California now is a feast for lawyers thanks to Governors Davis and Schwarzenegger

August 07, 2006

By Arthur Grimes (View author info)

My recommendation homeowners who are being threated with fines, lawsuits and foreclosures in their homeowner associations for alleged violations of rules is to try to correct the violations quickly, perhaps hire an attorney to keep from foreclosure, and get OUT OF THAT PLACE and don't go near any other HOA - Anywhere.

The prohibitions, fines, liens, lawsuits, and foreclosures can mushroomed out of control.

Here in Florida there are entire groups petitioning the legislature to try to curb the abuse of these associations.

As I read the law in New Jersey, associations can fine you for anything they chose, and foreclose in short order.

California right now is a feast for lawyers with unprecedented numbers of fines, liens, and foreclosures, after Governor Davis allowed HOAs to foreclose for anything.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger just vetoed a bill trying make foreclosures more reasonable. Another waste as a politician.

I can say that. I am a director on a Board where the President changes the rules whenever he wishes, without Board approval, calls the attorneys to see what other rules he can make and enforce against homeowners. And the property manager claims this neighborhood was in horrible shape when he was hired, just months after Hurricane Charley left us in ruins here. He was hired saying he would clean up this place.

I heard a woman complain the other day. Her neighbor's grass was a foot tall, and he has some tree sap shadow on the side of his house. She calls him a "PIG" . We are in the rainy season. Grass and weeds grow a foot in a day or two with the downpours we get. And there are so many trees, everyone's house has shadows from them. But he, of course, is still a pig. Some of these people don't like fences, sheds, kids, animals of any kind, or anything you do to your yard they don't like looking at.

Homeowner associations were a relatively good idea for keeping neighborhoods clean. They gradually grew into a means to drive out minorities and the less affluent. How?

They frequently make rules about such things as "unsightly growths" they can write violations for, and target minorities and elderly retirees, or single women.

What's an unsightly growth? Anything the Association thinks is an unsightly growth. That can be a plant they don't like the looks of. They tell you no cars shall be parked on a lawn. Then they chase a contractor off your property because he had his truck parked there while working on the side of your home.

In Florida there is a huge controversy over shutters. Lots of retirees cannot afford to spend thousands of dollars on permanently installed shutters. They put up plywood, and many women struggle to put those up. Then the Board decides how tacky it is to have plywood shutters up for more than a few days, even when there is another hurricane heading for Florida. So they tell you your shutters have to come down with 3 days after the last hurricane passed. Why? Because they think those shutters look so tacky, even though most of the county still has plywood shutters up for weeks, waiting to see if the next hurricane is going to tear apart their home.

They prohibit your grandchildren from using their recreational facilities. They tell you you can't have visitors for more than a day or two. They tell you they ll have your dogs taken away from you if they bark outside more than once. They then tell you they can come into your house and take your dogs away if they are considered any kind of nuisance or hazard to the community. They can tell you you have to get permission from your neighbors to plant a flower garden, or anything you do to your property.

HOAs and condo boards have turned this into a monster with neighborhoods where you can be prohibited from doing most ANYTHING they don't like. They also start targeting people they don't like, single women, minorities, elderly and retirees who cannot afford to pay rising assessments, or do something about every little violation they get, no matter how far they stretch the rules.

Boards are allowed to make rules banning anything they wish until a lawyer comes in and tries to stop them for violating their own rules and violating public policy. I couldn't visit my mother for more than a day because of HOA rules. Police officers who are REQUIRED to bring their patrol cars home at night have been taken to court because the HOA saw fit to ban them.

I am sorry I came into a homeowner association community.

NOTES: Arthur Gimes is a retired Coast Guard, Parliamentarian and a board member in a Florida homeowners association.