CHERRY HILL, N.J., (CBS) — A mother in desperate need of a donor for her daughter is now doing battle with her condo association. Eyewitness News reporter Todd Quinones has the exclusive story from Cherry Hill, Camden County. Libby Lisker might be considered a bit of a rebel. This magnetic sign on her car doors
is getting her into some trouble with her condo association, but she doesn’t plan on taking them down. “The rules are there for a reason, but I think maybe this trumps the reason,” Lisker said. The sign, “Honey B Needs a Kidney,” is for her daughter Honey Bestic. “I have some sort of auto immune disorder and I have had to have two liver transplants within the past 20 years and the medications that I take to to keep the liver destroyed the kidney,” Bestic said. Read more:
RALEIGH, N.C. — IN September, Louis Cherry, an architect here, received a building permit and the necessary approvals to begin constructing a house for himself and his wife, Marsha Gordon, on an empty lot in Oakwood, a historic district in Raleigh. The neighborhood features a variety of architectural styles, from postwar bungalows to Greek Revivals, shotguns to Queen Annes. Construction began in October and the home, modern but modestly so, is nearly complete.
But it is also at risk of demolition. Not because of a tornado or termites or some other natural disaster, but because one of his neighbors doesn’t want it there.
Through a series of protracted appeals, the neighbor has been successful in getting the city to reverse its approval of Mr. Cherry’s permit. The house passed its building inspections and is 85 percent complete, yet sits empty, its future dependent on who finally wins a legal battle that never should have been allowed to happen. Read more:
Sandy Taylor bought her home overlooking the 13th fairway of the Rolling Hills Golf Club 25 years ago because of the quiet neighborhood and large oak trees. Since her retirement in 2002, she has played a round of golf nearly every morning on the course, built in 1926.
But now, Taylor and other residents worry about a plan to turn one of the region’s oldest golf courses into hundreds of new homes.
They’re not alone. Read more:
The deed restrictions say no signs, but state law trumps that restriction. The law says all Florida homeowners can have one sign, provided by a commercial company. Read more:
In Boynton Beach, about 20 remaining owners of units in the Via Lugano condominium filed a lawsuit last month to try and block a Newton, Mass.-based company from using the state law to force them to sell their homes for fair market value. Read more:
An Anne Arundel County woman once honored for her activism pleaded guilty Thursday to misusing nearly $74,000 of her community association’s money. Wanda Brooks Hebron pleaded guilty to one count of theft scheme of more than $500 in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court.
Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Cogan said that from 2002 through 2009, Hebron used a debit card belonging to the Stillmeadows Condominium Association in Severn to make $73,943.12 worth of purchases at restaurants, gas stations and drug stores, and to pay cellphone bills. Some of the purchases were made in North Carolina, where Cogan said Hebron owned property.
Hebron was president of the association at the time and the charges were discovered after a new board member asked questions about finances. Hebron turned over bank statements, a checkbook and a cut-up credit card to the board, Cogan said. There were no invoices for most of the transactions. Hebron, 53, apologized in court, but after the hearing denied she was guilty. She said she never made purchases out of state and does not own property in North Carolina. Some of the purchases were for legitimate meetings at restaurants on behalf of the association, she said. Read more:
A candidate is crying foul after he says he was disqualified from the election for A Pocono Country Place Property Owners Association’s Board of Directors just as voting came to an end. Days before the results of the election were to be announced, an unknown challenger alleged he was not a “member in good standing,” said candidate Joe Kowalski, a Philadelphia resident who has owned property in APCP since 1983. At least one APCP resident and former board member has since challenged the disqualification.
Elections in private communities, which are plentiful across the Poconos, sometimes ignite deep controversy. Arrests came in May for ballot tampering in the Wild Acres Community Association in Dingmans Ferry. Kowalski said Thursday the number of votes cast for him has not been released, but he believes he may have finished first. The election for five seats on the board spanned more than a month starting in May, with ballots mailed to members.
Kowalski said he has been told the disqualification by the judge of elections was because he did not properly fill out paperwork and register the short-term guests who rent his properties. He said he is not accused of missing dues or any other financial issues, and the paperwork issues are minor. The alleged errors were also not enough to disqualify him from the election just two months earlier, he said. Read more:
CROMWELL >> A 58-year-old man is under arrest, charged with allegedly bilking a condominium complex where he worked as the property manager. The case against Lawrence S. Brown required long months of intensive investigation by then detective and now Sgt. Ryan Bengston, police said. And it underscores the need for businesses of all stripes “to have additional external checks and balances in place,” Police Chief Anthony J. Salvatore said. Brown, of South Windsor, was arrested 7:14 p.m. Sunday when he surrendered himself to police at headquarters.
Brown was charged in the warrant with one count each of second-degree larceny and second-degree forgery. The actions in question date back to late December 2011 and allegedly continued through April of 2012, when Brown was dismissed by a new management company which had taken over the Woodland Heights condominium complex, Detective Sgt. Kevin A. VanderSloot said. The 220-unit complex located off Shunpike Road comprises some 23 buildings in all. Read more:
Newly-passed legislation in Rhode Island prevents mortgage lenders that foreclose on a property from evicting residents without “just cause.” The bill was the work of the Tenant and Homeowner Association, a committee under Direct Action for Rights and Equality, or DARE.
The “just cause” bill has been in the works for six years, and is based on a similar law passed in Massachusetts in 2010. Read more:
HOA Reform Coalition 