Tag: Florida

Restoring American principles and way of life in HOA regimes

This is another HOA Enlightenment Movement article on speaking frankly and openly about HOA abuse, about common sense and reasonableness, about the rejection of the HOA attorney insistence on CC&Rs enforcement uber alles, and about legal decisions concerning the rights, freedoms, privileges and immunities of those living in HOAs who have not surrendered their US citizenship.  The fact that the media are publishing more and more about “the Truth in HOAs” signals the twilight of the unspoken alliance of  “No Negatives About HOAs.”  It’s about time!

I congratulate the author, Eve Samples, for spreading the word about this event where it cost an HOA $250,000 in legal fees over a homeowner’s screen doors.  I congratulate Martin County, FL Judge Roberts for her perspective that returns America to the people and not defend these usurper HOA private governments. I congratulate TCPalm for publishing this return to sanity incident.

Judge Roberts held that the HOA was

championing the letter over the spirit, evasion over the truth and quibbling over common sense. . . . The truth, despite evasive answers to the contrary, is that he [the homeowner] was never going to get approval, and rather than deal with that issue directly, the petitioner [HOA] chose subterfuge to create the impossibility.

The HOA president, a True Believer, said she would not change her attitude.   “[I would change] Nothing, to be honest with you, because the violation was there.” The new president, a Reformer, believes that,

it might be reasonable to ask residents to vote on legal action that exceeds a certain dollar amount. . . .  to have litigation reviewed by experts other than the association’s attorneys, to ‘see if the association’s position really is well founded.’ 

(This is a direct reference to the rules of civil court, generally R 11(a) requiring the attorney to make a reasonable inquiry into the facts.)

Those seeking justice and fair play in their HOA should spread this Commentary to all other interested parties to help them see the light.  We all are Americans living under the US Constitution, and must be subject to the equal application of the laws, not to special real estate laws.

And the HOA Enlightenment Movement grows . . .

A few more enlightenment articles (see the age of HOA enlightenment is coming?) by the legal-academic aristocrats have appeared in the media and on the internet. Among these modern pretenders to Philosopher-Kings, the Adams-Kessler (Calif.) blog warns about HOA managers engaging in the unauthorized practice of law, Managers Practicing Law.  Then there’s the past president of CAI “Central,” Ellen Hirsch de Haan, at the infamous Florida lobbyist law firm of Becker & Poliakoff on the need for neighborhood watch group oversight. Guard yourself from lawsuits against your HOA.

And more websites and bloggers are adding to the coverage of the Real Stories of HOA-Land, like with, Think Twice Before Placing Blame on Owners.   Congratulations!   The media has also been providing increasing attention to the real happenings in HOA-Land rather than just mouthing the pro-HOA “party line.”    

And so must all those homeowner rights advocate websites join in the Enlightenment Movement today!  At least post these enlightenment articles.  Let your followers know that these legal-academics didn’t wake up a few days ago and say, My God!  Look what’s going on in HOA-Land!   That they have been deceived all these years!

the age of HOA enlightenment is coming?

I’m beginning to see more and more evidence of enlightenment by pro-HOA supporters. The dogmatic insistence on enforcing the CC&Rs is falling away to a proper concern for the principles of democratic government and the fair and just treatment of homeowners. The strict view of the covenants is weakening.   There is a growing awareness that HOA boards are governed by other laws and ethical and moral considerations, if indeed HOA regimes are to meet the CAI propaganda of vibrant and harmonious communities.

The Berding-Weil blog, Condo-issues.com (California), shows recent evidence of this enlightenment as is recent posts introduce a degree of reality of events. Now, Donna DiMaggio Berger in Florida reminds boards of good government practices with,

Lastly, when you poll your community members and they voice an opinion on a proposed course of action, boards who disregard that input do so at their own peril. This is not to suggest that the membership must be polled on every course of action, particularly on routine maintenance which is one of a board’s main functions, but if you ask for input on discretionary spending it’s probably best to heed the message your members delivered.

 Avoiding the appearance of self interest as an association director

 Wow! What a thought — poll your community! Why didn’t I think of that very democratic tool? As claimed, the HOA board is the representative of the owner-members. Gee, asking for input is a radical suggestion for an undemocratic corporate form of government. Long overdue as HOA regimes are de facto political governments. Congratulations Donna! Excellent message for HOA boards as HOA member servants.

Now, Mr. Berding, why didn’t you address the recognition of the HOA de facto government in your “Reform Community Associations?” post? After all, you do hold a PhD in Government from the prestigious Claremont School. Your message was that HOAs were too big to fail, and we all have to live with the way things are.

 Every year the California legislature, and the legislatures of other states tinker with the enabling statutes for homeowner’s associations, but these efforts are usually paternalistic, constituent-favoring amendments that do little or nothing to solve the fundamental problems.

 How about the simple amendment that would go a long way to solving problems by restoring the equal application of the laws and due process protections of the 14th Amendment to homeowners, as it should be, and create a unified country rather than a myriad of independent HOA principalities?

The association hereby waivers and surrenders any rights or claims it may have under law and herewith unconditionally and irrevocably agrees 1) to be bound by the US and State Constitutions, and laws of the State within which it is located, as if it were a subdivision of the state and a local public government entity, and 2) that constitutional law shall prevail as the supreme law of the land including over conflicting laws and legal doctrines of equitable servitudes.  

HOA member Declaration of US and State citizenship.

 

Why did the judge allow seizure of HOA member’s home for rent payments?

In continuing my mission as a homeowner rights advocate and activist, rather than taking the politically correct stance of “one of the boys”  and we are all in this together kumbaya, allow me to dig a little deeper into the Florida HOA takeover of a homeowner’ home.  (See Behold the power of the HOA over your private property).

My thanks to Florida attorney Jean Winters’ who directs her blog readers’ to the Florida law in question, FS 720.3085.  Another statute that reflects a pro-HOA public policy.  (Does F.S. 720.3085 allow an HOA to take possession of a homeowner’s home and bar her from her own property? )   

Winters’ rightfully questions the judge’s order to grant HOA possession of the member’s  property, which was most likely sought by the HOA in its “prayer for relief” section of  its complaint.  It is important to understand the driving force behind many HOA actions.  Solomon, another Florida attorney, commented on this incident (quoted in Behold the Power above),

“Judges rely on what rights attorneys tell them their clients are afforded under the law,” Solomon said. “If there’s no attorney on the other side to argue that it’s wrong, the judge most often takes the word of the attorney and grants the motion. Plus, these judges hearing these cases usually are not experts in real estate law.” [Nor HOA law].

Winters’ asks,

What statute or provision in the Declaration of Covenants permits an HOA in this situation to rent or act as the owner without title to the property? What gives the HOA the right to threaten the lawful owner (and her attorney) with trespass and to bar her from access to her own property without a foreclosure proceeding?

First, subsection FS 720.3085(8)(a)(1), dealing only with the right to collect rent payments, requires a notice be sent, which was not done.  Furthermore, (8)(d) allows for eviction of the tenant only if payments are not made, but explicitly denies bona fide landlord rights to the HOA.  And, if this is not satisfactory to the HOA, it can have a court appoint a Receiver to collect rents – period. 

What we have here is the disgraceful state’s interference with a contractual obligation between landlord (member) and tenant granting the third party HOA preemptive rights to collect monies under the contract.  This interference cannot be justified as a bona fide government interest as it protects one party over the individual. In fact, subsection (8)(a)(1) grants powers to the HOA to collect rents for any debt owed the HOA, and that means fines, attorney fees, interest, etc., ”If the parcel is occupied by a tenant and the parcel owner is delinquent in paying any monetary obligation due to the association . . . .” 

Please understand the special privileges granted to the HOA. For example, under a mechanic’s lien judgment, the worker cannot have rent payments be delivered to him personally.  And he would first have to get a court order.  Even under garnishments a court order must first be obtained.  But no, the HOA has the power to act on its own.   Again we have another example of pro-HOA public policy favoring special rights and privileges for HOAs only, and not any other business or creditor/debtor relationships. 

I’ve written about the culture and climate that is an open invitation for intentional wrong-doing by HOAs, presumably with the approval of their attorneys. With this pro-HOA public policy, “HOAs have no restraint on running amuck, and on intentionally running amuck.”

HOA Gestapo tactics — the slippery slope steepens

In California there is the report of a midnight raid on HOA members to forcibly evict them. The Courthouse News Series reports (The Foreclosure From Hell) that

“Nine condo residents claim Taser-toting private security guards burst into their homes at 3 a.m. and assaulted them, forcing them into the street in their underwear, in a foreclosure the residents had never been informed of.” 

The security organization for the HOA and the HOA are being sued.  The complaint alleges, among other things, that

“During this approximate two-hour ordeal, the armed men threatened arrest and incarceration, menaced the plaintiffs with weapons, engaged in intimidation, positioning themselves immediately in front of and/or behind the plaintiffs, glaring at them menacingly and invading the plaintiffs’ space.” 

The plaintiffs seek damages for trespass, extortion, assault and battery, false imprisonment, invasion of privacy, conversion and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

In the highly public Travon murder case in Florida questions of HOA negligence are being raised.   In Arizona, for the 5th year, a bill that  re-asserts that public streets within HOA subdivision territories are regulated by the local government and not the HOA was again defeated.   In Illinois, however, the court did put a stop to HOA security people stopping and detaining people on the roads.

The question before us is:  what are the factors, the causes that lead HOA boards to act in such an uppity, defiant manner against their members and the public, as if they were indeed independent principalities?  The simple answer is,  because they can!  Is it the culture within the HOA that is too similar to the experimental conditions of the Milgram and Stanford Prison experiments? (See Why do people harm others in HOAs?)

Is it the public policy that the HOA must survive at the expense of individual rights and freedoms, with members’ losing the privileges and immunities guaranteed to all citizens?  Is it the pro-HOA laws that do not hold the HOA accountable to the state, that presumes that the HOA can do no wrong?  There are no penalties against HOA law-breakers, but there are plenty of state supported penalties that make HOA attorneys rich and force hardship and the loss of one’s home for trivial fines.

With this sentiment, this bias in our culture and society, HOAs have no restraint on running amuck, and on intentionally running amuck as witnessed here with the Gestapo raid.   I wrote about this dangerous slippery slope path in The public policy of the states with respect to HOAs.  In Legislative protection of HOAs: replacing US organic law with HOA organic law I wrote about the disappearance of the social contract and a return to a state of nature, to anarchy.

It is not too difficult to realize that this country has been on a regressive, slippery slope path to a governmental system very much like the rejected Articles of Confederation of some 225 years . . . . And it appears, with the rhetoric abounding here and elsewhere on other constitutional issues, we are rejecting the social contract and returning to a state of nature.

 Yes, each day, little by little, more and more such acts that were once unthinkable occur as this country speed us along the slippery slope to disaster.  I’m waiting for the knock on the door.  I have my papers ready.