Post #335135 by The Gnomon on Thu, Sep 27, 2007 7:36 AM

HOAs have their pros and cons. Problem is, when they are controlled by self-serving idiots they can ruin the good thing that they were put in place to protect.

For a while I was involved in real estate management and was on the BOD of the Washington DC jumbo chapter of the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM), which is the management branch of the National Association of Realtors. You get to hear just about every kind of horror story experienced by property managers in every area of real estate.

HOAs can establish and modify their "rules," which they can enforce by hiring a contractor to abate and then charge the homeowner the cost of performing the work (e.g., tearing down a tiki hut). Then if the homeowner doesn't pay up, the HOA can put a lien on the property and accelerate it to auction off the property to pay off the debt to the HOA. Of course, there are legal procedures the HOA has to go through to get all that done, which is time consuming, so they jump on it right away.

BUT...one of the downfalls of self-serving idiot-run HOAs often is that the "rules" they make up can be deemed frivolous and contrary to the court's determination of what constitutes a reasonable regulation as it affects a citizen's right to the "quiet enjoyment" of their residence.

So...even if one is in violation of one's HOA rules and regulations, if push comes to shove and the resident can prove that the rule/regulation is not valid, any actions taken by the HOA against that resident can backfire bigtime. Some residents have won sizeable cash settlements from their HOAs that way.