HOAs: The Slow Creep

It never surprises me when I get emails telling me how happy people are living in an HOA. After all Stalin remains revered.
Apathy serves people well. Stay out of the boards business, don't ask questions and when punished be submissive.
Here's another story to be heard in a court setting next week. Single woman lives in converted apartment-to-condo. Joined the board after attending a few seemingly okay board sessions. Then she reviewed finances and found the president was using community money to fly from 1st - 2nd Tucson home. She didn't like it, dared to question it and subsequently was thrown off the board. That wasn't enough for the board, so they used the Management Company and its contractors to park in her assigned parking spot. Arriving home she had to park in another spot. Then they (in cooperation w/the MC) began the fine scheme. At some point she called Pima County Sheriff when she saw her car being towed. The Sheriff stopped the action. She was smart enough to take over 500 images over 500 days of MC vehicles parked in her space. Long story short, board meetings she could attend for a hearing were scheduled, then shifted at the last minute to when she was out of town on business. Her voice was never heard. Her fines total over $2500. In the meantime she was seriously depressed.

Prior to her experience, she loved her home and community. How do you think she feels today? There are a myriad of tactics boards use to intimidate Members. Some MCs are known to pull a Members monthly assessment destroy it or return it; then the late fees, then the foreclosure. Some Boards intentionally stall projects. There's always selective enforcement ... boards and friends of the boards are exempt from CC&Rs, Rules & Regulations and Enforcement policy. Few, if any boards follow the State Statute Open Meeting laws and meet secretly. Nor do they allow Members to view all community documents required by State Statutes, you cannot possibly keep up w/the slippery excuses the MC will use to hide docs. The MC or board will feign cooperation, selecting certain docs deemed suitable for a Member to see. MC's work in tandem with what a board wants; it is unlicensed and unregulated. State Statutes have no teeth with no punishment for bad board or management company behavior. While the HOA community pays for MC service, it acts for the board. And if the board president says "hey, have your staff park in this particular parking spot", the MC will comply, even with visitor spots open.

Stay happy, apathetic and naive. It will serve you well; until you're the frog in the slow boil pot.

If you have a bully board or other contact HOATruth.com . Dennis Legere is not an attorney and does not offer legal advice, but he can provide resources. You can always reach me at EarsUp@iCloud.com (full disclosure ... I am not an attorney.)