HOA Horror Stories and Advice

Off Topic
61

I used to have an HOA in my first place, a townhouse. It seemed nice because they took care of cutting the grass and I didnt have to shell out $$ for a lawnmower. But that was about all they would do. Cut the grass. One summer it was hot and the grass didnt grow much. They cut the grass once or twice all summer but we still had to pay the same fees. They did crazy shit like regulate the trees and plants in your yard. Sometimes they are necessary because you’ll have people park broken down cars in their yard.

My in-laws have a fucking crazy HOA though. Most recently my father in law put an American flag outside his townhouse on the Fourth of July. Within an hour of putting it out, he got a phone call from a board member telling him to take it down. They also have pine trees across the street from their unit, of which two were really dead. After telling the HOA to take them down and them refusing or ignoring, he did it himself. That didnt go over too well.

I think HOA’s are something you do once. Then never again.

62

Im in the military. I own a house in Florida, but am currently stationed in Belgium. My HOA assessment is once every 3 months. I forgot to make the payment in the first quarter after coming to Belgium, but made up for it in the second quarter. Little did I know, I was charged late fees for missing the first payment.

I made all subsequent payments on time after that. What the HOA never informed me, was that I was charged interest on my late fees, and all payments they received for my assessments went towards to interest and late fees, but never towards my assessment. This went on for a year until it stacked up to over $700.00 of interest compounded late fees.

Instead of notifying me first(I was never sent a notice) They hired a lawyer and served the papers to the tenants of my house. I was stuck with all the friviouls late fees and their damn court fees as well. All without one notice.

EDIT: On another rant, I have had them send me letters in the mail asking me to edge my yard. They even sent a blank letter head along with the message, asking me to tell them how I plan on rectifying the problem, mean while I have neighbors who’s yards have been overrun with weeds for months.

63

[quote]Eli B wrote:

[quote]pushmepullme wrote:

[quote]Spartiates wrote:
It seems that the only thing I can do is bring this developer/builder/property-management company to court every single time they violate the law. And of course, their pockets are much deeper than mine.[/quote]

Yep.

Depending on your laws, the Developer has to turn over a certain amount of control to the owners as it sells more units in the development. There are triggering percentages; these are probably also set out in your declaration.

Feel free to PM me to discuss this in more detail.[/quote]

Sorry if your tired of this but will he recoup lawyers fees from the HOA if he wins his cases?[/quote]

Depends on the individual HOA governing documents and/or the specific state statutes, and the judge’s discretion.

64

Here’s a story:

I live in a 4 unit building, two downstairs and two upstairs. The complex has 8 buildings total. We all split fees/bills for maintenance and groundskeeping and such. Well, the elevator in my building breaks down. There ARE stairs and it’s only one flight, but the residents of the upper two units complained and complained and eventually the HOA decides that my whole building will split the bill for fixing it.

Are you kidding me? I live on the 1st floor and obviously have never used the elevator. They’re trying to charge me something like 2 grand. It’s ridiculous. Needless to say, I’m trying to sell at the moment and will never live in a HOA-run environment again. Whoever said it’s all a bunch of old, retired types who run the meetings is exactly correct.

Pay for your own elevator.

P.S. Did you guys/girls hear about that 90yr old Medal of Honor recipient and his HOA harping on him for flying the American flag in his yard? The HOA and their attorneys were bombarded with colorful emails/calls/letters from around the country. Wonder what ended up happening.

Edited for clarity.

65

[quote]Rev1911 wrote:
Here’s a story:

I live in a 4 unit building, two downstairs and two upstairs. The complex has 8 buildings total. We all split fees/bills for maintenance and groundskeeping and such. Well, the elevator in my building breaks down. There ARE stairs and it’s only one flight, but the residents of the upper two units complained and complained and eventually the HOA decides that my whole building will split the bill for fixing it.

Are you kidding me? I live on the 1st floor and obviously have never used the elevator. They’re trying to charge me something like 2 grand. It’s ridiculous. Needless to say, I’m trying to sell at the moment and will never live in a HOA-run environment again. Whoever said it’s all a bunch of old, retired types who run the meetings is exactly correct.

Pay for your own elevator.

P.S. Did you guys/girls hear about that 90yr old Medal of Honor recipient and his HOA harping on him for flying the American flag in his yard? The HOA and their attorneys were bombarded with colorful emails/calls/letters from around the country. Wonder what ended up happening.

Edited for clarity.[/quote]

See, now I don’t know how I feel in this situation (the elevator one). The elevator broke, assumedly by no one’s fault. Why should the people that live up stairs have to foot the bill for it? It’s kind of like any other maintenance you pay for (flower, trees, lawn care, etc). The only part I have a problem with is that the HOA can’t take care of it from all past dues? That’s shitty to throw it on people and expect them to pay…

66

HOA’s are a bitch but there are some CITIES in the US that act like HOA’s with Taxes, Regulations, Mandates, and they will keep on stalking you if you ever cause 1 minor incident.

My story is like this:

I go to a college in a small town that houses students and natives alike. I decided to move in to the town for lower rent prices locally. Originally, i liv3ed in n apartment with a cool landord and didn’t have any problems. But, my friends and I decided to take over another group of peoples house that was just up the road. What the city decided NOT TO TELL US. Is that one of the former residents had a petition filed against the house so that students could no longer live there. So, they are evicting us not because of any trouble we caused but it was because we are students in the town. On top of that, the city has told us that only 4 people can live there…and it is a 6 bedroom home with 2 full kitchens 3.5 baths, and 2 living rooms. It’s a 3 story house. Then, every week some city employed prick would come by and tell us what was wrong with our house. They tried to get 2 of my roommates Disorderly Conduct Charges for hanging out on the front porch and drinking beer. We’re all 21. The most f***ed part of it all is that the apartment complex next door is section 8 and there are at least 5 cop cars outide of the complex daily. Not saying anything bad about section 8 housing but the city seems to have alot of other friggin problems to deal with.

67

[quote]coolnatedawg wrote:

[quote]Rev1911 wrote:
Here’s a story:

I live in a 4 unit building, two downstairs and two upstairs. The complex has 8 buildings total. We all split fees/bills for maintenance and groundskeeping and such. Well, the elevator in my building breaks down. There ARE stairs and it’s only one flight, but the residents of the upper two units complained and complained and eventually the HOA decides that my whole building will split the bill for fixing it.

Are you kidding me? I live on the 1st floor and obviously have never used the elevator. They’re trying to charge me something like 2 grand. It’s ridiculous. Needless to say, I’m trying to sell at the moment and will never live in a HOA-run environment again. Whoever said it’s all a bunch of old, retired types who run the meetings is exactly correct.

Pay for your own elevator.

P.S. Did you guys/girls hear about that 90yr old Medal of Honor recipient and his HOA harping on him for flying the American flag in his yard? The HOA and their attorneys were bombarded with colorful emails/calls/letters from around the country. Wonder what ended up happening.

Edited for clarity.[/quote]

See, now I don’t know how I feel in this situation (the elevator one). The elevator broke, assumedly by no one’s fault. Why should the people that live up stairs have to foot the bill for it? It’s kind of like any other maintenance you pay for (flower, trees, lawn care, etc). The only part I have a problem with is that the HOA can’t take care of it from all past dues? That’s shitty to throw it on people and expect them to pay…[/quote]

I see what you’re saying and I somewhat agree. We pay dues so we’ll have the funds to fix the necessary issues w/o having to pay extra out of pocket, right? However, who uses the elevator? How does an elevator eventually break? Through use, right? Maintenance and upkeep should be the responsiblity of those who actually use the item. Why should the people downstairs (who don’t even USE the elevator) have to pay for it? I understand the contracts and fine print and “we’re all in this together”-ness of the whole HOA deal, it just annoys me that this is something SOLELY used by the upstairs residents (being that it is an uppity-box… Simpsons reference, anyone?) and they expect the downstairs, non-users to help.

It’s somewhat akin to implying that your neighbor should help pay for your broken barbecue grill.

68

Revenge. Take it. Make them fear fucking with you. Don’t get caught. Make those fucking assholes lives a living hell.

If you are going to break the law, do it alone and don’t tell anyone…

That being said, EVERYONE has a weakness. Find it and exploit it. Give them pain and let them BEG you to take it away. Then paint your door whatever fucking color you want.

69

[quote]Pigeon wrote:

[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
Hardwood floors? Why the fuck would anyone care what flooring someone has in their own place?

Crikes, I’m glad I read this thread…[/quote]

If the guy that owns the condo above you has hardwood floors, the sound of them walking around is a lot louder than if they had carpet, particularly if there’s a woman with heels above you. Not saying they shouldn’t mind their damn business, but that’s the rationale. [/quote]

There’s a reason area rugs exist.