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Highland Village Unite |
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~ Keeping Citizens Informed ~
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~ Keeping Citizens Informed ~
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HOA Abuse Info... Since June of this year, one of our residents has been the target of their local HOA. The family is experiencing the HOA's abuse of power, personal positioning, selective management and retaliation by certain members of their HOA committee/boards. That has prompted immediate research. The sad reality is this HOA is home ruled, which means it's their neighbors that are behaving in this manner. If you or someone you know has experienced the same, we encourage you to check out the following information and links. Share your stories with us and we can post them or forward them to the Houston based group, Texas Homeowners for HOA Reform, Inc. Get involved and help give property rights back to the homeowners! Watch for broadcast emails for updates or check back for more info. ******************************************************************************************** THE SECRET ASSAULT Beanie Adolph That assumption is not true. It has not been true for more than twenty
years. There is a secret assault on your
rights as a homeowner. This assault has
been waged in
the courts, in
every session of the Texas Legislature since the early 80’s,
and
in secret meetings in our neighborhood HOAs. This assault has been secret. It
has been kept out of the papers.It has been steady, planned, and
deliberate. This assault has created a billion dollar industry that
siphons money out of our neighborhoods and takes away people’s homes. Let me give you some idea of how
secret this assault is. How many of you know about Texas
Property Code 204? Texas Property Code 204 has been
on the books since 1995. It allows HOAs
to be forced on homeowners without their consent – even if they have lived in
their homes for decades. It allows HOAs
to pass rules that bind homeowners without their consent. It gives HOAs almost unlimited powers. Thousands of Americans have died to preserve
our constitutional rights. The problem
with Texas Property Code 204 is that it subjects homeowners to an all powerful
government – the HOA – without any protection of constitutional rights. 204 grants total power to HOA boards. There was no public notice when
204 was passed. How many of you know about
it? (204.010 – Powers: (20) “…exercise other powers that
may be exercised in this state by a corporation of the same type as the
Property Owners Association… (21) “…exercise other powers….
(b) “Powers enumerated in this section are in addition to any other
powers granted…” How many of you know about
TUPCA – the TUPCA is a bill that the HOA
forces have been trying to pass for the last few legislative sessions. You can bet that they will try again this
next session. How do we know? Because TUPCA is the state version of the
master national plan UCIOA - the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act. Our organization Texas Homeowners
for HOA Reform, Inc. first learned about TUPCA in early 2006. We have been fighting it ever since.TUPCA is
over 100 pages long. It is not
recreational reading. When we first learned of TUPCA,
and before we read the entire bill, a number of us became alarmed by its
proposals. For example, for centuries, American and English law has protected
property owners from perpetual property restrictions. One of
the basic tenets of our law for centuries has been that no property should be
burdened by restrictions forever.
The law limits the time for restrictions. This is so basic that it is in the
Bill of Rights in the Texas Constitution. The HOA forces want to change
that. This bill– TUPCA – would do away
with this long cherished rule. The HOA
forces have been trying for about four years – in the last two legislative
sessions – to do away with this centuries’ old rule. How many of you knew that? TUPCA – Sec.83.004 (a) The rule against perpetuities does
not apply to a declaration, to the interests created in a declaration, or to
other governing documents.” How many of you know how many
foreclosure actions have been filed by your own HOA against your neighbors? How many of you know how much
money HOA lawyers and management companies get from your HOA and your
neighbors? How many of you know how many
violation letters are sent by your HOA each month? YOU DO NOT KNOW BECAUSE OF THE SECRET
TACTICS OF THE HOA INDUSTRY And how do they accomplish this in
secret? First, they have lots of money to use to protect their
secrecy. The industry that controls HOAs
is a multi billion dollar a year industry built on the backs of homeowners. Second, they realize that they must act in secret. They do not want people to know all the
rights that they have lost. They do not
want people to know when their neighbors are losing their homes or are losing
thousands of dollars or tens of thousands of dollars or even hundreds of
thousands of dollars. So … They preserve their
secrecy by hiding the hundreds of
violation letters that they send in an HOA claiming that they are protecting the privacy of the homeowner. They preserve their
secrecy by refusing to allow
homeowners to see the documents of the HOA.
Homeowners are entitled by law to see these documents, but the HOA
forces know that few people will pay the costs of a lawsuit to enforce that
right. They preserve their secrecy by writing bills that apply only to specific geographic
areas. Such limited area bills – or
bracketed bills – attract little attention from legislators outside the
affected areas. Property Code 204 – the
first statute mentioned – was a bracketed bill.
It applies only to subdivisions in counties with specific
populations. Of course there are no named
counties. People might wake up and learn
what is going on. “…Bracket bills avoid the scrutiny
that statewide bills receive and are easily passed. Bracket bills can become the law
of the entire state with a tiny amendment that comes in under the radar screen
of lobbyists and of the public.” (Statutory
Evolution of Condominium and Property Owner Associations in They preserve their
secrecy by using lobbyists to
work on our legislators outside of the public arena of committee hearings. These lobbyists are skilled at making things
happen with little public notice. For example, I mentioned earlier
our fight against the TUPCA bill in the last few legislative sessions. It was not easy to even discover when TUPCA
was up for consideration for hearing.
The HOA forces and their lobbyists were always in-the-know, but the rest
of the public was not. We – the members
of THHR – testified in March 2006 against TUPCA at the They preserve their secrecy by drafting bills entitled “reform bills”. These reform bills always give the HOA forces
more power, not less. An example of this is Property
Code 209: This bill is called the Property Owners’ Protection Act, and under
sec. 209.009 one reads: “A property owners’ association
may not foreclose a property owners’ association assessment lien if the debt
securing the lien consists solely of: (1)
fines assessed by the association; or (2)
attorney’s fees incurred by the association.” In utter contempt of
209, management companies immediately began filing “resolutions” titled
“Priority of Payment” demanding that
“All monies received from an owner may be applied first to nonassessment
obligations of the Owner, such as fines, late charges, returned check charges,
attorney fees, user fees, damages, etc. regardless of notations on checks and
transmittal letters.” Thus the homeowner remains forever owing the assessments
and in threat of foreclosure. They preserve their secrecy by telling homeowners and the press that abuses are
rare. www.HOAdata.org reveals the thousands upon thousands of
foreclosure filings suffered by homeowners each year. They preserve their secrecy by playing on fears – fears in particular of losing
property value in your home. Property value is determined by the home itself,
its location, and the economy. Homeowners are now questioning the wisdom
of placing their homes, their most valuable investment in the control of
unknown HOA boards that have total power and no accountability. If you look at www.HOAdata.org, the results are evident. HOA foreclosure filings have
skyrocketed. No, there were not mass
evictions of homeowners, although many poorer homeowners just walked away
because of the mounting fees and legal costs.
This multi billion dollar industry thrives on the management fees and
attorney fees. They do not want to evict
you. They just want to take your money
through management fees and attorneys fees.
Eviction gets them bad press. Management companies have “a
myriad of specific purpose fees, such as resale certificate fees, document
fees, collection fees, inspection fees, violation enforcement fees” and now transfer fees... Attorney fees can jump by the hundreds with
no explanation. These new transfer
fees appear at the very end of HB 2207 (80th Texas
Legislative Session) – a bill that was to benefit homeowners but was twisted to allow “a fee” (amount
not stated) that is payable to a POA, or an entity organized under Section 501©(3), or a governmental entity. Some POAs have been reaping huge incomes from
these transfer fees. What do we need to do? We are in a David vs Goliath
fight. The wealthy HOA Industry has
billions of dollars and a powerful lobby.The people of Thousands of homeowners are
suffering because of this injustice. We truly believe that the reform
movement is snowballing. A recent TV
program in 95% of those 1000
responses were on the side of reform. WE NEED Open Meetings and Open Records – We need an end to the secrecy. There has been much fraud and embezzlement in
the handling of HOA money and yet the industry opposes open records and open
meetings. WE NEED protection of homeowners for their payments. Abusive HOAs apply
homeowner’s payments first to attorneys fees and other charges, so that the
records show that the homeowner still owes dues or assessments. This practice allows HOAs to forever threaten
a homeowner with foreclosure. We need
homeowner payments to be applied to dues first – ahead of all other charges. WE NEED a repeal of the current law that allows HOAs to get
attorney fee awards in lawsuits but does not allow homeowners the same rights. WE NEED an end to the power of a few to impose an HOA on
homeowners who have lived in their homes for years with no HOA. WE NEED an end to HOA right to fine. WE NEED an end to HOA foreclosure. WE NEED fair elections with every owner having the right to
vote. No homeowner will be denied the right to vote for any reason. Elections
must be managed by a non-interested entity. We need the right to free speech – NO SLAPP SUITS WE NEED a guarantee that all homeowners should have all the
freedoms guaranteed by the Please join us in our struggle to
reclaim our rights. http://www.texashoareform.org/ ********************************************************************************************
Hosted and produced by
Shu Bartholomew, On The Commons is a weekly radio show dedicated to
discussing the many issues surrounding mandatory homeowner associations, the
fastest growing form of residential housing in the nation.
Over
the past four decades property ownership has
changed - and not necessarily for the
better. In the old days one's home was
considered one's castle and came complete with
all the inherent rights of ownership. The
owner was free to live in relative peace and
quiet. But those days are long
gone. In today's brave new world folks
live in "units" where all the decisions
pertaining to their house and a portion
of their private lives is made by other
people. The owners in many homeowner
associations are not free to exercise their
right to choose the plants in the yard,
the color on the house or the type
of window treatments.
Even such things as garden hoses, mulch and plants must
be "approved". Some people
think it is OK to live like that.
But
not everyone....
Homeowners
across the country are fighting to regain
control over their own lives and their own
homes. Many homeowners have become
involved with in the legislative process and
some grass roots organizations have hosted
conferences - for the homeowners. On
October 11, 2008 Texas homeowners from all
over the state met in Houston to talk about
their homes, their rights and their lives.
Despite the fact that hurricane Ike had
knocked out power lines, collapsed houses,
punctured holes in roofs, uprooted trees and
otherwise disrupted lives leaving many
without electricity and internet connectivity
for several weeks, the Texas folks still
managed to get together and talk about their
problems and how they wanted to have them
solved.
On
the Commons today we will drop in for
a little while and eavesdrop on some of the
conversations that took place. We'll
hear about a partial list of the issues
homeowners all over the country face and
listen to some of the ideas they have of how
to fix things. Please join us On
The Commons this Saturday, October
18, 2008.
You
can email us at onthecommons@
On
The Commons is broadcast every
Saturday from 2-3 PM ET on WEBR Fairfax
Radio. In the Northern Virginia area, On
The Commons can be heard on Cox
Cable, Channel 37 (channel 7 without a box), Comcast
channel 27 and Verizon channel 37. To
listen LIVE globally on the internet,
go to http://www.fcac.
Shu
Bartholomew
Host
and
producer
On
The
Commons
is
produced
by
OTC
Multimedia
Productions
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