If this doesn't inspire residents to rise up and replace their HOA board with something more humanoid, nothing will.
8 comments:
raven
said...
Beyond the Pale. 25 people? There is no way on earth any court is going to convict 25 people acting together. "Nobody saw nuttin'."
If you wondered how the (insert various tyrannies) stayed in power, this is why- slimy informants and petty block-watchers. You can see the rise of this crap, state sponsored for the most part, "Stop littering, be a HERO" call "Be a rat now", etc. Report this, report that.
My HOA also has rules against conducting business out of one's home. The reason for the rule is to stop businesses that have a lot of "foot traffic"- which for example would wreak havoc on parking spaces. I am one of a number of homeowners that work out of our homes via an online connection- and I was on the HOA Board for over a decade. Working online may violate the letter of the law, but it doesn't violate the spirit.One homeowner gives music lessons out of her home. How many lessons a week, I have no idea. As the music students are usually minors too young to drive, there is no problem w parking spaces.
Violation of HOA rules can result in fines, though they are rarely levied. Usually the threat of a fine suffices to get compliance. The protocol is that a warning letter is sent out about the violation. If the violation continues, there will be a fine.
For example, there was a tenant who created problems by hostile behavior arising from his habitual drunkenness. This tenant also called the police a number of times for alleged lawbreaking by other residents- but the police never arrested anyone as a result of his complaints. (It's hard to BS a cop.)A letter from our attorney to his landlord about threatening a fine got results. The tenant was on a month-to-month lease, which gave the landlord the authority to inform the tenant he had 30 days to leave. There was no fine, but the threat of a fine sufficed to stop the violation.
Theoretically, if a homeowner accumulated enough fine money, the HOA could foreclose for payment of the fines, but that has never occurred.
Do the rules of the HOA cited in the article go immediately from violation of rules to foreclosure? I find that hard to believe.
My opinion as an actual (former) TN HOA officer is that this alleged letter is completely fake. The moment I saw this I was under the opinion that it was an effort to frame someone and subject them to social-media mob-justice.
But that original post (and alleged homeowner) at reddit has disappeared at reddit several days ago – once it started getting too much daylight – and the responses there: https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/frzjxm/hoa_foreclosure_due_to_working_from_home_tn/
. . . are pretty much in agreement with me that one can't go from "we noticed a violation" to "foreclosure" like that - the actual law on the subject is reasonably well developed – and every HOA officer of more than a few months knows this well, from explaining patiently to neighborhood busybodies how few and constrained and expensive the HOA powers are in actual practice. You would many time-consuming opportunities to "cure" the problem before they could do anything detrimental to the property owner.
When we lived in TN, the house my wife fell in love with had an HOA, so I duly got myself onto the board at the next election.
We were pretty fortunate, there were some busybodies in the neighborhood, but fortunately there were enough high-interest normal people to fully populate the board with folks who just wanted an easy life, maintenance of the landscaping and sign at the entrance, and a no-pressure neighborhood social event once a year.
This is what I was talking about. Totalitarian values is not something properly imposed from the top, State, to the bottom. Rather, it works the best when the people at the bottom themselves demand that totalitarian power be enforced against their neighbors, lovers, and family. This was how the US Republic died. When the people gave all their power over to totalitarian evil Deep State trolls and puppets.
Fear not, humanity.
The Dawn is soon to come, after the Storm.
This will not be through the effort of the super majority because to be honest the majority is still in the Matrix and enslaved to the Evil Gods of imagination, but at least somebody did something that allowed humanity to Deserve Salvation.
This salvation is not a permanent parole. It is more like a second chance at being Tested. Humanity has failed numerous tests for Service to Self vs Other. But now there is one final test.
Human livestock slaves Obey their Authorities. Which is why I no longer hold any anger or hatred at the Deep State and the evil pawns of the gods. Because even the gods have problems deciding whether evil is Bhaal/Lord or good is Bhaal/lord.
It's just a plot for this universe. Something to be experienced.
It's just how it is. It is part of the Divine Plan. Why do people think almost every time an angel or arch angel was sent by the Most High or YHVH, one of the first things out of their mouths was "don't be afraid".
I have a love-hate relationship with HOAs. In the unincorporated area of my county, we have few effective tools to bring to bear against people who turn their lots into slums and make their neighbors miserable. HOAs are really good at addressing that problem. On the other hand, if you're not awfully careful, your HOA board will be taken over by mentally ill fussbudgets.
Depending on your state law, there probably are some decent due-process limits to your HOA's ability to foreclose on your home to enforce its picky rules, but never think it can't happen. I've seen an awful lot of horrifying foreclosure cases. The only safe HOA is one in which sane members of the community take the trouble to populate the board. Be particularly wary of an HOA run by a professional management company in a cozy relationship with a law firm that specializes in HOA board representation. The rules are always written to make it easy for the HOA to collect its legal fees from the value of your home. A pattern I saw over and over was the relentless accumulate of legal fees so that a $100 fine became an $8,000 legal fee over a period of a few months, in which the homeowner labored under the delusion that he could fight what seemed to be a ridiculous application of "public nuisance" citations. A humane board wouldn't let this happen, but not all boards are humane.
The deed restrictions on my property in my (a different) Texas county are hard to enforce in the absence of an HOA or comparable body. In my experience the restrictions benefit the developer; burden the homeowners, enrich the lawyers, and cause as many disputes as they settle. In situations where a management company figures into the loop, about 2/3 rds of fees collected go to the administrative staff and costs of the association while 1/3rd barely covers costs of "common areas".
8 comments:
Beyond the Pale.
25 people? There is no way on earth any court is going to convict 25 people acting together. "Nobody saw nuttin'."
If you wondered how the (insert various tyrannies) stayed in power, this is why- slimy informants and petty block-watchers. You can see the rise of this crap, state sponsored for the most part, "Stop littering, be a HERO" call "Be a rat now", etc. Report this, report that.
My HOA also has rules against conducting business out of one's home. The reason for the rule is to stop businesses that have a lot of "foot traffic"- which for example would wreak havoc on parking spaces. I am one of a number of homeowners that work out of our homes via an online connection- and I was on the HOA Board for over a decade. Working online may violate the letter of the law, but it doesn't violate the spirit.One homeowner gives music lessons out of her home. How many lessons a week, I have no idea. As the music students are usually minors too young to drive, there is no problem w parking spaces.
Violation of HOA rules can result in fines, though they are rarely levied. Usually the threat of a fine suffices to get compliance. The protocol is that a warning letter is sent out about the violation. If the violation continues, there will be a fine.
For example, there was a tenant who created problems by hostile behavior arising from his habitual drunkenness. This tenant also called the police a number of times for alleged lawbreaking by other residents- but the police never arrested anyone as a result of his complaints. (It's hard to BS a cop.)A letter from our attorney to his landlord about threatening a fine got results. The tenant was on a month-to-month lease, which gave the landlord the authority to inform the tenant he had 30 days to leave. There was no fine, but the threat of a fine sufficed to stop the violation.
Theoretically, if a homeowner accumulated enough fine money, the HOA could foreclose for payment of the fines, but that has never occurred.
Do the rules of the HOA cited in the article go immediately from violation of rules to foreclosure? I find that hard to believe.
My opinion as an actual (former) TN HOA officer is that this alleged letter is completely fake.
The moment I saw this I was under the opinion that it was an effort to frame someone and subject them to social-media mob-justice.
But that original post (and alleged homeowner) at reddit has disappeared at reddit several days ago – once it started getting too much daylight – and the responses there:
https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/frzjxm/hoa_foreclosure_due_to_working_from_home_tn/
. . . are pretty much in agreement with me that one can't go from "we noticed a violation" to "foreclosure" like that - the actual law on the subject is reasonably well developed – and every HOA officer of more than a few months knows this well, from explaining patiently to neighborhood busybodies how few and constrained and expensive the HOA powers are in actual practice. You would many time-consuming opportunities to "cure" the problem before they could do anything detrimental to the property owner.
When we lived in TN, the house my wife fell in love with had an HOA, so I duly got myself onto the board at the next election.
We were pretty fortunate, there were some busybodies in the neighborhood, but fortunately there were enough high-interest normal people to fully populate the board with folks who just wanted an easy life, maintenance of the landscaping and sign at the entrance, and a no-pressure neighborhood social event once a year.
http://www.thecommentator.com/article/7649/prepare_for_the_mother_of_all_s_t_storms_if_sweden_pulls_this_off?fbclid=IwAR2pof2-YNIXIquW8O3Ouf86XILu3nPnELnGAIa6TAG8-fpU5fz8ReM-B1s#.XogaZvbtILd.facebook
This is what I was talking about. Totalitarian values is not something properly imposed from the top, State, to the bottom. Rather, it works the best when the people at the bottom themselves demand that totalitarian power be enforced against their neighbors, lovers, and family. This was how the US Republic died. When the people gave all their power over to totalitarian evil Deep State trolls and puppets.
Fear not, humanity.
The Dawn is soon to come, after the Storm.
This will not be through the effort of the super majority because to be honest the majority is still in the Matrix and enslaved to the Evil Gods of imagination, but at least somebody did something that allowed humanity to Deserve Salvation.
This salvation is not a permanent parole. It is more like a second chance at being Tested. Humanity has failed numerous tests for Service to Self vs Other. But now there is one final test.
Report this, report that.
Human livestock slaves Obey their Authorities. Which is why I no longer hold any anger or hatred at the Deep State and the evil pawns of the gods. Because even the gods have problems deciding whether evil is Bhaal/Lord or good is Bhaal/lord.
It's just a plot for this universe. Something to be experienced.
It's just how it is. It is part of the Divine Plan. Why do people think almost every time an angel or arch angel was sent by the Most High or YHVH, one of the first things out of their mouths was "don't be afraid".
I have a love-hate relationship with HOAs. In the unincorporated area of my county, we have few effective tools to bring to bear against people who turn their lots into slums and make their neighbors miserable. HOAs are really good at addressing that problem. On the other hand, if you're not awfully careful, your HOA board will be taken over by mentally ill fussbudgets.
Depending on your state law, there probably are some decent due-process limits to your HOA's ability to foreclose on your home to enforce its picky rules, but never think it can't happen. I've seen an awful lot of horrifying foreclosure cases. The only safe HOA is one in which sane members of the community take the trouble to populate the board. Be particularly wary of an HOA run by a professional management company in a cozy relationship with a law firm that specializes in HOA board representation. The rules are always written to make it easy for the HOA to collect its legal fees from the value of your home. A pattern I saw over and over was the relentless accumulate of legal fees so that a $100 fine became an $8,000 legal fee over a period of a few months, in which the homeowner labored under the delusion that he could fight what seemed to be a ridiculous application of "public nuisance" citations. A humane board wouldn't let this happen, but not all boards are humane.
The deed restrictions on my property in my (a different) Texas county are hard to enforce in the absence of an HOA or comparable body. In my experience the restrictions benefit the developer; burden the homeowners, enrich the lawyers, and cause as many disputes as they settle. In situations where a management company figures into the loop, about 2/3 rds of fees collected go to the administrative staff and costs of the association while 1/3rd barely covers costs of "common areas".
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