June 3, 2014

Former Bon Aire Condominium One Complex Treasurer Kostantina Gardner, 25 Haskell Avenue, Suffern, 51-years-old, has been indicted by a Rockland County Grand Jury for grand larceny in the second degree. District Attorney Thomas Zugibe alleges she suctioned $81K from condominium coffers into her own purse between January 1, 2008 and May 1, 2013 while serving as treasurer. Zugibe said the defendant wrote various checks without permission or authority to herself and deposited same into her personal bank accounts. Longtime Condo One Board President Clifford Albertson spoke to the Rockland County Times about what led to the scandal and indictment. Albertson said, “It was a case where you place your trust in a person and it turns out the trust was very much misplaced.”

The board-representative of 48 units-had bylaws in place requiring two signatures on all checks, but in practice many of the checks were pre-signed by Albertson or the vice president, he told the Rockland County Times. Albertson said the board has now changed its policy so that one person writes checks and brings it to two others to sign, involving a total of three persons in the transaction and greatly lessening the likelihood of fraud.

By Kevin Quinn

June 4, 2014

She kept an FFA pig behind her Montgomery County home last year. But now a 15 year old girl and her parents are in a fight to do it again. Emily Fotheringham and her mother Katrina Burgess say the Riverlake Shores homeowner’s association denied their initial request to have the pig, which is a requirement, according to the subdivision’s covenants, conditions and restrictions.

Burgess says they’ve already built a pen as the HOA demanded. But now she says they’re requiring them to build a berm around that pen and make other improvements they feel are unnecessary.  Read more:

By Jobin Panicker

May 30, 2014

PLANO — It is a delicate balance that some North Texas homeowners are having to strike: to follow water-restrictions while keeping the lawn green. Residents in one Plano neighborhood raised concerns after they received letters from their Home Owners Association asking them to comply with certain “aesthetic” rules. When News 8 pressed the issue with the HOA, SBB Management, we were told the letters that were sent out were a mistake. Bill Bonnett of Plano fights that same battle to keep his lawn green. But he says that fight is getting more and more difficult. “They’re asking you to do something you can’t do,” Bonnett said.Last Thursday, the board of the North Texas Municipal Water District voted to remain on Stage 3 water restrictions. The board made that recommendation to all of its member cities, including Plano. That means residents will be under restricted water usage – once every two weeks – through the end of the year.  Read more:

February 18, 2014

A DeBary, FL man is at odds with his homeowner’s association over a 7-foot-tall replica of the Statue of Liberty.   The DeBary Plantation HOA wants Lon Neuville to remove the patriotic display, but he says he’s not going down without a fight. The property management company says this is not about Lady Liberty; it is about having the same rules for all 1,300  families who live at the subdivision.  The homeowner says the HOA approved his statue and then changed its mind, and he will fight to keep it in his yard.   “Several people have told me they liked it.  I heard no negative comments at all,” Neuville said.Neuville said he put the statue in his yard in October. The HOA sent him a letter saying he never filled out an application to make a change, so he did that.  Neuville claims that, in December, the HOA sent him a letter approving the statue, so he bolted it down.  Then in January, he received another letter from the HOA, stating the previous letter issued the approval in error, and he was required to remove the statue within 14 days.  Neuville hired a lawyer.

“He [Neuville’s attorney] sees no provision in the HOA laws or rules or whatever they call it, for approving something, and then at a later date, saying ‘We issued the approval in error,'” said Neuville.  Read more:

By LeaAnne Klentzman

May 28, 2014

Pick’n on old ladies and widow women- We all know compliance is the backbone of Master planned neighborhoods, but when a homeowners association ignores something for years and then starts pick’n on an elderly widow woman… what’s next for the First Colony Community Association, taking candy from babies?

Here is how this story is playing out…. An elderly woman lost her husband and moved to the Sugar Land area to be near her daughter.… a long time First Colony resident. Welcome to Sugar Land! This widow woman purchased a townhome in a gated community off Sweetwater in early 2013, chump change, right?

Imagine her surprise when after closing on the property, which  included a certificate of compliance from the yard police at closing, she is now being harassed for non-compliance.

That no compliance started with an unapproved front door; uh … same door as day of closing… never changed! Next, they started grumbling about a non-compliant flagstone patio; well THAT violation has been there for at least 10 years, no prior complaint on file.  Unable to calm the yard police of FCCA, her daughter began to try and help; now both of them are up against the proverbial brick wall of the HOA, you know… under the auspices of keeping things nice.  They, like others before them, stood alone before the BOARD of FCCA and were ordered to state their case….. That too, fell on deaf ears. Read more:

By CarliTeproff

May 27, 2014

Calling the behavior of a Davie condominium association “absurd” and “unreasonable,” a federal judge has ordered a Davie condominium to allow a disabled resident to keep her service dog. The two-year dispute will carry a hefty price tag for the Sabal Palm Condominiums: $300,000. Deborah Fischer, a retired Broward art teacher who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2000, was sued by Sabal Palm Condominiums after her dog, Sorenson, moved into her apartment in November 2011. Fischer, who uses a wheelchair and has limited use of her arms and hands, needs Sorenson to pick things, up, open and close doors and retrieve items from counter tops.“Sabal Palm got it exactly — and unreasonably — wrong,” U.S. District Judge Scola wrote in his order. “This is not just common sense — though it is most certainly that.” The condominium complex in Davie’s Pine Island Ridge neighborhood does not allow pets over 20 pounds and demanded medical records and other information to prove that Fischer needed Sorenson — a 5-year-old Labrador-golden retriever mix — to help her. Saying Fischer didn’t provide the proper documentation, the condo association sued, said the woman’s attorney, Matthew Dietz of Miami. Read more:

By Sabrina Rocco

May 23, 2014

LAKEWOOD RANCH — A homeowners association has temporarily halted a decision to force a resident to remove a gravel and sand path designed to protect his epileptic stepson from a serious fall.Michael Groves says he installed the path three years ago so his 15-year-old stepson could safely traverse up and down the driveway without stepping foot on concrete. Groves and his wife, Laura, fear the possibility of their son suffering an epileptic episode on concrete and cracking his head open or even dying. The path, made of pea gravel and sand, is constructed to disperse the energy of a fall, Groves says.  Read more:

May 23, 2014