Category Archives: Uncategorized
NEW YORK – Homeowners’ association prez admits to embezzling $300K; worked as civilian for NYPD
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A civilian employee of the Police Department, who as president of a Rossville homeowners’ association used the group’s checking account as his personal piggy bank by siphoning off more than $300,000, pleaded guilty Wednesday to grand larceny.
Danny Juliano was accused of embezzling $366,380 from the Woodbrooke Estates Homeowners Association between October 2011 and February 2015 and then claiming he bought pool supplies with the cash. Juliano, 51, worked for the Property Clerk Division of the Police Department, said officials.
The defendant made numerous cash withdrawals from the association’s checking account without the approval of any board members, authorities said. As president, Juliano had the authority to sign checks for the group. Read more:
NORTH CAROLINA – Homeowners share cautionary tales of HOA nightmares
abc 11 EYEWITNESS NEWS: Homeowners share cautionary tales of HOA nightmares
By Diane Wilson
Monday, May 15, 2017 06:27PM
RALEIGH, North Carolina (WTVD) —
The power of Homeowner’s Associations: You pay your mortgage and taxes, but HOAs still have the power to boot you from your home.
When you’re looking for a new home, you always make sure that home meets your needs, and that you like the neighborhood. But you also need to check out the kind of power the HOA has in the neighborhood.
Erica and Brandon Carter have been living in their Willow Spring neighborhood for 10 years. Erica said the HOA has had issues with where she parks her vehicles. The Carters were first fined for parking on the grass near their mailbox. The Carters said they stopped doing that and parked all of their vehicles in their driveway and in a gravel area beside their driveway, but Erica said there were still issues.
“Some weeds have grown up through the gravel so when they would drive by they would take pictures and say we are parking on the grass,” Erica said.
She said they killed the weeds and put down more gravel, but she was still faced with $500 in fines after her HOA claimed she violated the parking covenants several times.
“I pay my taxes. I pay for my house. I pay for everything,” Erica said. “This is my house, they should have no right unless I’m doing something really makes the neighborhood look bad or takes down people’s property values.” Read more:
http://abc11.com/home/homeowners-share-cautionary-tales-of-hoa-nightmares/1996362/
FLORIDA – Manatee High teacher, husband stole thousands from condo association, cops say
CCFJ.NET: Manatee High teacher, husband stole thousands from condo association, cops say
Article Courtesy of The Bradenton Herald
By Hannah Morse
Published May 9, 2017
A Manatee High School science teacher has been removed from her classroom position after she and her husband were arrested on charges of scheme to defraud $50,000 or more.
According to the Bradenton Beach Police Department, something strange was discovered during an audit of Alyson and Javier Colosia’s time as treasurer and president of the Gulf Reach Condominium Association.
The new association director found on Aug. 8, 2015, that the Colosias misappropriated about $134,000 of the association’s funds between January 2009 and August 2015, according to the probable cause affidavit.
During a first appearance hearing for Alyson Colosia, 51, her bond was held at $20,000 and she is not allowed to have contact with the condo association. Read more:
OREGON – Keizer HOA’s dispute with family settled for $300k
FLORIDA – Good law goes after condo abuses
For years, too many condominium associations and their management companies have acted as if they were dictatorships.
That soon will stop. By a vote in the Florida Legislature, many of the abuses in which these association managers engaged just became criminal offenses, thanks to a bill passed in the state Senate on Monday. The only thing missing now is the governor’s signature.
That’s great news for the state’s condo dwellers, especially those enduring abusive association management. They now have some recourse, and the law is on their side. Read more:
FLORIDA – Florida owners enraged with last minute change to proposed law in Tallahassee
CCFJ.NET: Florida owners enraged with last minute change to proposed law in Tallahassee
(Google Translation)
Article Courtesy of The El Nuevo Herald
By Brenda Medina
Published April 26, 2017
Florida owners enraged with last minute change to proposed law in Tallahassee
In a last-minute change to the proposed Florida condo law reforms, lawmakers leading the project eliminated criminal penalties for association managers who refuse to hand over documents to which the owners are entitled.
The move sparked the ire of some condominium owners and activists who believe that sanctioning should be the most important part of the reforms.
“We return to the same and consider it a lack of respect, after we were hopeful that we would finally have the law on our side to fight against fraud and corruption,” said Maryin Vargas, owner of a Miami apartment and leader Of the Reform Florida group. “That punishment would be the first step.”
At least in the Senate the change is not definitive, since the proposal will be discussed in a last legislative committee, that of Regulations, on Tuesday at 2 pm. The House proposal was approved with similar changes last week and will now be voted on in plenary. Read more:
http://www.ccfj.net/LEGSESS17BillSp.html
HAWAII – Why Condo Associations Are Sweating After A Judge’s Ruling
Honolulu – It’s probably going to take years to unravel the legal and financial uncertainty now facing condominium associations and law firms that used nonjudicial foreclosures — private sales without supervision by courts — to collect unpaid maintenance fees or other assessments prior to 2012.
That’s the best guess after the recent ruling by a federal judge in Honolulu that condominium associations were not legally eligible to use the streamlined, nonjudicial foreclosure process that allowed properties to be sold at auction with minimal notice to — or procedural protections for — the unit owners.
In a 57-page ruling filed March 30, U.S. District Court Judge Leslie Kobayashi concluded condominium associations did not have the power under Hawaii law to pursue quick, nonjudicial foreclosures under Part I of the state’s foreclosure law, which gave special rights to lenders whose mortgage contracts include a “power of sale” clause. Read more:
MINNESOTA – Are HOAs Taking Advantage of Mortgage Servicers?
DSNEWS.COM: Are HOAs Taking Advantage of Mortgage Servicers?
By Brian H. Liebo and Kevin Dobie
April 7, 2017
While Homeowner Association (HOA) liens for unpaid assessments typically have priority over second mortgages and other junior liens (because the HOA liens may “relate back to” the HOAs’ previously-recorded declarations), first mortgages receive special treatment in various states, such as Minnesota. Despite that special treatment, HOAs often demand payment of substantial bills by lenders foreclosing first mortgages. In addition to the regular monthly dues, the HOA bills may come riddled with line items for special assessments, attorneys’ fees, late charges, interest, and more attorneys’ fees, late charges, interest, and more that may not be the responsibility of the lender to pay. When the bills threaten to delay sale closings, lenders must quickly decide whether to pay the bills or delay matters, potentially losing sales, to challenge the HOA’s invoices.
As an example, Minnesota law generally provides a clear outline of what charges must be paid by foreclosing lenders. The foreclosing lender for a first mortgage is only required to initially pay the “unpaid assessments for common expenses levied which ‘became due,’ without acceleration, during the six months immediately preceding the end of the owner’s period of redemption.” The lender is not responsible for late charges and attorneys’ fees assessed during or prior to this six-month look-back period, because the Minnesota HOA statute specifically omits these amounts in the list of allowed charges. Read more:
http://www.dsnews.com/daily-dose/04-07-2017/hoas-taking-advantage-mortgage-servicers
FLORIDA – Editorial: Laws that get homeowners booted over fees need changing
Article Courtesy of The Tampa Bay Times
Published April 2, 2017
The case of Tina and Luis Lopez, who are on the verge of losing their home of 12 years over a $150 payment to their homeowners’ association, exposes a system bereft of fairness and proportion. Even common sense went out the window in the Kafka-like series of events that put the home of this innocent Riverview couple and their two children on the auction block.
Worst of all, they didn’t even know it was happening.
They may get a reprieve next week with an 11th hour mediation hearing, thanks to reporting by Tampa Bay Times correspondent D’Ann Lawrence White. But Florida, called upon often to tinker with statutes governing the divisive, de facto city halls known as homeowners’ associations, needs to tinker once again to conform its laws with logic if not fairness.
People living in communities governed by one of the state’s 13,000 homeowners’ associations, and there are 2.5 million of them in Florida, are subject to an escalating series of fines and fees if they fail to pay dues they owe their association. And there is no requirement that the association provide them any notice — or even a bill for annual dues — until they’re ready to slap a lien on the home.
Adding to the nonsense: Once homeowners do learn of the debt and try to bring it down, any payments they make can go first to the fines and fees, leaving the dues owed and the home still subject to liens, foreclosure and auction.
The beneficiaries of this system are the collectors of the fines and fees. In the case of the Rivercrest neighborhood where the Lopez family lives, and in hundreds of other neighborhoods across Florida, that’s a single Tampa law firm that has made a business of these questionable practices. Read more:
CALIFORNIA – Homeowners at San Francisco sinking high-rise sue developer
SAN FRANCISCO — A homeowners association representing property owners at a downtown San Francisco high-rise sued the developers on Wednesday for failing to tell residents the condominium tower was sinking at an unexpected rate.
The Millennium Tower homeowners association’s lawsuit is the latest suit filed in a high-profile dispute over the sinking building that opened in 2009. Lawsuits involve the developer, the city and owners of the multimillion-dollar condos.
But Daniel M. Petrocelli, the lead attorney representing the homeowners association, says California law gives homeowner associations sole authority to pursue damages for structural repairs and retrofits. So he says a fix can only be accomplished through the HOA’s lawsuit. Read more:
HOA Reform Coalition 