Contingency Attorney for rampant HOA corruption > HOA Forum

Unanswered

Active Topics

Forums

Forums > Homeowner Association > HOA Discussions

Subject: Contingency Attorney for rampant HOA corruption

Prev Next

You are not authorized to post a reply.

Page 2 of 2

Author

Messages

RobertR1
(South Carolina)

Posts:5164

09/19/2007 8:39 AM
Lisa, No problem with everyone entitled to an opinion, but right or wrong stretches the purpose of this site and any other site that is well managed. We, hopefully, are dedicated to provide good advice, not good and bad advice. Granted, if you provide advice to the best of your knowledge, thats all you can do. But the checks and balances on this site provide smart people that may know more than we do, and don't mind telling us. That is also the reason this site is effective, I welcome corrections and comments.

LisaS
(Illinois)

Posts:341

09/19/2007 9:58 AM
Thanks Robert...for the record I wasn't referring to right or wrong advice;-) I was referring to the opinions regarding Board members all being incompetent, or having bad intentions, etc. That's subjective I too believe that this Board should provide information to the best of the giver's knowledge!!

MaryB4
(Florida)

Posts:12

09/19/2007 11:30 AM
LisaS.....you are so right...you are a girl that knows REALITY!

RonaldW
(South Carolina)

Posts:901

09/19/2007 4:11 PM
Posted By MaryB4 on 09/08/2007 12:56 PM Cut the crap....most HOA Boards are made up of people who have an agenda....NO ONE WITH ANY SENSE REALLY WANYS TO BE ON A BOARD, only those who are control freaks and people powerless in life individuals pursue being on the Board. Thank you for the kind words. I was nominated and elected to our BOD. I didn't plan on it, but not enough people volunteered. The first year, I was Vice President. Now, I am the president. I created and published our association website on my own time with my own software. I created and continue to update a database with property and member information. I write and mail the violation letters and occasionally letters of praise. I use my own printers and toner. I hold the meetings in my home. I spend time corresponding with board members, our attorney, property owners, and contractors. I listen to complaints from members who don't understand the concept of an HOA or covenants. I am retired so I don't really need "power in life". I had it in my position before I retired. I admit to having an agenda and I'll tell anyone who asks. My agenda is to protect the neighborhood from the downhill slide I have observed in many neighborhoods nearby. This is my retirement home as it is for many of my neighbors. We don't want to have to pack up and move in our old age and we don't want to be left living in a community where vehicles are parked on the lawns or left on blocks, where houses and yards have fallen into disrepair, or where piles of garbage and trash are left out every day of the week. In my short career as an HOA board member, none of the other members I have served with have had any agenda other than one similar to mine. They have all been "good people". I have been a member of this forum for quite a while. I believe most of the complaints about board members or HOAs are from people who don't understand the concept, have run afoul of the HOA, or just don't agree with the majority of the members and want their own way.

Ron SC

RonaldW
(South Carolina)

Posts:901

09/19/2007 4:38 PM
Posted By MaryB4 on 09/09/2007 2:09 PM Poor Melissa, you just don't get it! I venture to say you were one of the incompetent Board members. That was a stupid analogy! I don't care if a Board member is my best friend (I wouldn't be friends with an idiot)....no excuses...anyone and I mean ANYONE should be held accountable for their actions especially when acting for a group of residents. You didn't remember about assuming sweetie...you don't know the problems, community, class of people..etc. that I have personally dealt with. When you have given "every benefit of a doubt" pretty soon you run out. Ask other HOA members....one bad apple can cause a multitude of problems....especially if the rest of the Board are the "go along to get along types"....sorta sounds like You. Mary, You certainly have some issues but I don't understand why you bring them here. Look at the top of the page. After "Welcome to HOATalk.com!" Do you fit into this target audience (community association leaders)? Or did you join HOATalk just to complain about your HOA? Did you read your CC&Rs before you purchased your property or do you have buyer's remorse? There are many websites for disgruntled homeowners to post their gripes and wallow in their collective misery. Why not just take your rants where they are welcome?

Ron SC

RonaldW
(South Carolina)

Posts:901

09/19/2007 4:41 PM
Posted By DouglasP on 11/28/2006 5:27 PM I am looking for an attorney who is very familiar with HOA laws such as the Davis-Stirling Act, SB 61 and CA civil codes pertaining to CID's. The Board has blatantly broken the new election law ........ You are really looking for an attorney? Most cities and towns have a lawyer referral service that can help you select an attorney who will fit your needs. Look in the yellow pages.. No need to tell us about it.

Ron SC

MaryB4
(Florida)

Posts:12

09/20/2007 9:25 AM
Mary, You certainly have some issues but I don't understand why you bring them here. Look at the top of the page. After "Welcome to HOATalk.com!" MY PRIMARY REASON WAS TO SEEK INFO FROM OTHERS WHO HAVE BEEN FORCED TO GO TO LITIGATION BECAUSE OF A CORRUPT BOARD...GOING TO THE ORIGINAL THREAD...YOU WOULD SEE THAT MELISSA SAYS THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO REASON TO PURSUE LITIGATION...THIS IS NO HELP Do you fit into this target audience (community association leaders)? Or did you join HOATalk just to complain about your HOA? Did you read your CC&Rs before you purchased your property or do you have buyer's remorse? ! YES..2.NO..3.YES...4.NO There are many websites for disgruntled homeowners to post their gripes and wallow in their collective misery. Why not just take your rants where they are welcome? HOW NASTY....YOU CAN ALWAYS TELL WHEN YOU HIT SOMEONE'S HOT BUTTON...LOOKS LIKE IT WAS TOO CLOSE TO HOME FOR YOU. WAIT UNTIL YOU'VE BEEN ON THE BOARD MORE YEARS,SEEN TURN-OVER OF RESIDENTS, GOTTEN THAT BAD APPLE ON BOARD. I INVITE YOU TO COME TO ONE OF OUR BOARD MEETINGS ...YOU'D BE APPALLED! I THINK YOU FIT INTO THE CATAGORY OF NEVER GO TO LITIGATION SO THERE'S NO POINT IN ASKING FOR INFO HERE.

RonaldW
(South Carolina)

Posts:901

09/20/2007 10:50 AM
Posted By MaryB4 on 09/08/2007 4:14 PM Melissa, did you go to the ABC web site: ......... I'm sorry but I'm telling it like it is.. ........... Mary, You are telling it like you think it is, not necessarily how it really is. Often there is a difference. You have come to this forum to slander many hard working, dedicated volunteers who care about their communities and spend many hours (and often many dollars of their own money) to keep them running as smoothly as possible. If you believe that you have a specific issue with members of your association's board, by all means, do what you can to resolve the issue. If you cannot get other community members to go along with you, it may not be because of apathy, it may be that the just don't agree with you. BTW: It's not necessary to type in ALL CAPS. It's considered "yelling" on the Internet. Perhaps that was your intention?

Ron SC

RobertR1
(South Carolina)

Posts:5164

09/20/2007 11:16 AM
MaryB4, Lord knows I am no big fan of ineffective boards, and I sense none would argue with that. You don't have to agree with everyone here to benefit from the site. Some forget the Board is under the gun, just as the city council is under the gun. I don't always agree with them either. I don't expect the board to agree with me all the time. Dr. Phil says, "No matter how thin you make a pancake, it will have two sides." But we do not live in HOA's to right all wrongs in six weeks. We normally don't pick our neighbors and sometimes they don't please us, but most of the time a little patience results in a more congenial relationship, just like the relationship with a board. We can change the board easier than we can change our neighbors if we elect to stay put. Your Board may need some new members, I don't know, but my experience is that if any elected official is left too long in office, they will become ineffective. We have term limits for president, in an HOA we should have term limits for all board members. But, what you have and what you should have don't always turn out that way. I also believe Mary, we are suffering from bad legislation through-out the world of HOA's. It is changing little by little now, but when the scale of numbers of people start to weigh in there is going to be major changes, probably from the Feds on down, and the states will have similar documents. All this means is we have to realize this is a long term comittment and we just have to keep knocking at the door and take one step at a time. If you have a bad Board member, remove him, you may have to demonstrate your crtedibility to do this, but don't paint the site or your HOA with a big brush, use a little one.

MaryB4
(Florida)

Posts:12

09/20/2007 11:47 AM
all caps to differentiate between your voice and mine.... You seem very hostile for some reason...I'm part of a large group pursuing litigation (how else do you think we could fund it?) And of course all avenues were pursued before litigation...but with one hard headed individual controlling the Board and calling the shots, we were forced to go to litigation

MaryB4
(Florida)

Posts:12

09/20/2007 12:00 PM
Thanks Robert, for being the voice of reason and not taking everything personally. There is a time and place for litigation and in some instances that's all you have left. Surf the web and you'll see that there is more dissatisfaction with HOA Boards than ever before. (smallest brush I could find)

RonaldW
(South Carolina)

Posts:901

09/20/2007 12:27 PM
Posted By MaryB4 on 09/20/2007 11:47 AM all caps to differentiate between your voice and mine.... You seem very hostile for some reason...I'm part of a large group pursuing litigation (how else do you think we could fund it?) And of course all avenues were pursued before litigation...but with one hard headed individual controlling the Board and calling the shots, we were forced to go to litigation Your "large group" is apparently not large enough to elect different people to the board. People who feel the way you do. Why is that? Sometimes in life, things don't go the way we wished they would. My parents raised me to understand that. Perhaps when you were young you got everything your way. Our board consists of five members and no one "hard headed individual" can negate the opinions or votes of the other four. Generally, we se eye to eye on issues, but when we don't, we take a vote and the majority wins. Hostile? You are the one who started disparaging board members, not me. Best of luck with your litigation. If you win, you cost your neighbors money. This could make for some uncomfortable situations in the neighborhood. If you loose, it costs you and your friends money and still makes for some uncomfortable situations.

Ron SC

SladeS
(Georgia)

Posts:1

09/21/2007 1:59 PM
I too am on the Board for my Association - President. I became President because no-one else would do it. I am probably incompetent at it, but I never claimed competence. I certainly make my best earnest effort to acquit my duties and represent the wishes of the Members in accordance with our bylaws, etc. One thing I have found is that on any given issue, for each possible 'side', there are going to be adherents, *and* whatever decision the Board ends up making, more often than not there is at least one person (often several) among those whose 'side lost', who will allege or imply Board corruption, hubris, etc. This is not to say Board members aren't human, that our own biases, perception colorings, etc. don't inform our decisions. But I know I'm not corrupt, and I have seen zero indication that any of my fellow Board Members are corrupt. I would agree 100% with MelissaB about some stuff. It seems like some (not all, not the majority, but some) Members view the Board as 'owners and landlords', and seem to think that we make decisions to benefit ourselves. As an example, we have Members who are just not paying their dues: they are not going through hard times, they are not withholding dues because they believe they are not owed; they simply are not paying them, despite repeated attempts to reasonably work out a solution. When we floated the idea to begin to enforce dues paying more strictly - by levying penalties, and in extreme cases getting liens and suspending privileges that the dues paid for (like parking, etc.), there were Members in good standing who nevertheless wrote us emails saying these were 'Gestapo-like' tactics. The wierd thing to me about this is: those who refuse to pay their dues are adversely affecting *the entire community, not just a couple of Board Members. Our Association, like a lot of Associations, does not have nearly enough in reserves just to deal with the known 'aging issues' - a cracked parking lot that has about five years of structural soundness left, a pool whose bottom is shifting and probably not 'up to code', etc. - not to mention the recommended amount to deal with contingencies and emergencies, etc. And we currently have over $40,000 of outstanding dues. So those who don't pay their dues are unfairly forcing the entire community* to subsidize them. Yet perfectly reasonable measures to act in the Association's interest are viewed by some as 'Gestapo-like'. I just don't get it. So the short of my long-winded rant? If you are a Member and you don't like how things are going, **get involved. If the Board truly is corrupt or is acting 180 degrees contrary to the general wishes of the Members, there are mechanisms to deal with that - approximate and not immediate, but very effective. And I'm no expert, but my general experience 'with the world' says that solving issues as amicably as possible is better for everyone involved. And logically it is true: when you sue your HOA you are suing yourself. Anyone can quibble over the semantics, but no-one can argue that you are not going to have to help foot the very same legal bill that you are having to create. This posting might be contrary to the purposes of the forum, but this is my first visit and after reading the thread there was no way I could not** post my opinion; I appreciate the lenience.

RobertR1
(South Carolina)

Posts:5164

09/21/2007 4:01 PM
Slade, You should be able to keep everyone in line with a name like "SLade." I just finished watching "High Noon" again and if Gary Cooper would have been called Slade, that bad guy would have never gotten off the train. As people are geneticly programed to know the problem in most situations and can tell you how to solve that problem, the hard part is effecting a solution. We tend to think that anything written in legalise carries the power of the Lord, so we make the same mistakes over and over believing in so called, "Laws" and "Regulations" and "Restrictions" and "Covenants" are cast in stone. I moved into my condo 17 years ago, there had never been a sustanial change in our documents until around 2001, that's 20 years from creation of the association. Twenty years of I don't know how many people on the Board, or how many managers, or how many attorneys, or how many hundred owners purchased property here. I makes no difference if you are an owner or board member, you can look at that one fact and conclude with certainity something needed to be changed after 20 years. It took nearly ten years to get the boards to agree to a study of our documents. I don't know how true that is all over the country but it was true here. We are finally starting to run the place as a business and to be honest, we may have picked up five owners that are showing interest in what is going on. I am happy. A strange thing happened during this time period. A couple folks set up a web site outside the Boards authority and had a comments section. There were e-mails flying everywhere and the Board condemmed the site and some people supported the site, much more for than against. This went on for months until the annual meeting and the folks that put up the site offered it (AGAIN) to the Board and agreed to run it for the Board. The Board would not hear of a Comments Board, but our BOD has started to utilize this great tool of communication and after some rough times and a good addition to the Board things are looking up. Long way to go to catch up for mis-management but we will make. I say mis-management because we have been paying $500/year special assessment for 6 years and are probably going to add to that this year. We have a clear long range plan, the folks that cared are watchful and hopeful, but I don't think all this stuff touched the majority of owners and if you asked them today, what went on, they couldn't tell you. So, you are in good company here and you will finds lots of good information.

AnneT

Posts:0

01/08/2012 8:58 PM
Posted By MelissaP1 on 09/09/2007 1:35 PM All have left to say on this matter is what if your mother was a board member of your HOA, would you feel the same about board members and BOD's? The fact is the people on your HOA board and in your membership are your neighbors. Treat them as such. When dealing with your BOD, treat them like you want them to treat you. You come to a meeting with a negative attitude calling everyone incompetent expect the same treatment of you from them. I would expect someone who doesn't like their board not knowing their board. If you had a good friend and neighbor on that board would appreciate someone calling them names and incompetent? I think not. BOD members are human too. We live where we work. And like any "dog", we don't crap where we live and we don't pick up yours either. "Treat them like you want them to treat you. You come to a meeting with a negative attitude calling everyone incompetent expect the same treatment of you from them." "If you had a good friend and neighbor on that board would appreciate someone calling them names and incompetent? I think not." omg - that is really rich coming from you. I've seen 3 discussions you've "participated" in (one of them being mine) and in each one you've been pretentious (always reminding everyone MULTIPLE TIMES you were a Former President) and argumentative and ALWAYS assume the person who asked the question/started the thread is either mistaken, stupid or just doesn't "get it" like you do. So YOU reminding people not to do just that, i.e. treat everyone as an incompetent and call them names, is truly hypocritical on your part. I'm curious why you felt it necessary to have a male nom de plume. Did he serve as your backup to validate all your claims? My guess is probably so. You have a serious problem lady - you're a very narcissitic individual with visions of grandeur. The usual reason for that is to be your own cheerleading squad to pump up your deflated ego and lack of feelings of self-worth. YOU need help. The kind you won't get here because nothing anyone says to you makes a difference. Everyone else is wrong and you're always right. Good luck surviving life with that attitude.

AnneT

Posts:0

01/08/2012 9:04 PM
Posted By RonaldW on 09/19/2007 4:41 PM Posted By DouglasP on 11/28/2006 5:27 PM I am looking for an attorney who is very familiar with HOA laws such as the Davis-Stirling Act, SB 61 and CA civil codes pertaining to CID's. The Board has blatantly broken the new election law ........ You are really looking for an attorney? Most cities and towns have a lawyer referral service that can help you select an attorney who will fit your needs. Look in the yellow pages.. No need to tell us about it. omg - someone else clued me in to your male alter ego you created but didn't say who it was. Now I know. You sound just as pretentious and know-it-all as a male as you do as a female. Wonder which is the real you? My bet is on Melissa. Not too many guys are as "snippy" as you. Who will you come after me with next, which one will it be? Well at least I know who/what I'm dealing with. Thanks for the revelation.

You are not authorized to post a reply.

Page 2 of 2

Forums > Homeowner Association > HOA Discussions > Contingency Attorney for rampant HOA corruption