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Press Release
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CNN would like to profile someone who has been battling their Homeowners Association
Looking for a New York, New Jersey or Connecticut homeowner victim of an abusive HOA
March 17, 2005
By
AHRC News Services
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Request from Carl N. Edwards
See civil lawsuits by homeowners at Sherwood Forest Association in Beckett, Massachusetts. Harry Sykes filed a criminal complaint against Robert Madore. - http://sfroaddistrict.proboards41.com/
Posted Dec 12 2007 12:26PM CET
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Username withheld
, California |
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Fraud and Corruption Gone Unchecked
I am 54-year-old single parent who is becoming another victim of an unchecked Condo Association who has produced homelessness, driven many into bankruptcy, and created a foreclosure flood. All of which I have experienced at the hands of the Tuck Point Association in Beverly Massachusetts.
As further facts came to light, a familiar pattern began to emerge; homeowner's complaints go unaddressed, boards treat homeowners unequally, boards employ lawyers to hound homeowners and financially bankrupt them with letters, injunctions and law suits, scavenger neighbors ignore the abuse and keep selling their votes to the corrupt board members and vendors.
Double standards are very commonplace here, their genesis is quite simple; working largely removed from public scrutiny under the dubious guise of protecting property values they have stripped the homeowners of many of their traditional rights and have restricted the homeowner at every turn. In addition, iron clad enforcement mechanism ensured that homeowners are forced to comply. Condominium Associations intrude into people's lives to an extent that no other level of government does.
The Trustees for years have given out hundreds of thousands of dollars to no bid contracts to their fellow associates. It is against this backdrop that the homeowner now finds himself trapped in a gargantuan swaddle of rules, laws and special interests, with no effective recourse except to file an expensive lawsuit. When corrupt boards and corrupt lawyers are added to the mix, the result can be explosive.
What conspires here at Tuck Point is appalling condominium fees have risen in some cases to over $800.00 a month. Instead of being in our castles, our homes have become our prison. To speak out against the Trustees you find yourself in front of a hostile court with their handsomely paid attorneys poise to foreclose on your home.
They said things like this does not happen here well that is what I thought as I sit here wondering how these Trustees were able to steal my daughter's education funds. Homeowners cry in pain and anguish at what they have to endure by the hands of the association.
Vast and profound reforms are needed to protect us homeowners from the corrupt and arbitrary exercise of power, and from the predations of lawyers.
Thank you,
Posted May 25 2005 6:45PM CEST
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Robert Cohn
(View Profile)
Beverly, Massachusetts |
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Thirteen (13) months ago we logged a law suite against a landowners association, which alleges that we belong to their association, and after they filed a lien against our property. Let us assure you we do not our Statutory Warranty Deed substantiates these facts.
Several months into the lawsuit with the Homeowners Association, their lawyer recruited our mortgage company to participate in the lawsuit as third party defendant.
Washington Mutual is our mortgage company; we have always paid our mortgage payment on time, and were surprised to learn that Washington Mutual is campaigning with these swindlers.
On February 28, 2005, we mailed our mortgage check to Washington Mutual as we had done every month. When we noticed that Washington Mutual had not cashed our mortgage check we contacted their office, we were informed that they never had received our payment or that it might have gotten lost, that was on March 12, 2005.
The following Monday March 14, 2005, I called our bank and canceled the check we send via mail, which cost us $22. We then proceeded to pay in person at one of their bank branches to avoid late fees of $46, and being reported to the credit bureaus for lateness.
May we point out, our credit worthiness and peak scores with all three bureaus are 798, and my husband and I have always worked hard, paid our bills on time.
The next day March 15, 2005, I spoke to our bank representative and we were informed that an unauthorized ACH transaction was performed by Washington Mutual, it seemed all of a sudden Washington Mutual had found our original check and tried to cash this one too.
When our financial institution for payment of the canceled check turned down Washington Mutual, Washington Mutual imposed a non-sufficient funds fee of $15 against our account. We literally had to do advice one of their representatives if they did not remove these inappropriate fees we would turn this matter over to the Federal Trade Commission.
Further, after the incident Washington Mutual failed to provide us with the monthly mortgage billing statement so we could make payment on our mortgage for April 1, 2005.
When we became aware at the end of March of Washington Mutual intentions we paid our mortgage payment with cash on April 1, 2005, we feel we can no longer trust Washington Mutual with a personal check.
Our Attorneys informed us on April 7, 2005 that Washington Mutual had written them and that Washington Mutual requested that we pay for their Attorney fess because of their status as third party defendant.
A word of caution, for all the residence of the State of Washington and beyond, or whom ever has a mortgage with Washington Mutual be aware, this is in violation of the RICO ACT.
Posted Apr 8 2005 9:00PM CEST
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Username withheld
Roy, Washington |
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Gee - I think this little disagreement with my neighbor 5 doors down is perfect. In a HOA, you can do just about anything you want to do, as long as you get the okee-dokey from the ARC. IF you are in cahoots with the circle of power, you get your projects approved in no time, and in some cases, you can build the most hideous and unsightly contraption. But if you are on the "black list" - the circle of power will deny your every request, and sabotage your basic needs at every opportunity.
Here's a short history of the ongoing 5+ year feud with my HOA -
I I've wanted to put up a simple gate across my driveway, so I can lock my vehicles behind it and avoid criminals breaking into it or vandals egging them.
But my neighbor is the ARC chairman, and he says it is verboten. He made up a rule and is apparently the self-appointed Perpetual ARC chairman for life.
So what are my options if I disagree with him? It says in the "contract" that "In their opinion only, the ARC has the right to approve or deny any request".
The CC&R's are available at www.estatesatarrowhead.com
In unit 1's CC&R's - you will find the following passage from the scriptures of this alleged contract we all agreed to when we bought our homesteads---but I never got a copy of this for several years after I bought the house....
All decisions of the Committee shall be final and binding, and there shall not be revisions of any action
of the Committee except by procedure for injunctive relief when such action is patently arbitrary and capricious.
In the event of construction of improvements or threatened construction of improvements in violation of this
Declaration, any Owner, The Association, Declarant or the Committee may seek to enjoin such construction or
seek other relief against the Owner or builder responsible therefor provided that each such offending party shall
first be given written notice of the perceived violation and the opportunity to remedy the violation prior to the
filing of suit. Neither the Declarant, the Architectural Review Committee, nor any member of such Committee
shall be liable in damages, or otherwise, to anyone submitting plans and specifications for approval or to any
Owner who believes himself adversely affected by this Declaration by reason of mistake of judgment,
negligence or non feasance in connection with the approval or disapproval of plans or requests for variance.
In other words, slip into the litigation vortex when you disagree about something....Well, I disagree about the ARC's most recent "improvement" - which was a sidewalk put across the last lot sold in the neighborhood - I own it.
Here's a summary of that latest HOA "DISAGREEMENT" I've had with my Block Kaptain - (render the Nazi Salute and fade to the scene of the crime)
http://www.geocities.com/stretch38_99/Vandalized.html
I WANT TO BE ON CNN!!!!
RICHARD CRAIG
San Antonio, TX 78258 (Remember the Alamo?)
Posted Apr 2 2005 7:29PM CEST
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Richard Craig
(View Profile)
San Antonio, Texas |
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I am not writing from one of the area's you are requesting info from but feel compelled to bring it to your attention. I had written to you early but the information I had was not correct so I would like to share the story now.
We are talking about a community (1017stakeholders) often forgotten because it lies between to counties within a small town. Often we Sherwood Forest is not seen with much respect from some of its towns people as well as some of it 2nd home owners.
In the past we have been referred to in a very negative light.
But the people of Sherwood Forest bought here for many reasons but mostly because it offers a natural beauty, a peace, and the chance to have the american dream. We are hoping that you will consider us and not just toss us and let us remain forgotten..
Four years ago a man bought at town auction a 1/4 lot in hopes of providing for his family the American Dream only to find himself in the middle of some controversy regarding "grandfathering" A lawsuit that was filed by some forest landowner stating that construction would destroy the wetland has resulted in a slew of legal expense, stress, and forced this disabled man to halt his building.
His cost cannot really be identified in terms of dollars for at present he has lost more than his chance at owning his own home,
He has lost his wife as a direct result of the stress of this situation and the hurt she endured at the hand of her would be neighbor's. They do believe that racial issues were a part of the intimadation they felt.
He has lost being a daily presence in his childrens life now that he lives outside the home pending divorce. Today the savings are gone, hope is slowly dying, he has not giving up but where can he turn. Will the Association win because they have won or just because they wait until the homeowner exhaust his funds.
Until 2003 our Association was very much like a social club until a new government was voted in by total of 51 votes (41 yes 10 no. Most residents were unaware of the vote even occurring. Now they assess alll stakeholders making it a mandatory association only to be found by the atty General's office that they do not possess the right to assess.
Now we have a governmental board in place to govern our small community but who is governing them?? NO ONE!
The full article can be seen in the front page of the Berkshire Eagle 3-27-05 @www.BerkshireEagle.com Thank You
http://www.berkshireeagle.com/Stories/0,1413,101~7514~2784865,00.html
An American dream sours
By Gail Palmer
Eagle Correspondent
Harry Sykes, below, hoped to build a home for his family in a lot he bought 3 1/2 years ago in Becket's Sherwood Forest. But legal battles with neighbors over his building plans have drained his finances. He now lives in a converted school bus, above, in Lee.
BECKET
Less than four years after he embarked on his quest for the quintessential American dream, 48-year-old Harry Sykes' life is as tattered as the wrinkled plot plan he carries under his arm.
When he bought a quarter-acre lot in Sherwood Forest for $2,500 in an auction held by the town in October 2001, he envisioned an almost idyllic existence for himself, his wife and two children in the Becket subdivision that began in the 1950s. Photos: Ben Garver / Berkshire Eagle Staff
"Everybody wishes they could live on a lake," the Pittsfield native said of the site overlooking Little Robin Lake. "I thought we would be canoeing. I'd be taking my son ice fishing in the winter. I thought it would be a wonderful place to live and bring up children."
Now, however, Sykes and his wife are wending their way through divorce proceedings, attempting to focus first on whatever is best for Harry IV, 5, and Scarlett, 3. His wife, Francia, lives with the children in an apartment in Lee. Sykes lives nearby, in an old school bus he converted into a camper.
A lawsuit filed by some Sherwood Forest landowners in July 2003, maintaining that construction on the site would destroy surrounding wetlands, has derailed his homebuilding project. His debts have mounted, to the point that he no longer can pay his attorney, Jeremia Pollard of North Adams.
Sykes' income is almost totally limited to the disability payments he has received since 2000, when back problems and arthritis -- chronic conditions resulting from a 1992 motorcycle accident that left him critically injured -- prevented him from working at the factory jobs he once held.
Time running out
In just a few years, everything has changed. For Sykes, the arrival of spring 2005 means that time is running out. He has poured concrete pilings at the quarter-acre site on Alan-A-Dale Road, and thus has maintained a viable building permit.
But the Becket Conservation Commission's conditional permit will expire in June, three years from the June 24, 2002, date of issuance. Sykes still clings to a shred of hope, and plans to ask the commission for an extension. But he knows that request will be hotly contested by his adversaries.
And he also knows that if he should lose the lawsuit -- a civil action filed in Berkshire County Superior Court -- he would be required to remove anything he had erected and return the lot to its original condition.
Sykes recounts with equanimity the saga of the past three years -- the lawsuit by the Sherwood Forest Neighbors Association, the complaints to the Conservation Commission that he said occurred "whenever I cut down a tree."
Threats and slurs
In a matter-of-fact tone, he spoke of threats and slurs that, he maintains, were directed at him by neighbors.
But when asked about the effects of the situation -- and the impending divorce -- on his children, his words came haltingly, then turned to sobs as his eyes filled with tears. Struggling to maintain his composure, he recalled his son's comment on a recent visit: "Dad, I don't want you to ever forget about me."
At age 5, the child "asks the toughest questions. He is so open, such a good little kid," Sykes said. Both children are "absolute beauties," he added, proudly displaying photos from his wallet.
Sykes' personal possessions are few. One, bound in a green leather portfolio, is a citation and letter of commendation from the Vermont State Police, dated Dec. 20, 1994. The recognition came as a result of a horrific automobile accident he happened upon in Searsburg as he was returning home from a trip to Vermont.
He fought through flames to rescue two young children while their parents, who had been thrown from the vehicle and were injured, screamed hysterically.
He brought the portfolio to a meeting with a reporter, he said, "because I wanted you to see that I am just a regular person."
But the challenges he faces in Becket a decade later are far more daunting than a burning car, he acknowledged.
Shortly after he began work on the Sherwood Forest site, it became apparent that some of his neighbors would do everything in their power to dismantle his plan.
The lawsuit, known as Madore v. Sykes for the first-named plaintiff and abutter to the Sykes lot, Bob Madore, was filed by the SFNA and three other property owners.
The suit has become a metaphor for the land-use controversy that has raged in Sherwood Forest for the past two years. And, to many, Sykes has become the embodiment of the stand-off that exists between the SFNA leadership and town officials.
At the core of the conflict is the subject of "grandfathering."
Town officials -- with the support of their legal counsel -- maintain that lots created before the current two-acre zoning regulation, enacted in 1992, are "grandfathered" and thus buildable if all other conditions are met.
SFNA officials disagree, and in a letter to landowners early this year, SFNA President John Novakowski wrote that undeveloped parcels "are no longer buildable as a matter of right."
In addition, SFNA officials have increasingly cited the sensitivity of wetlands within the development's boundaries in their efforts to halt development.
Constant calls by landowners to the Becket Town Hall drew members of the Conservation Commission to the site three years ago. Officers of the SFNA registered written complaints to the town and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection while, Sykes alleges, some neighbors waged a campaign of personal intimidation.
Madore, Sykes told The Eagle, threatened him outside Becket Town Hall after a Conservation Commission meeting, saying: "I am going to shank you if you get in my way."
In a subsequent confrontation with Madore and other neighbors near his property, Sykes said he was told by Madore (with two other neighbors present), "We don't want any niggers, spics or poor people in our neighborhood. And that means you."
Francia Sykes was born in Bogota, Colombia, and speaks Spanish.
On May 17, 2004, Sykes filed a complaint at Southern Berkshire District Court, alleging that Madore -- who owns a home across the street from the Sykes lot -- had threatened to commit assault and battery.
Contacted by The Eagle on March 9 of this year, Madore denied the allegations.
On March 11, attorney Carl N. Edwards -- also the SFNA vice president -- appeared at district court on Madore's behalf. Ar-raignment was scheduled for April 4, when a pretrial hearing will be set. On March 21, Edwards filed a motion to dismiss the charges. The motion hasn't been heard.
Francia Sykes confirmed that the problems related to Sherwood Forest were a major contributor to the decision she made in autumn of 2004 to ask for a divorce.
"The people over there were so mean to us," she said. "Maybe because I am Hispanic. Maybe because we are poor."
Madore asserts the dispute is not about Sykes or economic status.
"My issue is the fact that someone is being permitted to erect a building in that area," he told The Eagle.
The construction, he added, could seriously damage the surrounding wetlands.
As assistant regional director for the United Auto Workers' Region 9A, Madore said his job is to represent working-class people "from New York City to the Caribbean," and he has represented Latino workers throughout his career.
"My public record regarding equal rights is unblemished and I intend on keeping [it] that way," he wrote in a subsequent e-mail to The Eagle.
But some who discuss daily happenings in the Forest over coffee at the Lake View General Store say class distinction is at the core of the strife in their neighborhood.
Maryellen Lake, a longtime, year-round resident, said of the SFNA's efforts to control development in the 1,000-acre community: "There are those of us who are convinced that SFNA leadership has embarked on a program of gentrification for the Forest."
To others, changes occurring in Sherwood Forest are a microcosm of the social climate that exists throughout the Berkshires.
"I see it happening all over the county," said Blanche Lennington, another year-round resident of the Forest and a Berkshire County native. Growing up in Mill River in a lower-middle-class family, she was "painfully aware that there is another class of more affluent individuals who came to the Berkshires," and that their interests sometimes are at odds with those of working-class residents.
Lake and others say the development -- which today comprises 410 structures ranging from mobile homes that predate current zoning bylaws to relatively expensive, well-appointed waterfront vacation homes -- has for many years offered one of the few affordable housing options in Southern Berkshire County.
It was the affordability -- and the rural setting dotted with lakes and streams -- that drew Harry Sykes to Sherwood Forest.
Sykes hasn't abandoned hope that he may erect something, even a small modular home, on his lot. But he acknowledges that, given the changes that have occurred in his life over the past three years, it would take something akin to a miracle.
With financial resources that included a lump-sum Social Security settlement, ongoing Social Security disability payments and his wife's income, he said, he had obtained a construction supervisor's license and developed an interest in energy-efficient construction.
If he could apply the concept to construction of his own home, he theorized when he embarked on the project in Sherwood Forest, it could be possible to convert the experience and knowledge into an income-producing profession.
Today, the money is gone, together with much of the hope. His bills bring monthly reminders of the money paid to architects, attorneys, soil scientists and others as he prepared the lot for construction.
"I am really kind of numb," Sykes said. "I hope for a miracle."
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Gail Palmer can be reached at concierg@bcn.net or by phone at 269-6107.
Posted Mar 29 2005 1:53AM CEST
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Username withheld
becket, Massachusetts |
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I am also a homeowner at the Galaxy Towers Condominium in Guttenberg, NJ. Three years ago, I ran for election to the Board of Directors. I lost the election and was sued by the winner together with four other homeowners. I have paid more than $30,000 in legal fees to date. The case was dismissed in superior court but the plaintiff immediately filed an appeal.
This year I ran again for the Board of Directors and once again I lost. This time, though, there was something funny about the election process.
Our association hired an outside election coordinator to supervise the election. The election coordinator didn't show up on the day of the election. We were given a variety of explanations--keys were locked in the car, heavy traffic, lack of communication between the Chairman of the Election Committee and the election coordinator.
The election was postponed for two weeks but homeowners were only notified about how to obtain new ballots one day before the new election date.Some homeowners were deprived of the right to vote.
The voting register given to the election coordinator contained many errors, making it difficult for some homeowners to cast a vote.
There were errors in checking off ballots sent to the election coordinator by mail. Some homeowners who voted by mail weren't checked off. Others who didn't vote were checked off.
Mail-in ballots had to be received by the election coordinator a day before the election at the Galaxy. But, mail-in ballots had no date stamp.
We'll never know what really happened but there was too much "funny business" for my taste. I don't mind losing fair and square. I do mind when the process itself has so many errors.
Posted Mar 26 2005 6:24PM CET
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Barbara Tokay
(View Profile)
Guttenberg, New Jersey |
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Several comments have been submitted by units owners from the Galaxy Towers Condominium Association -- a multi-tower development on the palisades overlooking the Hudson River and New York City.
What should be a "luxury" complex is beset by insufficient financial reserves; mass increases in fees to cover multi-million dollar loans; repetitive repairs, with high-cost over-runs; and a general milieu of hostility against any unit owner, who should dare to question -- "how did this happen?"
The Board of Directors has, during an open televised meeting -- attacked unit owners by name and authorized corporate counsel to sue -- all because they asked "why?" The Board has put letters under unit owners' doors denouncing specific unit owners who speak out -- and, in some instances, calling them "malicious" "liars."
When these unit owners respond, by mail [they can't put letters under doors], with evidence of probable improvident contracting or the failure to get the proper permitting for some of its multi-million contracts -- the Board will still not explain, apologize or let go.
These unit owners -- called the Concerned Unit Owners Group -- would welcome the chance to discuss their concerns. At present, they are also being assisted by the Rutgers Law School Constitutional Clinic, as an agent of ACLU , due to the Board's excessive speech and election restrictions on unit owners.
Posted Mar 25 2005 12:38AM CET
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cathy cardillo
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Why just those states? Why not Colorado?
Posted Mar 25 2005 12:07AM CET
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linda scott
(View Profile)
aurora, Colorado |
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Would they consider Rhode Island? I have been battling my HOA for two years now.
My story is posted at moldacrossamerica.org under "RI moldy condo."
and on AHRC at: Rhode Island condo board nearly destroyed my life - Illness, job loss, insurance fraud, toxic mold, and homeowner abuse
Photos are also posted.
Posted Mar 24 2005 8:59PM CET
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Judith Berry
(View Profile)
, Rhode Island |
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My Personal Request sent to North Carolina Legislators
In light of the tragic events of September 11th, we have felt an obligation to re-examine how we can best serve our family and our nation. We feel that this is not the time for us to be sitting back on the sidelines. There is much to be done, and the stakes for our family, the country and the world are great, so we have decided to contribute to the best of our abilities.
The North Carolina Planned Community Act-47-F does not protect the homeowners rights-it gives more power to the HOA's, CAI (Community Association Institute) neighbors, board members, their legal counsel, management companies and legislators etc. Every attempt we have made to meet with NC legislators have amounted to 2 legislators who listened to us as a courtesy. We keep getting turned away. We ask, what is in it for them? Alot...
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The Preston Village Homeowners Association (HOA) decided to file a Civil Suit against my family for allegedly breaking a HOA covenant.
We looked around for quite some time and finally fell in love with the neighborhood in which we lived and were forced out of.
We have been through the association school of hard knocks. Our troubles began when we were given a document that was presented to us as the Preston Village Homeowners Covenants, but were in fact only the Preston Village Architectural Standards. We didn't even ask to be part of this mandatory homeowners association and we didn't want to give up our constitutional rights.
If the homeowners don't pay fines levied by the executive board, the associations can put a lien on their property or even foreclose on their homes with or without notice. HOA's don't even have to go to court to take your home.
The decision to pursue changes or repeal at best the North Carolina Planned Community Act 47-F, was based on our personal discomfort with the lack of "checks and balance" to holding HOA Board Members and alike accountable to "due diligence".
What is important now are the concerns of those individuals who worry about the safety and security of their home and their families, the concerns of law abiding people having their homes foreclosed upon, heckled and stalked by their neighbors, many of us who worry about being made into a "criminal or labeled crazy" by the HOA board members in the communities in which we live. We are committed to preserving our values, our freedom and our way of life.
I do not claim to have all the solutions for the challenges many of us have faced, but I do believe my experience gives me something valuable to offer. I believe my commitment to rising above and bringing people together to provide awareness/education can help make a difference. My parents taught me, and I've tried to teach my children, the importance of integrity and the value of committing yourself to something larger than yourself. It is in that spirit that I have decided to become an advocate for the "People of North Carolina".
I ask, where is the consumers protection? Just getting information to purchasers some time before conveyance is not enough.
Consumers have no time to go through reams of information, including a sometimes-thick book of community rules, in the middle of their closing. Many end up buying into something they didn't want--like us. If we had been made aware we would have never bought into Preston Village and put our family at risk.
The consumer must be afforded the best opportunity the law can provide to understand the nature of what is often the most expensive purchase he will make, and one that can have an impact on the most intimate aspects of his life. NC Planned Community Act 47-F/55-A does not afford us that opportunity.
We respectively ask for your listening ear and hope that you will call us soon.
Posted Mar 23 2005 4:20PM CET
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Username withheld
Raleigh, North Carolina |
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