By Deborah Goonan

June 14, 2016

A young couple from Florida, about to bring home a new baby, recently discovered they had a leaky roof. They own a single family detached house, in Bird Lakes homeowners association in Miami-Dade County.

The leaks were so bad that Ivan and Krystle Paredes had to remove wall board from their bathroom, exposing mold. Rain water was collected in multiple buckets.

In early February, the couple had made a request to replace their roof. But months later, the HOA has yet to approve the repair. The Board keeps requesting additional information, including a sample of the new roof material to be installed. The Paredes say they have already provided the necessary information, and cannot understand why the HOA continues to deny their request.

After NBC 6 got involved (see video link below), the original roofing contractor returned a $4000 deposit check that he has been holding for months waiting for the HOA to approve the roof replacement.  Read more:

By Erin Mulvaney

June 13, 2016

A Harris County judge has ruled that even though a Garden Oaks family’s garage violated the deed restrictions in the popular neighborhood, the group that governs those restrictions did not have the power to enforce them.

The judgment was the result of a now 4-year-old case between the Chang family and the Garden Oaks Maintenance Organization. Judge Dan Hinde found that while the Peter and Katherine Chang did violate the deed restriction with the size of their garage, their “failure to comply” was excused because of the evidence that the board that enforces restrictions selectively enforced the restrictions and the group’s authority to enforce was unreasonable.  Read more:

Article Courtesy of The Miami Herald By Nicholas Nehamas   Published June 6, 2016 Condo associations across South Florida are ripping off consumers with high application fees in violation of state law, a Miami Herald investigation has found.  Associations are allowed to charge people applying to buy or rent a unit a maximum of $100 per person. The nonrefundable fees cover the costs of interviews, background and credit checks. But many buildings gouge tenants and buyers with fees anywhere between $125 and $625, according to lease and purchase applications reviewed by the Herald.  Read more:

LAS CRUCES SUN-NEWS: Courts” Covenants narrowly interpreted

By Lawrence M. Wells, John S. Campbell, Montgomery & Andrews, P.A.

By Bob Masson

June 7, 2016

NEW ORLEANS,LA (WVUE) – The Vieux Carre Property Owners Association was taking a stand Tuesday against a new city policy that already appears to be keeping property owners from improving some of the most historic properties in the country.

The policy imposes thousands of dollars in fees on those who own property with balconies and overhangs. They are the balconies and wrought iron that adorn some of the most significant architecture in the country, and now they’re being subjected to fees many see as exorbitant.

“I was very surprised to learn about the fee,” said homeowner Gregory Jones.

Under a  law recently passed by the state, the city may charge homeowners for the air rights over sidewalks, and that means fees of up to $4,000 a year in some cases for balconies that – until recently – went tax free.

“This is not just a French Quarter issue. You’re penalizing people who own properties which are a calling card,” said Meg Lousteau with the Vieux Carre Property Owners’ Association.

But it’s not just balconies, stoops or galleries with post-supports subject to taxes, Gregory Jones had to fork over $1,000 for an overhang to renovate his home on Dauphine.

“I don’t think it’s fair for someone to charge us for air rights,” Jones said.

The new fees are a concern for preservationists and contractors.  Read more:

By Joe Ducey

June 6, 2016

H-O-A.  They are three letters that can bring up some strong emotions.

So do you love or loathe your homeowner’s association?

One Gilbert woman thinks hers is a bit crazy and she thinks they’ve invaded her privacy by taking pictures of the inside of her garage.  Read more:

February 24, 2016

By Mike Harris

The owner of a now-defunct management company in Thousand Oaks has been convicted of systematically looting hundreds of thousands of dollars from two homeowners associations in Simi Valley and Calabasas.

Kristin Davis, 46, was found guilty this month by a Ventura County Superior Court jury of stealing from the Big Sky Homeowners Association in Simi Valley and the Oak Park Calabasas Homeowners Association, which her company managed.

At the conclusion of a two-month trial, the jury found her guilty of eight counts of felony grand theft, four counts of felony tax evasion, two counts of felony forgery and one count each of felony insurance fraud and failure to file state income taxes, Senior Deputy District Attorney Howard Wise said Wednesday.  Read more:

Author John Green admitted to Kenyon College graduates that he’s supposed to tell them adulthood isn’t so bad. He refused. “It is so bad,” Green said in a commencement speech on May 21, in Gambier, Ohio. “If anything, it is far worse than I could even have imagined. I mean, have you ever been to a homeowners’ association meeting? Each of you in the Class of 2016 is wondrous and precious and rare life in a vast and almost entirely dead universe — imagine devoting two hours of your bright but brief flicker of consciousness to a debate over whether the maximum allowable length of grass in your neighborhood’s front lawns should be 4 inches or 6.”  Read more:

By David Scheidt

May 4, 2016

SACRAMENTO – Assembly Bill 1720 by Assembly Member Donald P. Wagner (R-Irvine) recently failed in the Housing & Community Development Committee. The bill would have restored the intent of the Common Interest Development Open Meeting Act and allowed homeowners to obtain information about what their elected homeowner associations are doing.

However, in the face of vehement and self-serving opposition from homeowner association lobbyists and lawyers, the committee bowed to those lobbyists. On the committee, only staunch pro-private property rights champion Beth Gaines (R-El Dorado Hills) sided with the homeowners and the principle of openness in government.

AB 1720 would have effectively overturned the 2013 case of SB Liberty LLC v. Isla Vista Inc., which gutted the open meeting act by eliminating the homeowners’ right to bring anyone – a friend, family member, interpreter, or attorney – to advise or assist at a meeting of the homeowner association board. It would have helped individuals better understand what these quasi-public entities were doing.

“But,” said Wagner after the hearing, “sunshine and the free flow of information were exactly what the associations don’t want. At the hearing, one of their lobbyists even testified that the associations’ attorneys object to having other attorneys in the room on behalf of homeowners. Of course they do! But what a betrayal of fundamental principles of fairness for a government committee to go along with that abuse of due process.”

“I’ve always suspected that continued secrecy was the real goal of the opposition,” Wagner added. “It was extraordinary to hear a lobbyist actually admit that, though.”

– See more at: https://ad68.asmrc.org/press-release/16196#sthash.04sizdmS.dpuf

Article Courtesy of Miami Herald By Enrique Flor and Brenda Medina Published May 21, 2016 Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Giménez says he will travel to Tallahassee during the legislative session to support a group of state lawmakers from South Florida who will seek to reform state legislation in order to crack down on a wave of condominium frauds. The initiative that will be submitted in November by State Rep. José Félix Díaz, as leader of the county’s delegation to the state legislation, aims to make substantial changes in the state regulations for residential complexes. “I am going to support the proposals of Rep. Díaz when he goes to Tallahassee to fight for these changes in the laws on condominiums and home owners associations,” Giménez told el Nuevo Herald. “I will go with him to give him my full support and make sure these proposals can pass.” Giménez’ decision was applauded by a dozen residents who attended a meeting Thursday at the county police headquarters in Doral to discuss the growing allegations of condominium fraud. A series of investigative articles by el Nuevo Herald and Univision 23 published last month has revealed a string of scams and irregularities affecting Miami-Dade condominiums. After the stories were published, residents of several condos around the county have organized protests demanding action by local and state authorities. During the meeting Thursday, condo owners announced they would march in downtown Doral Saturday, starting at 11 a.m., to demand changes in the state laws that regulate condos.  Read more: