HOA in Texas question (lien, mold, condominium, building)

[jencam]

Originally Posted by M3 Mitch

Hey, this is Texas! Main street, six-guns, high noon!

Draw, varmint!

You kid, but last year, when the loonies thought they had won, the VP announced he'd be having the locks changed and guarding the office with guns.

[loves2read]

Originally Posted by WorldKlas

If its local property code you might call your town's code compliance office to discuss. You can also alert the other owners and creat a petition to recall the board members. If you meet petition requirements, there must be a mandatory recall election.

If in the regulations for the operation of the HOA itself--not the CCRs--there IS a specification to recall a board member(s), then the HOA members/home owners have that option
In the rules for operating MY HOA there is no such option--by design of the people who created the intial rules/regs for the HOA when it switched from developer's control...
The only way a Board member can be forced to resign before election happens is if he commits a crime--like a felony--it is illegal for a felon to sit on our HOA board...
OR we have to get 75% of the HOA members to sign a petition to bring a matter before the Board to get them to put it to a vote---
But there is no way specifically to recall a Board member like there are in city/state governments to recall officials...

You might say that is ILLEGAL to omit a petition for recall from an HOA's rules--
But legally it is not a violation of any law
It just shows bad/devious design on part of those creating the rules...

[jencam]

Originally Posted by WorldKlas

If its local property code you might call your town's code compliance office to discuss. You can also alert the other owners and creat a petition to recall the board members. If you meet petition requirements, there must be a mandatory recall election.

I'm not sure we can. This board, when they wanted control, got 51% of the proxies for them not just to vote them in, but to vote on everything/anything they wanted to. But they hadn't put their names on the ballot in time, so it was not useful last year.

They even took the former board to court and lost. If there was something they could do with those proxies, they weren't smart enough to figure it out. They took 'us' to court to overturn the decision that they were not our new board!

They had to go out again fro proxies for the next election which tool place this year.

[loves2read]

Originally Posted by TrapperL

You'll need a lawyer and no, it won't scare anybody. Expect a long drawn out affair over this. But YOU can not fix it. It requires an attorney that has a clue about HOAs in Texas. Not all attorneys are qualified to do this. The Laws in Texas protect the HOAs which are worse than the Nazis.

If you sue the HOA board, you basically pay for them to defend themselves from your/homeowners' suit

We had case in our HOA where a homeowner sued the Board because the Architecural REview committee--3 people, 2 on the board and 1 who was former board chairman who was an ass and caused all kinds of legal/personal issues because he has NO CLUE about architectural design or what should be approved...

They approved a home's design that was too large for the lot--looked awful--and required two variances--
The neighbor next door took issue with them granting the variances--they did not HAVE TO DO THAT UNDER THE HOA RULES--THEY COULD HAVE SAID NO and made the lot owner redesign and resubmit the house plan for approval...
They didn't care--they wanted to get that lot built on--it was small lot at immediate entrance to the neighborhood...but because it is so large, lacks the front yard space and side yards to be proportionate to the lot, it dwarfs the house of the neighbor who sued...

The build was suspended because of the arbitration--the Board had insurance (paid with HOA dues) that hired law firm to defend the Board--most of the homeowners in the neighborhood hated the design--didn't want it to be built--but did not join the lawsuit since technically they only had aesthetic reasons to opposed--
The guy next door said it damaged his property values...
The verdict was never openly announced--the house got built--looks like a white sack of flour--
The home lacks any elevation details w/rock or brick embellishments, recessed angles, change in rooflines that add detail and more expensive design elements--
They built the biggest, cheapest house they could and it shows---
They have the most basic landscaping--looks half dead because they bought cheap plants that didn't thrive
And because they are right at the entrance people coming in/out see that house all the time
It is the ugliest house in the neighborhood by far...
Our insurance rates went up because of the lawsuit
Our board (because no one wants to be accountable to anyone with questions or complaints) hired a management company to act as a filter to protect them...

The guy who was most responsible for lot of the hostility and for allowing the former board chairman to be on the ARC and push a bad design is no longer on the Board
But he did more to turn people against having anything to do with the Board than anyone--and would never admit his actions were anything but perfect...
We are considering selling our house and one reason is the HOA's Board and the rules they operate under
We lived in Bedford for almost 30 yrs in same neighborhood with voluntary HOA and never had any issues with the Board's decisions---most people joined the HOA and paid their dues and complied with the rules and we're happy to do so...
This HOA is totally different--all because of the people who thought they were running a fiefdom...not an HOA

[loves2read]

Originally Posted by jencam

I'm not sure we can. This board, when they wanted control, got 51% of the proxies for them not just to vote them in, but to vote on everything/anything they wanted to. But they hadn't put their names on the ballot in time, so it was not useful last year.

They even took the former board to court and lost. If there was something they could do with those proxies, they weren't smart enough to figure it out. They took 'us' to court to overturn the decision that they were not our new board!

They had to go out again fro proxies for the next election which tool place this year.

Our Board revised the HOA rules (which they can do w/o a majority vote of the HOA homeowners) so that the signed ballots to vote for the new board constitute a member being present at the Board meeting for the new election to make a quorum--the only time the Board actually WANTS any HOA member at a Board meeting
They had to do that to have enough of a quorum that they could have a legal election...

If people would not go to the election meeting OR turn in a signed ballot, they would not have a legal election because there would not be a quorum...

[jencam]

If you sue the HOA board, you basically pay for them to defend themselves from your/homeowners' suit

Right. The current board sued the former board when they were still in. We paid for all that. Attorneys on both sides. They were awarded attorney's fees, and I need to find out why.

I don't think my friend is hiding anything corrupt that they did, but why would they pay the loonies' attorney fees if they didn't 'win' something?

[jencam]

Originally Posted by loves2read

Our Board revised the HOA rules (which they can do w/o a majority vote of the HOA homeowners) so that the signed ballots to vote for the new board constitute a member being present at the Board meeting for the new election to make a quorum--the only time the Board actually WANTS any HOA member at a Board meeting
They had to do that to have enough of a quorum that they could have a legal election...

If people would not go to the election meeting OR turn in a signed ballot, they would not have a legal election because there would not be a quorum...

I remember when I first lived here the Revolutionaries wanted some type of situation where there was no quorum, so that there was no board. I don't think it works that way. But, good times.

I never wanted anything to do with any of it. I always walked my dog all around and listen to anyone who wants to babble about it, I do like knowing the scuttle-butt, but I don't want any part of this mess. Or I didn't. Now it feels like a duty to assist in the rescue efforts.

[loves2read]

Originally Posted by jencam

If you sue the HOA board, you basically pay for them to defend themselves from your/homeowners' suit

Right. The current board sued the former board when they were still in. We paid for all that. Attorneys on both sides. They were awarded attorney's fees, and I need to find out why.

I don't think my friend is hiding anything corrupt that they did, but why would they pay the loonies' attorney fees if they didn't 'win' something?

Every HOA carries insurance paid for with the HOA homeowners' fees
That insurance is used to hire attornies if the HOA Board is sued by a homeowner or an outside agency--like the city or the landscaper or someone who is hurt on HOA property maybe---

When the Board is notified that it is being sued, it notifies the insurance company
The Insurance company either HAS attorneys on staff to defend the Board or hires a legal firm to defend the board...
The insurance premiums YOU/the homeowners paid for have paid for the policy that covers the attorneys defending the board--and certain amount of damages...if the damages are higher than the insurance provided for then your HOA has to usually set a special assessment which means homeowners are legally required to cough up a proportional amount to cover any excessive damages...

If the Board loses then the insurance company pays the fines/fees unless there is evidence of malfeasance--
In which case it means the Board used bad judgement, illegal means, or personal reasons for doing what provoked the suit in the first place...then the Board member(s) can become personally liable for their negligence..and the insurance doesn't cover the damages--BUT the HOA is still responsible for getting the damages paid--which means they have to sue the individual Board members and hope to recover costs from their assets

In our HOA case, I imagine the homeowner who sued could not really PROVE he had suffered a financial loss because of the crap house design the ARC/Board approved to be built next to his house...but they might have paid him off to get him to settle...
He is still living there and legally is not allowed to comment on the suit he filed

[jencam]

I really appreciate the responses in this thread. I see that I have to find out what my friend is not telling me about what they must have done wrong for the insurance to pay the attorney fees for the loonies who filed suit. Had to be something, or they wouldn't have agreed to that in mediation.

OR back out of this. She's an important friend to me.

[jencam]

My email from the community manager is funny. 'Thank you. I will forward this to the board'. He's not even trying to pretend anymore that they allow him to do his job. Poor guy.