Many of you who are interested in the hidden truth about HOA-Land are probably aware of the AARP report on member bill of rights written by David Kahane in 2006. You are probably unaware of the 2006 AARP amicus curiae brief filed in favor of the Twin Rivers, NJ homeowners.[i]
This landmark brief references Evan McKenzie, the Hannaman Report,[ii] CAI’s Wayne Hyatt (former president and designer of many governing documents especially for Del Webb properties),[iii] a 1989 Intergovernmental study on HOA private governments, and the Restatement Law: Servitudes. Co-attorney on the brief was Steven Siegel who wrote several legal journal articles on HOA constitutionality (1998 and 2008).[iv]
Where have all our lawyers gone? Long time passing. Where have all our lawyers gone? Long time ago. Where have all our lawyers gone? C A I beat them everyone.
Oh, when will we ever learn? Oh, when will we ever learn?[v]
I’ve always found this very troublesome. They have the credentials; we don’t! Complaining and shouting, We was robbed; this ain’t fair; this is not right; I have rights falls on deaf ears at the legislatures. Advocates have failed to make the case for the existence of a nationwide problem where legislatures permit the denial of homeowners’ fundamental and constitutional rights and freedoms, privileges, and immunities. And the courts look the other way for the most part.
And when reform bills of substance do make it into law, homeowners for the most part still remain silent and ignore the laws that give them fighting powers – laws passed recently in California, Nevada, Arizona, North Carolina, New Jersey, and Washington state.
References
[ii] See Rutgers Panel on Homeowner Association problems (pvtgov.org).
[iii] To be or not to be a mini or quasi government? Hyatt said ‘yes’.
[iv] Steven Siegel, “The Constitution and Private Government: Toward the Recognition of Constitutional Rights in Private Residential Communities Fifty years After Marsh v. Alabama,” Wm & Mary Bill of Rights J., Vol. 6, Issue 2 (1998). And The Twin Rivers Case: Of Homeowners Associations, Free Speech Rights and Privatized Mini-Governments, Paula A. Franzese and Steven Siegel, 5 Rutgers J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 630 (2008). Part of the issue on Homeowner Associations: Problems and Solutions.
[v] Paraphrase Where Have All the Flowers Gone, Peter, Paul and Mary.
HOA Constitutional Government 