Homeowner wins against crooked incompetent board
HOA Wall of Shame
by Stephen Richardson
23 May 2016
Cheryl Summers of Aurora Colorado writes:
I have been working to remove our board because they aren't abiding by
the rules & regs, the by-laws and declarations of our community. We
are being overcharged for work and the board and property management
company aren't properly managing or maintaining our property.
I also believe they [the management company] are getting kickbacks, bonuses or using
the by-laws to get paid for doing nothing.
Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies is going after the property management company, but there is no
one to control the abuse of power by the board. Who by
the way, filed a frivolous lawsuit against me and a lien—tried
to take my home by not depositing my HOA dues
and stating that they didn't accept post dated checks; which they had
been accepting since 2003.
Cost me lots of money. The Board used our HOA dues to pay for their
attorney. I won because the judge verified they had no case against me
because there wasn't a policy; except the one they created for me, and
they also committed fraud by falsifying documents.
The community lost because they used our dues/insurance to try to
remove me from my home by an illegal lien and illegal attempt to foreclose
on me.
We have to stop giving so much power to teh board members of HOAs!
Commentary by Stephen Richardson:
Congratulations, Cheryl, I am not a lawyer, but here are my opinions:
This is one of those events where we wish we could publish the names of
the HOA, crooked incompetent Board Members, and the management.
Your experience with this board and management company happens all over
the country. If you go after a HOA board, they can retaliate in a
number of ways. Some boards will lose your check and attempt to tie you
up in court and file a lien on your property. If you don't have good
records, and they follow and have in place their state of Colorado
required good practices policy statements , they can and will try to
set you up and take your house.
The rules favor the board in these
skirmishes, and you must be sure your payment paper trail is beyond
question when you challenge your board.
The board certainly can force you to direct all your efforts toward
saving your house instead of rallying your neighbors to replace them or
being a "trouble maker"
You won because your board was incompetent and not properly represented
by a reputable property manager. Often these actions can only be
undertaken with a complicit property manager.
You also were lucky in
court. Many judges will just send you into a one-sided arbitration
process that favors your board. It appears as though you had a
reputable, skilled attorney that was able discover and raise the fraud
aspects of you case.
We would judge that your board is still in place and your neighbors are
unaware of your board's actions. They belong in jail, but often boards
are untouched for such behavior.
By the way, we would really like to
hear about what action Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies takes against your management company, and
your satisfaction with the outcome of any complaint filed against them.
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