Homeowners Associations Pervert Justice
by Melvyn KleinLink to article
The situation in Homeowners Associations across the country has much in common with the issues United Professionals is addressing. The manifestation is quite different, but the underlying cause is very much the same – the perversion of justice by the powerful and politically well-connected for their own benefit at the expense of ordinary people.
Homeowners Associations – condos in most cases, but co-ops as well – are governed by a Board elected by Association members in annual elections. The Board generally sets policy and oversees the affairs of the association, and controls the assets and finances of the association.
It won’t come as a surprise that there are cases where members of a Board grow fond of their authority, fond of controlling association funds, and are unwilling to step aside when time rolls around for the next election.
Homeowners Associations are governed by State law; in California, for example, there is a section in the Civil Code called Davis-Stirling that governs the operations in HOAs.
Davis-Stirling has rules governing elections; rules providing for member access to Association records; rules governing a members right to use of his own unit as well as common areas of the property; etc., etc.
There is one item missing in these laws – there are no provisions for enforcement. If a member believes his or her rights are violated, the recourse is to file a complaint with the Courts, which can be a prohibitively expensive and chancy proposition. Add to that the fact that a suit will be defended by the Board not with their own funds, but the funds of the Association, and, accordingly, the Board does not have the incentive to act responsibly that one would normally find in a party to a lawsuit. The Board can hire the best and most expensive law firms, spare no expense, and fight ferociously to have their way – at no cost to individual members of the Board.
The most obvious recourse open to members in the case of abuse is the annual election, when members of an abusive Board could be removed. But state laws generally allow the Board to conduct the election – and they cheat!
You would think legislators would have an almost personal interest in seeing to it that HOA laws they themselves wrote would be effective, and so would be sure to supplement the laws with enforcement legislation. But that ignores another powerful consideration: the interests of the legal community. The attorneys are very happy to have all these complaints herded into the Courts; these lawsuits buy attorneys a good living.
They do not want any enforcement mechanisms. Consequently, the attorneys come out in force to lobby legislators in opposition to any reform legislation providing for effective HOA law, and so that is how things remain.
The end result is that HOA Boards have tyrannical powers, and the consequences are what might be expected. A Board can deny members access to Association records. Those opposed to the Board can face denial of services and intimidating lawsuits. Association members can – and do – lose their homes over minor technical violations of Association rules. (And the Board can embezzle!)
The current situation in HOAs is a national disgrace, particularly since those most affected – those living in these properties – are often senior citizens. Yet association members have no real representation to call on. Republican legislators favor authority – the Boards, while Democratic legislators are supported by the attorneys benefiting from the corruption, so they too will not respond.
The situation in HOAs mirrors in many ways the problems faced by professionals, with health care and the like. We must find a way to force politicians to respond to our needs.
For more information, visit the American Homeowners Resource Center at www.ahrc.com.
Tags: home-owners-associations
July 25th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
I live in a community with a HOA. In fact, I was on the board for a few years. It’s no picnic. All our goal was to get people to clean up their yards and replace rusting/broken mailboxes.
We received phone calls and numerous complaints. They wanted MORE services, but didn’t want to pay more money. We were called names and in one instance, a person was thereatened with vandalism.
I was only on the board for three years (because no one else would do it), but I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
July 26th, 2007 at 11:15 pm
The author responds:
Marie is correct in stating that serving on the Board can be a terribly thankless task. In many cases only the best and most generous members of an association are willing to serve on an association Board. The article is certainly not meant as indictment of every Board and every Board member.
But there are cases where corrupt individuals take seats on a Board, often because other members are so reluctant to serve, and democratic measures to remove them are unavailable. That is the problem that needs to be addressed, and it is very serious problem.
August 5th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
I lived happily in a rural community on an island for 17 years about 50 miles east of D.C. During the last 2 years I was there, 2003-2005, 50 percent of the homes changed owners, partly due to foreclosures, partly to aggressive real estate agents. People from the D.C. area moved east to pick up the “bargains,” and brought their attitudes about real estate as asset, where before I had enjoyed living in a diverse community where people thought of their property as a home. They took over the HOA, tried to make the dues mandatory, aggressively policed the neighborhood for anything that would “lower their property value.” The treasurer spent in excess of $8,000 in community association dues to sue her neighbor for putting up a building they didn’t like, then appealed, again with association dues, when the suit was unsuccessful. I put up a small leanto greenhouse in my back yard, invisible from the street, and an HOA member trespassed through my property to look at it and accuse me of starting a business on my premises.
I gave up my home and moved north to a secluded property where I am left alone to have a HOME and my animals, and I consider myself very fortunate.
August 23rd, 2007 at 10:52 am
My parents live on a golf course that has a HOA. The HOA Board is obligated to provide for common maintenance including grass-cutting of all lawns, from which homeowners may NOT opt out.
The Board secretary routinely tells the grass-cutting service to stop cutting after her own yard is finished, saying that the grass isn’t tall enough to warrant the work. The mowers are paid full price anyway.
Two years ago, the HOA elected a new Board president, who asked to see the complete financial records. He was ousted by the remainder of the Board under its articles of impeachment, which do not require approval of the homeowners.