President of HOA signing bylaw changes a year before he show them to members

Started by DebbieO2 • 14 replies • 1611 views

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DebbieO2 (Maine)
Posts: 5

Posted:

I need to know what can be done when the president of the HOA, attaches his new subdivision to our tiny HOA,that has no attorney,and responsibility for a one mile horseshoe shaped road. He has his own corporate attny rewrite the bylaws. President then files them with the state, attests they were voted on when the minutes reflect no such votes. Then files another bylaw amendment, again no notice, no votes, just his corporate attorney writing them. The filing dates with the registry of deeds are one year before the president finally presents the "new bylaws" to the association members for a vote. President writes and files a change of purpose to the articles of incorp, to make his new subdivision part of the original HOA (basically a road maint association). He then files it with the state, no notice, no votes. Then he presents it at a meeting and calls for a vote, note that the original road association members numbers 14 lots. His subdivision 1 & 2 now number 15 lots. And he fixes it so these subdivision lots are able to VOTE! He has everyone convinced he is doing everything legally and it is all just routine paperwork that he is doing. And says all these things were started by past owners (fairly new HOA) and are therefore all legal. I have pulled bunches of documents that show what he has done is illegal, but he accuses me of questioning his integrity and has convinced them I am a nutcase. No one wants to make waves so I am on my own. Many are out of state owners who don't want the hassle. Have gotten an attorney, but it is costing thousands. Contacted the Attny General, but was told that they won't enforce the laws, I have to get a private attny. Why are their laws that are supposed to protect the homeowners, but no one will do anything about enforcing the laws?

I feel violated and can't find the justice that I should be entitled to as a US taxpayer and citizen. I feel like suing the state for refusing to enforce laws they have made. I am at the mercy of this con man and can't get anyone to fight for justice. If anyone knows a way to tackle this problem I would love to hear from you. I have all the evidence, papers he signed, attested to, filed with the state registry of deeds, the minutes showing no votes, or mention of what he was doing. changes to Articles of Incorporation that show he is changing the purpose of the HOA from "to take care of Kezar Hgts road, and adding his two private roads as the Associations responsibility. He has manipulated and forced his way. Something detestable for the president of the association. His first meeting, he volunteered when the old president stepped down(buddies.) Out of state members don't want to get involved.
Don't know where to turn. The state has no desire to help. Talked with our US Senator and was told they would send my info to the Attny General, but then I got the "you are on your own" letter. This is not a controversy, this is fraud and illegal actions. Yet no one cares. How can I get them to care, and maybe even reimburse me for all the money I am putting into doing what the state should be doing.

RobertR1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 5,164

Posted:

DebbieO,
Should be DebbieWOW,
That is quite a tale and maybe someone can be more specific than I. I ask these questions because maybe it will awaken some new ideas about how to approach this.

First I have to ask how long have you been paying your Lawyer and what does he suggest? When you first talked to him did he say something like, "What do you want to do? I hope so. He should have some written answers by now. Has he written letters to anyone on your behalf? Does he say he is going to do something and never do it. Has he made you any promises? Has he said anything about making a formal petition to a Judge or something along those lines. I have no idea if what this guy is doing is right or wrong. I assume your association and this new association is still under developer control. Does your association have a separate set of documents. Have you been to the court house and followed the creation of your association through property, deed, and planning development records. What's the history of this developer in the court and property records.

You may think about lowering your sights a little and see if you can generate any interest in you local representatives (are you in the city limits or a township or something?). Maybe approach a local state representative and request he/she give you some kind of written response.

All just ideas and maybe you have considered all of them. How much support by individual owners do you have. Would the total number of units be something like 30 owners? How many support you, how many have you approached/ Have you personally called a townhall meeting to discuss this? Do you have any communication lines with the other owners? If you are under developer control, you can bet his lawyer is telling him what to do, but not always, find that out.

Finally, how much is all this changing your life, is it effecting property values, does it cost you more money, is there any liens against your association and what happens if you and your fellow owners do nothing, when is turn over date.

Personally, I think it is a raw deal, but easy for me to say, I can't change it. I am not sure all this that is going on is such a detriment to you as an owner, but I would be cautious calling a spade what you think is a spade, it may not be and the seemingly disinterest you are experiencing is simply that right now the decked is stacked in the developers favor and not all developers are bad and some even help.

MaryA1 (Arizona)
Posts: 7,043

Posted:

Debbie,

I don't know about your bylaws -- some can be changed by the BOD w/o a vote of the members, but the Articles of Inc. mostly require a vote of the members to amend. Check these documents and see what the requirements are for amending. If he has amended these docs illegally then the amendments are NOT binding. Also check out the CCRs about adding property to the assn as this may also require a vote of the membership.

I would have been very surprised had you said your AG was anxious to help you out. Mostly, AG's do not get involved with HOAs as they are private corps. I must commend you for wanting to get to the bottom of this, but if you can't find any other members of your HOA who will get involved then there isn't much you can do unless you alone are prepared to pay for a costly lawsuit. And, before you even go that route make doubly certain this guy really has broken the law and what he is doing is illegal.

One of the biggest problems of many HOAs is the apathy of the members. If the members don't want to get involved even when confronted with information that the BOD, or in your case the Pres, is not acting in the best interests of the assn and may even be acting in an illegal manner, there isn't much one person can do to right these wrongs. Sorry I don't have better news for you!

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,046

Posted:

Debbie,

Is the Declarant (developer) still in control of the Association or still have a majority of the votes?

Tim

DebbieO2 (Maine)
Posts: 5

Posted:

First thank you all for your responses, it helps more than you know. Yes the developer is still involved and so is his lawyer.

There is even more to this problem than I had written. This will explain why I am determined to continue the fight.

At the beginning there were large tracts of land abutting Kezar Hgts Rd (original road) that have since been sold and broken down into lots that are between 5 and 6 acres each. No lot can be less than 5 acres. I own one deeded 36 acre piece. The association determined that since my lot could potentially be 5 lots (I know....I could have 7 lots, but someone messed up the math early on) so they are charging me 5 assessments. I know, hard to believe. So they took me to small claims court to get the $2640 (one year's assessment, which is all the law says they can go after. My lawyer says they are trying to set a precedent and want to put a lien on my land. They are also trying to get legal fees. They have overcharged me over $15000 over the past 8 years. I also have no electric poles to my land,the association put them up to everyone else's land. I have a letter saying mine would be put up as soon as I paid $3000, I paid it when I bought the land in 2002, and still have no poles. When I was doing all the research to back up my case for no longer paying them anything, I found all the documents that were illegally filed, voted on months or years after he filed them. In court he used his filed documents to prove his case. My lawyer wanted to stay away from the validity of these documents so he wouldn't confuse the small claims judge. The court WAS confused and judge asked for both parties to write up closing arguments. The other side brought in info from failed mediation, that isn't even legal. They said I voted for these assessments which was a total lie, no paperwork to support the claim. The judge without even a word of a summary found in their favor on Christmas eve. I figure it was a way to get it off his to do pile before the holidays. So.....I am appealing, which is more and more money. My lawyer is okay, but doesn't have the fire I would like to see. I have another lawyer I heard good things about and may switch. Hard to swap horses mid stream though. Oh, both the by laws and the articles of incorp say one assessment per lot. This doesn't affect any other member so no one really cares. President has told everyone, I just want to get out of paying my fair share. Tells them all their assessment will go up if mine is reduced. Of course the ones that come to the meetings are mostly the ones that are on his two private roads that need access over Kezar Hgts road to get to the town road.
The associations paperwork is the same as mine, just no one will bother to read it. Of course only the board has all the minutes and stuff. And no one has even seen the deeds that he had his sister in law (he made her treasure) signed on behalf of the association giving him deeded rights to Kezar Hgts road. And I don't think the KH Rd abutters know about the deeds that he added info too before he attached their signatures and filed it with the registry of deeds.

It just seems like someone in the govt should care, but it seems no one does. I can't believe he can put up a charismatic smoke screen and everyone including a judge falls for it.

I am now planning on contacting the Secretary of State of Maine, as I found a statue on filing false statements with their office. Which he has done repeatedly.
The Registry of deeds says they have no control and just trust people will file true documents. (roll your eyes here).

I will also take the advice to look into state representatives to see if they might help me.

This guy is a major con man and if he has it his way, I will be paying 5 times my share of my road, which I don't use as there are no buildings, or any improvements, just woods. And also 5 times for the HIS roads, that I will NEVER use or have any use for. And no one cares. Thanks in advance for any other comments you might post.

DanielH1 (California)
Posts: 482

Posted:

In essence, you're a private investor in a private company who is being shafted by the Board and the majority shareholders.

You don't deserve what is happening to you but, in terms of laws and government, they think that you should able to take care of yourself.

People get scammed and abused in business deals all the time. But the rationale (sometimes unfairly) goes: only rich people can afford to be in business so they are rich enough to hire lawyers and defend their own interests.

I know that a HOA seems to have nothing to do with companies or business but this explains why nobody will help you.

DonnaS (Tennessee)
Posts: 5,671

Posted:

Debbie,
To make it short and sweet, as long as the developer has not turned control over to the association, he is the only person who can change the documents, change the phisical plan of the developement, change the rules and charges and basically change what he wants to. He is President of your Board and he is allowed to be. You being a law abiding , tax paying citizen of the United States has no bearing on your plight against this guy.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,046

Posted:

Debbie,

This is why I had asked if the developer was still involved or in control. Until the development is turned over to the homeowners completely, or have more number of votes than the developer does, what they say goes. It's not fair that they are changing the documents you initially agreed to, but that is how it works.

Tim

MaryA1 (Arizona)
Posts: 7,043

Posted:

Debbie,

IMO, your first order of business is to get your lawsuit straightened out. Has your lawyer filed an appeal? It seems to me your deed would proof that you purchaed only one lot and not 5 or 7. If you had purchased more than one lot you would either have a deed for every lot or one deed that specifies the lot numbers of each lot.

The statement from the Registry of deeds is not uncommon. The officer personnel cannot tell whether or not a document being recorded is legal or not. Their only job is to record the documents presented to them.

As for state government not caring about your problems, as I stated earlier, HOAs are private corps and the AG does not get involved in adjudicating disputes. It's not just the state of Maine it's every state that I know of. Perhaps you may have a case against the developer thru the Sec of State for filing false statements but that won't help your lawsuit with your 35-acre parcel. Again, I would suggest you concentrate on that before trying to solve the problems the developer has created with the HOA. Regarding that, if none of the other members care about what he has done then it will be very difficult for you to do anything. Have you checked to see what the requirements are to add parcels to the HOA -- it should be spelled out in the CCRs and to amend the Articles of Inc? Both should require a vote of the members.

DebbieO2 (Maine)
Posts: 5

Posted:

Thanks to everyone, especially MaryA1, for taking the time to talk about this. It is always good to get other opinions.

A note to Tim and Donna. This guy is the developer of the adjacent subdivision, he is not the developer of the original subdivision, the one I am in. He had nothing to do with setting up the initial HOA for Kezar Hgts Road. He had a lot with access onto Kezar Hgts Rd, made a subdivision out of it, then bought more land adjacent to this subdivision and made another subdivision. He put in two private roads off Kezar Hts (which he needed to reach the town road). Then he basically conned his way into adding his roads to the Kezar Hgts road association. Wrote up the changes to the associations bylaws and articles of incorp, filed them with the state. A year later, he has brought all his lot owners into the association, he had them all vote to change the ORIGINAL bylaws and articles. Something that only the original Kezar Hgts road abutters had the legal right to do. He convinced everyone that everyone on his private roads is entitled to the right to change these documents. He had his corporate lawyer write all this up and file it with the state. All attested to, signed and filed with the state a year before it was ever brought up at a meeting. This guy is slick. Then con men usually are. AND EVERYONE believes him. It is unreal.

Yes, my lawyer did file the appeal and I am waiting to see if the court will allow it. If that fails then I have two alternatives. One is to show the judge that it is a financial hardship and let me pay them $20 a month on their award from the judge.
Then they will be forced to take me to court again and again each year.
Or I could just try and file a lawsuit against him for attaching my name to a deed that I didn't sign, and then filing it with the state.

It looks like there is no way out without paying a lawyer big bucks. So I may have to just suck it up and use my home equity to fund this project. I just know I can't stand by and let him get away with this.

MaryA1 (Arizona)
Posts: 7,043

Posted:

Debbie,

I can tell you this really bothers me -- big time! Have you looked at your deed? How does it read -- one parcel or 5-7? I really think that is the key to resolving this issue and can't imagine why your lawyer didn't check that out. Of course I may be all wet -- I'm not a lawyer.

DebbieO2 (Maine)
Posts: 5

Posted:

Yes, my deed says one lot or parcel. The articles and bylaws say the same thing. Any Map on record shows one parcel. The lawyer does know all this. He has presented it to the court. But the judge just asked me if anyone else was complaining? Being illegal doesn't seem to matter. I got the feeling that he liked the con man and didn't believe the woman, even though I had all the documents proving what I was saying. I tried to attach copies of the articles and by laws to show you, but i just get error messages. If you want to give me an email I could send them that way.

I know the judge never looked at the paperwork, he couldn't have. I'd like to send along the closing argument that my lawyer wrote and sent to the judge. As well as the appeal info. It amazes me that I even have to appeal this, I have to pay again to get a judge to look at paperwork that should have been a slam dunk in court.

They kept on insisting that the president was doing his best and what he did was for the best interest of the association. My lawyer even asked him if what he had done with the association increased the value of his subdivision and he said yes.

I get so angry every time I think about this, you cannot believe the frustration. And on top of it all I'm a 100% disabled vet, (air force) and have even had to go to the ER, not getting enough O2 because of the stress on deteriorating muscles. Hard not to get stressed about this. It's like a bad movie.

MaryA1 (Arizona)
Posts: 7,043

Posted:

Debbie,

Well, all I can say is good luck with your appeal. It's sad to say but not all judges always do the right thing. I guess requiring you to pay higher assessments would be good for the assn as it would give them more money but that doesn't make it legal. Sheesh!!

DebbieO2 (Maine)
Posts: 5

Posted:

Thanks for your understanding. If you would like I can update you with what happens. I think it is important for others to see that this could just as easily happen in their associations.

Thought for the day:

When asked if your HOA's has a bigger problem with apathy or ignorance?
Do members respond....I don't know and I don't care?

MaryA1 (Arizona)
Posts: 7,043

Posted:

Debbie,

Yes, please do keep us informed. Good luck to you! :-)

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