Article Courtesy of Channel 10 Local News
By Glenna Milberg    

Published July 24, 2018

MIAMI BEACH – The first look inside the condo unit where Walter Stopler’s unit in the condominium he is accused of trying to burn down reveals what neighbors say may have been his motivation: years’ worth of toxic black mold. 

He was very frustrated, very frustrated about the mold in his apartment and how this has been going on for at least since 2016, I think,” said Priscilla Suarez, a former condo board member.

Miami Beach police officers report Stopler talked about wanting to “kill all the Jews” in the Pavilion condominium, and found Nazi-themed materials in his condo, and in a storage closet he rented, dozens of jugs with gasoline, sulfur powder and potassium nitrate.  Read more:

The former general manager of an Indio retirement community accused of embezzling money from the development where he once worked paid $125,000 in victim restitution on June 4.

Ceasar Larrach, 47, was an employee of Associa, the for-profit housing management company

contracted to oversee Sun City Shadow Hills. The Indio development includes 3,450 homes for people ages 55 and over.*

The Riverside County District Attorney alleged in a Jan. 19 complaint that Larrach stole about $104,000 from the Sun City Shadow Hills HOA between February 2015 and June 2017.

Larrach initially pled not guilty to three counts of grand theft, including an enhancement for fraud and embezzlement. But he reversed his pleading in May, and signed an agreement pleading guilty to all three of his charges and the enhancement. In addition to being ordered to pay $125,000 restitution, Larrach received a sentence of 36 months probation and 120 days custody, with electronic monitoring.

Kim Fuller, President of Sun City Shadow Hills’ board of directors, said Larrach arrived at the front gate of the community on Monday, June 4 with a cashier’s check for $125,000. Two staff members met him at the gate to receive the check. The staff told Fuller the meeting with Larrach was brief and amicable.

“If you’re asking if there was an apology,” Fuller said, “then no.”

Fuller said the community association is still negotiating with Associa/Desert Resort Management over an estimated $60,000 in costs the community incurred to investigate its financial accounts.  Read:

https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/crime_courts/2018/06/18/ex-gm-indio-sun-city-complex-pays-125-k-embezzlement-case/711212002/

A Scottsdale homeowner who says he feels singled out for rule enforcement in his homeowners association is fighting back.

When Sands North Homeowners Association President Sandra Price texted homeowner Sean Bandawat earlier this month and told him to replace a missing gate outside his townhome or face a $2,500 fine, he offered a one-sentence reply:

“My attorney will be in touch — “

When the HOA followed up a day later with a letter to Bandawat saying the gate’s removal constituted an architecture change and required replacement, he kept his promise.

Bandawat’s lawyer wrote a letter to the HOA, saying that several properties in the neighborhood do not display the original wrought-iron gate. Bandawat said the gate leading into a front courtyard area was damaged after movers ran into it and that it would be costly to replace.

“By singling Bandawat out where there are other gates missing as well, the HOA is breaching its duty of care,” Bandawat’s attorney wrote in the letter. “We believe that Mr. Bandawat was racially targeted simply because he is not Caucasian and is of a racial minority.” (Bandawat’s father is from India).

An attorney for the HOA would not comment and has yet to draft a response.

But an attorney who frequently deals with HOA matters says selective enforcement is often difficult to prove.  Read more:

“Yeah, the library is saved,” Garick said in a text after the meeting Wednesday.

Carol Hanquier has lived in the Silver Springs neighborhood for 20 years and uses the fish to sooth her anxiety and other health problems.

However, the Silver Springs HOA says the ponds are considered above ground pools and are a violation of the neighborhood’s declaration of covenants and restrictions.

Records show on May 16, the HOA filed a lawsuit against Hanquier, saying she has violated and continues to violate the HOA’s declaration.

The lawsuit says it’s a violation to maintain two large pond structures in the driveway “that are visible from the street, which reasonably tends to detract from or diminish the aesthetic appearance of the real estate and the homes around her lot.”  Read more:

  
A Florida veteran is suing his homeowners association (HOA) for $1 million after he was forced to sell his home over a 17-inch American flag he kept in a front porch flower pot.

Former U.S. Air Force air traffic controller Larry Murphree started incurring fines of $100 a day for an “unauthorized object” from the HOA at Tides Condominium in Sweetwater, Florida, in 2011, reported The Washington Post. The ensuing struggle with the 55-and-older community caused Murphree to sell his home in 2015.

“It just dawned on me there’s people that strap on a gun every day to protect me and the people I love,” Murphree told Fox News. “It’s a small flag, but it stands for a big thank you.”

Murphree would not remove the flag and lawyered up 10 days after the first fine in 2011, reported the Washington Examiner. He filed a lawsuit in federal court and reached a compromise with the HOA that let him keep the flag in the flower pot in 2012.  Read more:

http://www.ccfj.net/HOAFLVetSues$1Mill.html

HOA rules: Read them (or weep)

If you fall in love with a home in a homeowners association (HOA), check the HOA rules as soon as you can. There may be deal-breaking provisions in that document. For instance:

• Many associations ban outdoor smoking
• They may also tell you what kind of plants you’re allowed to have in your yard
• It is very common for HOAs to regulate the color you paint your house and other exterior changes

HOAs can limit the number of and types of pets you can have, and whether you can put up a clothesline or even park in your own driveway. And if the regs drive you out, they may prohibit the “for sale” sign in your yard.  Read more:

Article Courtesy of The Tampa Bay Times
By Waveney Ann Moore

Published July 2, 2018

ST. PETERSBURG — The discussion became heated as condo owners living within strolling distance of downtown restaurants and museums interrogated both the developer of a 12-story affordable housing building that will rise on their doorsteps and the social services agency whose clients will make their home there.

JACKSONVILLE, FL (RNN) – Air Force veteran Larrry Murphree said he’s had to sell his home at a loss after a dispute with a homeowners association over an American flag.

The legal dispute over the flag has gone on for seven years.

He placed a small flag in a flower pot on the front porch of his condo, First Coast News reported. In response, The Tides Condominium HOA sent him a violation letter, saying the flag was an “unauthorized object.”

Murphree decided to fight the group on it, and they assessed tons of fines against his property – $100 a day for the violation.

He filed suit but came to an agreement with the HOA that the flag can be displayed.

Murphree said the HOA  then turned around and changed the ordinance to a flower pot ordinance, prohibiting display of the flag inside the flower pot and charging him fees again.

The HOA said he can fly a flag in a flag pole but not in a flower pot, News4Jax reported.

In 2014, the HOA placed a lien on Murphree’s property, claiming he hadn’t paid his dues when he said he had.

It turns out the homeowners association was using the money that they were withdrawing to pay the fees for displaying the flag in the flower pot, leaving his dues unpaid and allowing them to place a lien on the property for unpaid HOA dues, he told First Coast News.   Read more: