Lawyers who deal with HOA, with enforcement issues (houses, live)

[pinkertone]

Hello, can you please advise any lawyers how can help resolve an HOA issue.

[ATL Golfer]

I have had many issues over the years with HOA's. I have recently used Randy Lipshutz but after $2500 all I got was a few phone calls with the HOA attorney, few phone calls with me and a letter to the HOA. That case is going to court and I'll probably engage another attorney but Randy I would say is good for front end work. See if you can negotiate a fee for a letter only / cap.

What exactly is the issue may I ask? I've seen them all, fought many HOA's and currently sit on the board of one.

[markjames68]

I agree, knowing the specific issue might help.

[pinkertone]

Since we are getting lawyr.. gotta be careful on what I post.. this is the gist of it, the citations were in response to requesting a permit request to update my house, its their way of scaring and forcing me to drop the improvements.
But they are dragging their feet and interfering with any repairs I have as well, for e.g. in the past we needed tree removed since it was backing up the sewage/plumbing, but they dragged their feet for almost two months over the allotted time, which cost me thousands to fix/re-fix, arrghh!!

Back to your specific question:

First, they started citing for neatly stacked mulch bags in two rows (6 bags approx. 18” off the ground!!) in my driveway. Which in reality were used/consumed long time ago, and I get new gardening soil bags. Regardless of what bags, I don't see what the issue is here -- like all home owners, I work on my yard almost on a weekly basis, and made huge improvement to my lawn (not changes, just a nice lush green and thick lawn as opposed a bare dead bone dry lawn) and as part of this I regularly brought bags or mulch, soil, etc. and applied them. They let other have thick weeds and huge uncut grass, but cited me!

Second, on the SIDE of my house I added a regular 6" drain pipe to control erosion and carry the water to the back of the house. Again, many houses in the community have the same pipe, it’s the standard pipe from Home Depot. They cited me and asked me to remove it. I explained that it was side, and also shared pictures of other houses that had similar pipes on the side, I was told it was resolved by the HOA. Now, 8 months later they are back at it. The other complication here is that I can’t bury it, since the gas company told me not to dig there and run it above ground. I feel like they are forcing me into performing dangerous acts.

Third, the rules are contorted and inconsistent, they're applying front elevation property rules as citations to the side of the property. We had a tree cut on the side, as low as possible. The stump is at least 8'ft the stump below the front porch elevation and 12'ft below the street elevation. The stump grinder stopped because an electric line runs alongside, but he took it to the ground within safety limits. After inquiring with the county and was told that is incorrect, and that was the side of the house. Couple more stupid and vengeful stuff like this….

[markjames68]

If the mulch bags were there for a long time I’d be irritated as well. In fact, one of the homeowners in my community did exactly that. Finally they laid down the mulch. In my community if you don’t maintain the lawn and beds to a reasonable standard you will get cited.

As to the drain pipe, I get its purpose, but laying it above ground? Couldn’t the gas company tell you exactly where not to dig and then perhaps you work around it?

HOA rules can be arbitrary depending on the board and how well the rules are written. I lived in a community once that cited me for parking in my driveway and having my garage door open. I was told that the rules said “cars must be parked in the garage, and garage door must be closed at all times”, to which I replied that it would be impossible to leave as that requires opening your garage door.

As to getting a permit to update your house, if it changes the exterior appearance that requires ARC approval. In my community I wanted to change the color slightly for my shutters and doors, so I submitted it. Was approved in 24 hours. Yes, it’s also arbitrary but it’s a process.

[pinkertone]

long term? I'm out there working everyday, that's ridiculous, I consume the bags at the most within two weeks and new to new section of my yard! I see others who have stuff sitting for longer out there. The idiocy is that they are not the same bags, even the dates are newer, the mulch was gone its mostly flowering soil!

The drain pipe is for erosion control mainly, we explored several options, hopefully with some permits we submitted we may have a solution.

[markjames68]

Originally Posted by pinkertone

long term? I'm out there working everyday, that's ridiculous, I consume the bags at the most within two weeks and new to new section of my yard! I see others who have stuff sitting for longer out there. The idiocy is that they are not the same bags, even the dates are newer, the mulch was gone its mostly flowering soil!

The drain pipe is for erosion control mainly, we explored several options, hopefully with some permits we submitted we may have a solution.

If it’s only a few days for a few bags that shouldn’t be an issue. If I were to get cited I’d finish laying the mulch, take a photo and send it to the management company along with a “what mulch?” note.

[arjay57]

Seems like they could work with a man who is out there putting down mulch as fast as he can go and he hasn't walked away and abandoned it.