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Yes but in most states legal fees incurred by association can be charged to homeowner.
For instance someone in my complex is doing illegal home modifications, we send a letter asking for management company to inspect, she refuses to grant access, we contact building dept to inspect but without a warrant or homeowners permission they cant enter.
We go to court, incur legal fees to get a stop work order and obtain access to unit. She/he then refuses to pay legal fees. I will file a lien on unit for legal fees, if not paid and more issues happen, I move to get a judgement, go to enforce judgment and if all else fails attempt to enforce lien by foreclosing on unit.
The fees is a minor thing to scare folks.But once it goes down the rabbit hole and owner is truly doing something bad. In this case they are cutting up a unit into cubicles and renting it out as a flop house the association is forced to move forward to protect complex.
HOAs are not always about color of shutters, you get folks running meth labs, dealing drugs renting to pedophiles you name it
I'm familiar with fees being charged to the losing side.
What I'm wondering is when you (and your lawyer?) go to court and the HOA and the lawyer (who should know it will get thrown out) over something that is not legal to be sued over as you mentioned before....and the case gets thrown out by the judge, then I guess it's considered that you win. At any rate, how often does this happen because the HOA residents have to pay all these legal fees out of the dues for cases that are repeatedly (hopefully) thrown out.
Location: Stuck on the East Coast, hoping to head West
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cully
I'm familiar with fees being charged to the losing side.
What I'm wondering is when you (and your lawyer?) go to court and the HOA and the lawyer (who should know it will get thrown out) over something that is not legal to be sued over as you mentioned before....and the case gets thrown out by the judge, then I guess it's considered that you win. At any rate, how often does this happen because the HOA residents have to pay all these legal fees out of the dues for cases that are repeatedly (hopefully) thrown out.
The HOA lawyer doesn't get paid at all by the HOA. He goes directly after the homeowner. From what I've seen, the HOA and property manager refer someone to the attorney. Then their account is locked (note: they still have to send him the assessment check or else they become behind in assessments which is even bigger headache). Then they can only deal with the attorney. He offers to settle. The bill might start at $25 fine + $700 attorney fee (yes, I did see this). If you balk, the lawyer will offer to settle with you for $400 (again, this is one example I saw). IF you don't pay that he sues you for the full $725 in court. The HOA never pays these fees. The lawyer must collect directly from homeowner.
There is one lawyer in my area who is working most of these cases for several different HOAs/property management companies. I know because I looked him up in the public court cases.
The HOA, the Board, they don't care what the attorney does because they aren't dealing with him nor are they paying for him.
My next door neighbor is president of the HOA and is driving me nuts. She is conducting "walk-throughs" of the neighborhood and she then writes a list of everything she wants us to do. She and her cronies on the board are out of control They aren't following the bylaws and several of my neighbors have ended up in court (and winning, I might add) and they sell and leave. I cannot get support from the remaining neighbors to take on this HOA board. I think everyone is scared or just doesn't care.
I just got a letter from her stating that I needed to paint my shutters because she feels they are "faded". They are maintenance free, vinyl shutters (board approved) that can't be painted to begin with. I mean, how do I even fight that one?
The most irritating part is that she sits on her deck and then watches people do these stupid things on her lists. Of course, her house (and the other board members's houses) are in clear violation of our bylaws, but we can't do anything about it.
My understanding is that if I don't do the "required maintenance" then I can be fined and sued.
Short of moving (which I plan to do), does anyone have any suggestions? Is there anywhere to go for help?
I wonder if we live in America anymore. What she's doing should make all of us realize just how easily people will become tyrants if they are given the chance. Her attitude is reflective of something in human nature that isn't good. And our Constitution was supposed to be a safeguard against this. This stuff should be illegal and probably is, if some lawyer could be troubled to look through the billions of pages of case law and sort out all the contradictions and conflicting regulations.
Location: Los Angeles>Little Rock>Houston>Little Rock
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I am thankful that I no longer live under an HOA. A year after we moved into our house in Houston we got a letter saying that our birdbath and front porch bench were not authorized. Both of them were there when we bought the house and had been there for years. I gave the birdbath to a neighbor when we moved. I wonder if she has heard from the HOA.
HOAs are the devil's spawn. Had to live under one for a while until we could move out of there (easy to say if you don't like them, don't buy the house, but a whole lot harder to do when every stinking neighborhood in a city has them). I actually got on the board for a while to try to be a buffer between the busy bodies and the neighborhood. Yes, that's what they are -- busybodies. People who want to run everyone's life and who's only joy comes from making others miserable.
When we first moved in, things were reasonable. Then as more people moved in, there were more and more of the busybodies. We actually had a new guy move in, came immediately to the board the day he moved in and offered to drive the neighborhood every day looking for violations. The HOA would approve things and then afterward try to un=approve the very same thing. Tried to get us on having a finished basement (what did someone do -- sneak onto the yard and peer in the basement windows?). HA! Fooled them; the all the proper permits were in place and everything had been properly inspected and approved. A different neighbor painted his house -- submitted all the paperwork to the HOA beforehand, got the color approved, everything. After he was done, the board president decided she didn't like the color Cost the HOA $3000 to settle with the homeowner.
So glad I live in the country now. No HOA. And guess what? No cars on blocks in the front yard. No fences. And neighbors who are actually, neighborly.
The HOA lawyer doesn't get paid at all by the HOA. He goes directly after the homeowner. From what I've seen, the HOA and property manager refer someone to the attorney. Then their account is locked (note: they still have to send him the assessment check or else they become behind in assessments which is even bigger headache). Then they can only deal with the attorney. He offers to settle. The bill might start at $25 fine + $700 attorney fee (yes, I did see this). If you balk, the lawyer will offer to settle with you for $400 (again, this is one example I saw). IF you don't pay that he sues you for the full $725 in court. The HOA never pays these fees. The lawyer must collect directly from homeowner.
There is one lawyer in my area who is working most of these cases for several different HOAs/property management companies. I know because I looked him up in the public court cases.
The HOA, the Board, they don't care what the attorney does because they aren't dealing with him nor are they paying for him.
When a homeowner is forced to defend themselves in court against a ridiculous charge that is ultimately decided in favor of the homeowner, the homeowner's attorney should be counterclaiming for legal fees and possibly punitive damages if they are permitted. Losing a few of these counterclaims and incurring the expenses should temper their enthusiasm for malicious prosecution.
The real problem is the kind of government people think HOA's should have. If nobody but busybodies wants to participate, it isn't going to work. But people are blind to that reality, and won't do what's needed. One thing that's needed is state and federal legislation to severely restrict the power of HOA's. Another is that HOA's should be based on the assumption that people aren't going to want to participate, but need fairness in spite of not participating. Therefore HOA's should be founded on the idea of being required to do what's fair, and not just what busybodies want to do.
One possible solution would be to test and license management companies, and to have HOA members vote directly for the management company, with no board of directors. With lots of legislation requiring management companies to fully disclose everything at all times to all members of the HOA, and to never keep any secrets from them, nor favor any particular members over others. Then the only voting could be for whether to keep the management company or replace them. That vote could happen once every 3 months or some such period, and could be made convenient for the membership, such as by letting them vote via phone or internet. And maybe requiring multiple votes to replace the management company. I.e., vote to replace them once, then 3 months later vote again to replace them, and the replacement would happen if both votes succeeded.
this is why I would never buy into an HOA. they can make your life a living hell!!
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