each severed limb they failed to regrow.

The news this week that the nation’s two largest HOA management monsters were getting cozier with each other was beyond astonishing. Top officials for Associa are being given all sorts of awards by the CAI and vice versa. Could a merger between the two organizations be in the future? Former Texas state senator John Carona and his ethically-challenged Associa would be perfect in a merger with the similarly ethics-challenged Community Associations Institute. Such a new organization would control tens of billions of dollars worth of income-producing properties. It’s a monster. Each person in this country who thinks he owns his own home should start facing the facts. You are John Carona’s income-producer. Carona, as one of the most influential power-brokers in Texas government, built his vast wealth by sponsoring and passing state laws that directly increased his personal bank balance. Now he’s buying infrastructure around his thousands of HOAs so that homeowners have no other option but to bank in his banks and buy insurance from his insurance companies.

Associa and the CAI? Together?  And this massive (anti-trust?) organization which perpetuates the lie that it represents homeowners, when it actually only represents its own income stream from dues-paying lawyers and management companies, is becoming a regrowth of the legendary Hydra.

The symbol of The Torch is often used to represent light, the shedding of light on a dark subject. Maybe, just maybe, we can take a lesson from Heracles, the slayer of monsters. We just need to find a way to cauterize these various heads to keep them from growing back.

(link to ethics problems in Carona-ville)

(link to CAI awards for Associa)

 

 

My Evan McKenzie Confession

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As a lifetime broadcast journalist, I sometimes did some odd things as I negotiated my way through the low ranks of radio journalism into the top ranks of TV journalism. One odd thing that became a habit was ‘snooping’ on the reading habits of my supervisors. Really! Whenever I was called into the office of a supervisor I would carefully note which books I saw on his or her desk. When a book is recommended by upper management you can usually see copies on the desks of each of your managers. I used to carry a tiny notepad into the boss’s office and write down the names of books and authors that various managers were reading. It seemed a clever and calculated thing to do, just to track what management was thinking at any given time. It’s how I came across, “Winning through Intimidation” by Robert Ringer and “How To Stop Worrying and Start Living” by Carnegie. I ALWAYS bought and read copies of the books I saw on the boss’s desk.

About fifteen or twenty years ago while I was working on a story, the subject of which I don’t remember now, on the floor of my photographer’s van was a book with an intriguing cover. At first glance it looked like a contorted x-ray of a human spine. At second glance it was an aerial photo of a California Homeowners Association. The book was called, “Privatopia,” by Evan McKenzie.

Of course, I ordered a copy of the book. It completely blew me away. It perfectly described the kind of torment I was going through in my own Homeowners Association at the time. I read it twice, three times, possibly more.

I have never spoken to McKenzie on the phone or in an email. But I’ve ordered copies of his book and have sent them to various members of the Colorado Legislature. When I learned from an intern that state legislator Morgan Carroll hadn’t read the first copy of Privatopia I sent her, I had Amazon send her another Privatopia, then another. In fact, McKenzie should probably have paid me a commission for the number of books I sent to various Colorado Legislators.

McKenzie is one of the pioneers of The Awakening, the realization by homeowners across America that the national HOA Movement is one of the biggest financial scams in modern history. He’s too classy to describe it as such. But those of us in ‘the movement’ know about it all too well.

Thank you, Dr. McKenzie, for waking me up!

 

George’s Take on the Amateur Radio Parity Act

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We have some really great minds in our movement. But when you ask the experts who’s in the top three… George Staropoli’s name inevitably comes up. That’s why I’m asking all of you to check out the link below, in which George discusses the Community Association Institute’s fight against the right of ham radio operators to operate in Homeowners Associations. When trying to explain to your attorney or your legislator how insidious and deceptive the CAI really is, include a printout of George’s analysis. It’s short, but it’s amazing insight.

(CAI flexes its muscle in Congress arguing Constitutional law and judicial review)

 

Good Luck New York!

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When Attorneys General fail to protect their Citizens

guest blog by Shelly Marshall (author of HOA Warrior I and II)

On January 4, 2016 Andy Beshear took an oath for the office of Attorney General (AG) in Kentucky. He told Kentuckians in a column on Cincinnati.com :

The Attorney General’s Office seeks justice and defends the oppressed. We provide a voice for the voiceless and a lifeline for the lost and the lonely, the abandoned and the forgotten.

We protect those who cannot protect themselves and are the last line of defense to those who need it most.

Oh, if only that were true for the homeowner and condo owners in planned development communities across our great country. A handful of states are more proactive and homeowner friendly with a few outstanding examples like California, Maryland, and Indiana. Yet a majority of states simply drop the ball on protecting citizens being chronically abused in these communities. Like Kentucky, each state has laws and an AG that are supposed to protect all citizens but generally fail the residents of Homeowner Associations. And some like New York have the most laughable ‘help’ for HOA members with very little justice from their Departments of Justice.

The People’s Attorney

Our nation’s Attorneys General are often referred to as the “People’s Attorney” because as chief legal officer in their respective states, they are supposed to be the the main legal adviser to the government and protector of its citizens. Usually, they swear to enforce federal and state laws. As such, the Attorney General’s Office should be the last line of defense for the people of any state. At least theoretically. Andy Beshear has the correct understanding about his office, but when it comes to protecting people from HOA predators will Attorney Beshear advocate for homeowner rights? Or will he do what so many other Attorneys General around the nation do, wash his hands of any involvement, regardless of what laws are broken, because “It’s a civil matter?”

As a homeowner advocate and HOA abuse author, I hear it all the time, “I tried to file a complaint with the attorney general and they told me they don’t do civil matters.” People, like myself, think that corporate law, contract law, consumer protection law, fair debt collection law and HOA law is there to protect them. And they mistakenly think the state is there to ensure that protection. Thus it comes as a shock to discover that most states in the union do not enforce or interfere in HOA conflicts, calling them “civil” and “internal” disputes even though many laws are routinely violated.

The Utah Code

Coincidentally, while researching the topic of why the justice departments of most states won’t take HOA violations seriously, my own HOA had a board president go rogue. In violation of numerous Utah State Codes, he hired an attorney to try to cancel our annual meeting then unilaterally invalidated the election results when he couldn’t shut it down, refused to turn over the checkbook and records to a newly elected board, and ran the HOA for months without holding any meetings. He spent money he wasn’t authorized to spend (including $5000 to his attorney to keep him in power), sent out a newsletter, and kicked people off his property who confronted him. The behavior was outrageous.

He can’t do that!

The new board and many members called various authorities for help and they all exclaimed, “He can’t do that!” Yet he did. So I called the The Department of Commerce and Consumer Protection to insist that they enforce the Corporate Code and/or HOA Code, both of which were being violated. I reached a representative who spoke candidly, “I’m telling you right now, there is nothing we can do. These legislators pass laws and give us no way to enforce them. We cannot help you.” But it’s the law, I say. “Hire an attorney,” he replied.

“So legislators create laws and expect us to enforce their laws?” I cried.

“Yes,” he replied. “I’m sorry.”

Even though Utah Code specifically charges the AG with seeing that Corporate Law is followed by non-profits (16-6a-1609.Interrogatories by division), lowly HOAs apparently don’t deserve equal protection. Citizens targeted and abused by their boards and the board’s attorneys are told the AG doesn’t get involved with HOAs.

Citizens in most states are told the same. Attorneys General have bigger fish to fry than be worried about the numerous fines for open garage doors, wrong color paint, dogs two pounds overweight, and unpaid assessments that balloon under predatory collection practices. This leads to folks paying thousands of dollars for petty violations by inept and vindictive boards and all too often it leads to the loss of one’s home. “But they live there voluntarily,” we are admonished. And thus the “People’s Lawyers” turn their backs on citizens living in HOAs.

The Three Best States

Keeping in mind that I haven’t researched every law in every state, some states are better than others–the three best states I’ve found to live in for HOA law enforcement is California, Maryland, and Indiana.

In Maryland, they have extended their HOA law so that it falls under the enforcement authority of the Division of Consumer Protection! In Indiana it is specifically referenced in the statue that the AG has jurisdiction to investigate misdeeds by homeowner and condo boards. Although many state’s HOA laws look good on paper, they are essentially unenforceable so Maryland and Indiana have a good start. California Department of Justice posts a list of issues that fall under the jurisdiction of the Attorney General and corporate law. They even provide a comprehensive complaint form online for HOA residents.

No matter what state in which you reside, your Department of Justice website is worth reviewing to get an idea of what your Attorney General thinks about HOA law. Almost all corporate code provides for its own enforcement and almost all states disregard it when it involves Planned Development Communities.

Good Luck New York

Most states are like Utah, basically in a no man’s land with homeowner rights pretty much trampled on by ineffective enforcement and little to no consumer protection or DOJ help. And then there is New York, such a huge contrast from California. In New York, the Attorney General’s office posts an online report entitled “How to Handle Problems with your Homeowners Association.” It basically tells New Yorkers:

a) They can’t help you,

b) Read your documents,

c) Be polite to the board of directors,

d) Hire an attorney if needed,

e) And “Good Luck!”

No kidding, they write ‘Good Luck’ at the bottom of the report! I would laugh if it didn’t make me want to cry.

 

 

Warning to Prospective HOA Home Buyers!

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Some pretty crazy ‘stuff’ happens in Texas Homeowners Associations. One family in Frisco is now learning how dangerous it is to live near an HOA common area. Brian and Natalie Woodward thought buying a home next to a pond would be fun. Now that the water drainage is threatening to destroy their property, the HOA and the developer are pointing fingers at each other but nobody is planning any changes. Meanwhile, the Woodward’s property is ‘slip slippin’ away.’

(link to Dallas News story on fight over disappearing backyard)