Homeowner associations need the right to withhold their tax dollars if the State does not afford protection from lawyers and managers

September 17, 2003

By Cecilia Taylor
Copyright AHRC News Services

On Wednesday, September 17, 2003, I met with California State Senator DeeDee Alpert. I explained to her many of the problems both in our homeowner association and in all the others that have contacted me.

Here are some of the items that I explained to her:

* Attorneys running meetings

* Foreclosures where the HOA attorney was representing the HOA, while he was acting as the trustee of the foreclosure sale, and then purchasing the property himself through another attorney.

* I told her about elections being tampered with by management companies in associations with the attorneys She is aware of the nasty mail which forensic reports show was copied on the same copier as the "original" attorney bills.

* Attorneys that threaten homeowners that they are going to be sued if the membership of the HOA asks for a recall.

Another interesting item which Ms. Alpert and I discussed was the obvious conflict of interest of HOA attorneys. Several HOA attorneys have represented several sides of a single issue and then been paid by all sides of the issue. In other forums, attorneys are not allowed to do this. They would have to recuse themselves because there is a conflict of interest. This is especially true in the case of foreclosures, collections and disciplinary action against a homeowner, or when an insurance company is involved.

Actually I told her as much as I had time to tell her about the things I have read on AHRC as well as what has happened to Cortina Homeowners Association..

She is very concerned and has been involved in looking at the Davis Stirling Act. It is her impression as well as several other State Senators that the Davis Sterling Act needs to be reviewed and perhaps amended.

When we spoke at length of the inability of our association to get our general ledgers from our previous management company, Ms. Alpert was appalled. At that time we began talking about the need for management companies to be regulated and a specific license be issued by, perhaps, the Department of Real Estate.

I told her that since HOA Boards are actually governing persons and their function is the care of the common good for an area - these boards are part of government. Our fees pay for roads, trash pick-up, parks... and we also pay property tax that covers - roads, trash pick-up, parks... This fee sounds like a tax to me. Why should we pay an additional tax? Isn't this double taxation?

Very specifically, we spoke about the board that would create this licensing and testing. She agreed that it will be necessary to have HOA members on this advisory board for the Department of Real Estate.

There will be another meeting regarding this. I will keep you all informed.

My suggestion to her, if this does not happen, is that all HOA's in the State of California, withhold their tax dollars until they are truly protected by State regulation of the management companies and the lawyers that they hire.

Cecilia Taylor , president of Cortina Homeowners Association and a broker, and John Kalas, owner of Castle Breckensridge Management company, met with Senator Alpert. to request legislation.

The board of the Cortina Homeowners Association fired their ex-lawyer David Peters of Peters & Freedman for some of the practices described above.

Miss Taylor has also filed a complaint with the California Bar Association about the practices of David Peters of Peters & Freedman, a homeowners association collection lawfirm