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An Article
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A Cautionary Tale About Homeowners' Associations
The ever-growing legal fees take on a life of their own and drains home equity directly into coffers of HOA law firms
September 01, 2000
By
Wendy K. Laubach
Copyright ahrc.com
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Looking for cases in ARIZONA related to Homeowner Associations and their misuse of attorneys and Homeowner Association funds to pay those attorneys. Here is my situation:
I have been in a battle with my HOA (Finley Farms South) now for several months. When I moved and leased out my house there in Gilbert, AZ to my home in Surprise, AZ, I notified the management company/board several times via email, regular mail, and even had my attorney write them notifying them of their errors.
But they kept sending the bills, newsletters, warnings, etc.. to the wrong address, and by the time they actually got to me (if it made it to me at all), they were late, and eventually the late charges starting piling up and one time they even fined me for something that I never got a letter for ... then they put a lien on my house, I even continued to tell them "send the correspondance to this address - XXXXXX", and we can resolve this issue... but they did not heed to it... they refused to give me a current copy of the CCRs (I got my original in 1996, but they made several amendments since..) but wanted to charge me $30.00 for a copy of the rules that pertain to me and my home!
When the former management company (Caretaker), things were great, no big issues, this was a wonderful company to work with, but when "Reedy Property Management" took over is when things went all down hill.
When Caretaker was working the HOA, there was a issue with a neighboors tree enroaching on my yard, and they agreed via email to take care of the problem.. but when Reedy tookover, it all stopped...and came back to me.. and my pool pump and cleaner were damged, and cost me $1000 to repair! And then told me that the email did not exist, and that it was my problem.
Then they sue me for $500 or so, and I counter claimed them for the damages to my pool/pump/cleaner that were never resolved, they then tried to get the court to dismiss, of which I rejected, provided proof to the court of the email conversation with CareTaker and the court denied their motion to dismiss.
Now I get a bill for $1927.00 with not explanations of what its for, etc... and the court has not even heard the case yet...
We had a pre-trial conference set on Jan 13 2005... that we have decided to move into negotiations on settlement (hopes), along with full disclosure of both sides, part of my settlement offer involved that I would dismiss my counterclaim if they corrected their books and accepted their errors that they did not properly bill me, etc..
I even told them on several occasions (and my attorney concurred) that I did the right thing by notifying them of the address change numerous times... I know they had the the correct address because they served me at my correct address.
I also told them... "Hey you correct these errors, to what 'really' should owe, and I will write you a check now", but there have been so many little and big charges they have hit me with... I dont know which end is up... I think its their whole point to try and confuse me..... I came up with something like $13.00 (THIRTEEN DOLLARS!!!) might have been past due.
My attorney advised me that I should not pay anything, because they will apply the money I send "to the fees and late charges, etc.. " first before applying it to any real balanace that I may owe... and at the time of the suit...
The plot thickens... finally they admitted to the problem with the tree, but now they are claiming its outside the statute of limitations. So they hired a second set of attorneys to defend the counterclaim... this whole time they are using the funds from the association to pay for this...
One Lawsuit - Two Sets of Attorneys.. hmmm..sounds to me like they are just trying to rack up the fees.
Would I be in my right to alert the homeowners in the association how their funds are being needlessly sqaundered? I have several friends that still live in that development who would be more than willing to pass out flyers about the HOA....it would be my hope to get the homeowners on my side... right now they know nothing of whats going on... nor has their been a vote, etc..
Posted Jan 31 2005 4:26AM CET
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Scott Swenka
Surprise, Arizona |
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Yes, we filed an injunction against our board for using illegal CC&Rs, and the attorney was awarded fees of $6,350 that soon jumped to $22,000 -- they used our Reserve Funds to pay the lawyer.
The association was suspended as a corporation, and could not defend that lawsuit, but still put a lien on my home, and we are back in court this coming week -- and asking for more fees!
We have reported him to the District Attorney, and the California Bar Association, but, there is not much help out there for these sort of things to stop unless our government takes a hand in seeing that things are worked out "fairly" for homeowners.
Posted Jan 29 2005 7:40PM CET
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Username withheld
, California |
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This is happening to me. I got behind about $500 due to illness and related unemployment. They have run up thousands in attorney's fees and demand payment in full (no payment plans).
I have read Washington law and believe there is a case on my behalf. Is there any attorney from Washington out there who can help?
Posted Jun 3 2003 9:43PM CEST
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Username withheld
, Washington |
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