A woman is being evicted from her home near Tomball after she says her homeowner’s association foreclosed on her home and it then sold at auction.

Triss McQuiston is now fighting to stay the home where she has lived for the past 15 years, and she is still making mortgage payments. She says she had no idea her home ever sold or had even gone into foreclosure. She found the eviction suit on her front door on Friday.

“There was all this other stuff from I don’t know, foreclosure information and auction stuff. This was the first I had seen of any of this. It was a complete shock and surprise,” she said.

McQuiston’s home was sold at foreclosure auction in September. She admits that she didn’t pay her dues to the Canyon Gate at Northpointe Owners Association in 2014 or 2015, totaling about $1,800. She was opening a new business and says she procrastinated making the payments.  Read more:

Article Courtesy of WPBF.com Channel 25

Published May 17, 2016

 

BOYTON BEACH — A local man was arrested and charged May 12 with stealing $41,000 from a home owners association, deputies say. Norman Glavas, 69, board member and treasurer of Quail Run Association, stole $41,000 by cashing checks to “Cash,” then endorsing and signing them his self, read a police report.

He was charged with grand theft, organized fraud and money laundering.

Mary Lou Hagerty, president of Quail Run Association, sent an e-mail to the Boyton Beach Police Department May 12 after she discovered a discrepancy in the association’s bank accounts.

The e-mail alleges that Glavas embezzled has been embezzling money as far back as February 2013.

Hagerty discovered 13 checks that were written out to “Cash” from February 2013 through October 2014. The checks were signed and endorsed by Glavas.

Glavas said the checks were for attorney fees, reads the police report.

Hagerty made the discovery after she began reviewing the association’s financial records.  Read more:

By Maura Grunlund

May 19, 2016

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Danny Juliano, a civilian employee of the NYPD, is accused of embezzling $366,380 from the Woodbrooke Estates Homeowners Association in Rossville and then claiming that he used the funds to buy pool supplies.

Juliano, 50, of Acorn Court in Woodbrooke Estates, who works for the Property Clerk Division of the NYPD, has been indicted on charges that include grand larceny and criminal tax fraud, according to statements from District Attorney Michael E. McMahon and the NYPD’s Deputy Commissioner of Public Information.

After pleading not guilty at his arraignment in State Supreme Court before Justice Stephen J. Rooney, Juliano was released on his own recognizance on Wednesday.

“The crimes alleged undermine the trust and neighborhood fabric that defines a lot of what makes Staten Island great,” McMahon said. “Theft from a homeowners association not only impacts the neighbors whose funds were taken and whose neighborhood suffers from loss of upgrades and maintenance — but also all New York tax payers.”  Read more:

Paul Takahashi

May 16, 2016

A luxury condominium is planned for the former site of an Italian-style townhome project near Memorial Park.

Stolz Partners LLC is under contract to purchase a nearly 2-acre site at 6017 Memorial Drive, just west of Westcott Street and the Bayou Bend Collections and Gardens. The Atlanta-based developer is set to close on the property within six months, said Will Stolz, founder and owner of Stolz Partners.

The gated property was initially being developed as a luxury townhome community called Piazza Lucca. Butler Brothers, a Houston-based residential builder, had broken ground on the 17-home community in early 2015, but have since axed the project.

A new condominium midrise called The Sophie at Bayou Bend is now set to rise on the property. The name is a derivative of the word “sophisticated,” Stolz said.

Article Courtesy of First Coast News
By Anne Schindler   

Published May 9, 2016

Sampson, who also serves as President of the Heron’s Landing Condo Association Board, said the community was forced to reach out to an independent structural engineer for help, because DR Horton downplayed the severity of the problems. “The more we discovered the more there was,” Sampson told the jury. “It just kept growing and growing. So we really needed his expertise to get a handle on this cancer that was spreading through the complex.”

Sampson joins a parade of witnesses who have attested to a range of construction defects at the 240-unit development. Residents have testified about poor soundproofing, inadequate drainage, air conditioning failures, broken plumbing, even garage doors falling off.

The company notes the buildings passed inspection and were certified by the city of Jacksonville.

The lawsuit, filed in 2013, is unusual because construction defect claims are typically handled in secret arbitration proceedings. Virtually every new home contract prohibits owners from suing in open court, and instead forces them into a closed hearing with the builder. Because this case was filed not by individual condo owners, but by the condo association, the claim is freed from those limitations.  Read more:

Article Courtesy of The Miami Herald
By Brenda Medina

Published May 14, 2016

It was an open secret.

For years, the allegations of fraud, financial mismanagement and other violations in Miami-Dade condominiums had been reaching the ears of government officials, some of them now confess. Yet proposals to strengthen condo laws and regulations in the last two state legislative sessions in Tallahassee never were approved. Police departments kept referring complainants to civil courts or the state Department of Business and Professional Regulations (DBPR), which supervises some condo-related issues. And the DBPR insisted it did not have the authority to investigate many of the complaints.

But now the issue has jumped into the public spotlight, following an investigation by el Nuevo Herald and Univision 23, and groups of condo owners who are organizing to make themselves heard.

In an election year, the scandals have forced several public officials to address a problem that some county residents fear will only get worse as more and more condos are built in Miami-Dade.  Read more:

By Mayra Moreno

May 13, 2016

A battle is brewing in one Sugar Land community over a family’s food truck. The New Territory HOA is telling a couple they can’t park their Greek food truck on their driveway because it violates the rules. The family is putting up a fight.

“Both my husband and I have lost many nights of sleep,” said Anna Zafiris. It’s been an ongoing battle with their HOA since 2014 and the Zafiris feel they’re being targeted. “They make it impossible for us,” said Mr. Zafiris.

The president of New Territory in Sugar Land said the he has been trying hard to find a solution. “We don’t want to impact anyone’s business but there are rules to be followed,” said Mike Pincomb, New Territory HOA president.

They first thought their Greek food truck was considered a “work vehicle”, which under HOA rules, would be ok to park on a driveway. “You can’t see it from the street it’s totally quiet our neighbors don’t have any issue with it,” said Zafiris. However on their last hearing in December 2015, they said, the board told them “we don’t like it” and then amended the rules to say a ‘work vehicle’ would only be allowed now if it fit inside a garage. “We were just shocked that the board refused to follow the existing rules,” said Zafiris.

They then fell under a new violation. The HOA told them their truck was considered a ‘home based business’ and it was unsafe for the community. “As we understand it they are prepping their meals within their driveway inside their vehicle,” said Pincomb. The family is not sure what else to do anymore. They have yet another hearing before the HOA board on Monday. “It’s like being bullied in our own home we pay taxes here, we pay HOA fees here,” said Zafiris.  Read more:

Nevada Eighth Judicial District Judge Elizabeth Gonzales has voided a 2014 homeowners association (HOA) foreclosure sale and ruled that a first mortgage held by Bank of America, N.A. was unaffected by the sale. The April 20, 2016 ruling in Nevada New Builds, LLC v. Bank of America, followed a trial in which Bank of America presented evidence that it had paid any HOA dues that could potentially have priority over the first mortgage. The ruling reaffirmed an HOA’s responsibility to communicate with lenders concerning the payment amount required to preserve the first mortgage. The ruling will likely buoy lenders seeking to overturn HOA foreclosures where the association fails to cooperate with the lender’s good faith effort to safeguard its lien.In Nevada, an HOA’s foreclosure of its lien can sometimes extinguish a first-priority mortgage, thanks to the state legislature’s grant of super-priority status to the 9 months of assessments preceding an HOA foreclosure (codified at NRS 116.3116, et. seq.). Lenders have argued that the mortgage should be preserved, however, where the lender has attempted to pay those 9 months of assessments to the HOA. Read more: