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For those who saw my previous post and to the mod who deleted it, sorry, it's my birthday (seriously) and I'm feeling a little punchy.
Anyway.
As has been said, if you need real advice, you need to talk to a real lawyer for real. That means in person or at least on the phone. Lawyers.com is an attorney referral service that may point you in the right direction or you could DM your troubles to DJ and see if he is willing to speak with you in person about your situation.
I doubt any attorney would be willing to provide much in the way of free advice over an internet forum for two reasons. First, they can bill for it if they do it in their office or even over the phone. Second, liability. If you go to court and say DJ told you whatever, he is liable even though he isn't ACTUALLY your lawyer.
Onto part two of my serious reply.
HOAs can be nasty. Mine isn't. My neighbors are in charge of it and mostly let me do what I want and, as long as no one complains too loudly, don't say anything much. The neighborhood is not ancient but isn't brand new either. The covenants here aren't oppressive and tend to follow city ordinances and don't go much further if at all.
That said, some can make the Downtown Charleston Board of Architectural Review look like the bunch of sweet old ladies they pretend to be.
Here is what I have seen with HOA's personally and through friends:
Generally, they won't complain to you for their health. Someone complained to them about you already and they are relaying the message.
They almost always give you a chance to correct whatever you are doing before they escalate.
The first step is almost always one of your neighbors knocking on your door and feigning pleasantness but asking you to do whatever or stop doing whatever they got a complaint about.
If you ignore step 1, step 2 is a written request.
Depending on the infraction, they may eventually hire someone to fix it for you and then bill you for it.
If you don't pay, they will put a lien against your house and they can do that.
It is possible to fight HOAs in court but they are people just like you, they have better things to do than waste their time and yours so if it goes that far, they have their stuff together and WILL have a case built so make sure you do as well.
My advice? Open the yellow pages and call a lawyer if you really think you need one but read through the covenants first. Make sure you aren't in the wrong.
I'm not a lawyer but if you want to DM me your situation for an uninterested (I don't have a dog in the race so I don't care who wins) opinion, I'd be happy to give you one.
I couldn't have said it better myself. I would always recommend giving an attorney a call or going in for a consult on your specific situation. There are plenty of local attorneys who handle litigation with HOA's that could likely assist you, depending on your situation. I'm a real estate closing attorney. I handle real estate contracts, closings, mortgages and refinances. Completely different legal creature.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Techgeek
Ok serious response time.
For those who saw my previous post and to the mod who deleted it, sorry, it's my birthday (seriously) and I'm feeling a little punchy.
Anyway.
As has been said, if you need real advice, you need to talk to a real lawyer for real. That means in person or at least on the phone. Lawyers.com is an attorney referral service that may point you in the right direction or you could DM your troubles to DJ and see if he is willing to speak with you in person about your situation.
I doubt any attorney would be willing to provide much in the way of free advice over an internet forum for two reasons. First, they can bill for it if they do it in their office or even over the phone. Second, liability. If you go to court and say DJ told you whatever, he is liable even though he isn't ACTUALLY your lawyer.
Onto part two of my serious reply.
HOAs can be nasty. Mine isn't. My neighbors are in charge of it and mostly let me do what I want and, as long as no one complains too loudly, don't say anything much. The neighborhood is not ancient but isn't brand new either. The covenants here aren't oppressive and tend to follow city ordinances and don't go much further if at all.
That said, some can make the Downtown Charleston Board of Architectural Review look like the bunch of sweet old ladies they pretend to be.
Here is what I have seen with HOA's personally and through friends:
Generally, they won't complain to you for their health. Someone complained to them about you already and they are relaying the message.
They almost always give you a chance to correct whatever you are doing before they escalate.
The first step is almost always one of your neighbors knocking on your door and feigning pleasantness but asking you to do whatever or stop doing whatever they got a complaint about.
If you ignore step 1, step 2 is a written request.
Depending on the infraction, they may eventually hire someone to fix it for you and then bill you for it.
If you don't pay, they will put a lien against your house and they can do that.
It is possible to fight HOAs in court but they are people just like you, they have better things to do than waste their time and yours so if it goes that far, they have their stuff together and WILL have a case built so make sure you do as well.
My advice? Open the yellow pages and call a lawyer if you really think you need one but read through the covenants first. Make sure you aren't in the wrong.
I'm not a lawyer but if you want to DM me your situation for an uninterested (I don't have a dog in the race so I don't care who wins) opinion, I'd be happy to give you one.
I HATE HOAs...they are the WORST! We had a HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE with the Ocean Neighbor's HOA. God help anyone who lives in that neighborhood. I wish the HOAs did not have so much power in SC. It seems strange...
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They are usually wary of giving legal advice.
