HOA Allowed Work Without Permits

[stephenB]

My question involves a home located in the State of: Florida.

I'm posting this here because it seems like the only section that involves associations. If it belongs elsewhere, by all means move it or tell me where it needs to be posted.

While we have studiously avoided buying a home of our own in HOA areas, we recently purchased an investment property within such a zone. We have since discovered that the head of the HOA lives in the home directly opposite our property, and is the original dragonlady when it comes to abusing her authority and selectively applying the rules as she sits fit. The area is extremely uneven, and the house we purchased was a disaster that took a great deal of work to fix up. The previous owner had run it into the ground, the gardens were a wasteland, and quite obviously the HOA and the woman in charge had done zip to make the owner fix up the issues that contravened the HOA regulations. The owner's son had at one time taken it upon himself to re-shingle the roof, did so without permitting, and did such an awful job that it caused numerous leaks into the house and looked markedly crooked and erroneously laid to the naked eye. Every neighbor we spoke to, including the husband of the HOA head, stated that they knew it wasn't done with the city's knowledge, yet the HOA did nothing to report the matter. We ended up spending $14,000 to fix the problem up, and our contractor claimed it was the worst job he'd seen in 26 years of business.

Same applied again with soffits that are missing or sagging around the house - the problem arose during the 2004 hurricane season, yet the owner never did anything about it in 8 years, nor did the HOA, even though they were aware of the issue and their own regulations insist that all homes be kept in a proper state of repair.

The front yard was equally as bad, and we have undertaken to fix it. Unfortunately our tenants have been very slack, and at one point allowed the yard to go completely wild, with the result that the HOA head rang us at home one night and went completely off the deep end raging at us, demanding I come round in mid evening to inspect the horror patch and threatening to file a complaint with both the city and the mayor. She also went on a riff demanding that we re-sod the area as well. The fact of the matter is that this woman never gave a toss about the state of the lawn when former friends owned the property, there are at least 12 - 15 homes in the area with lawns of similar quality or worse, and I can guarantee you that none of the owners received the blistering and bullying tones we got over the matter. I countered by stating that we'd file a lawsuit given her extremely selective application of HOA rules that bordered on harassment, and went through the neighborhood taking pictures to prove my point. She has since countered by claiming she will 'water down' her approach to the city by also including other homes in order 'not to appear' to be picking on our property.

Our other point is that this individual has seen fit to approach our tenants, without our prior knowledge or permission, and tried to hatch a plan for them to exchange labor on the gardens in return for reduced rent. She even communicated as much to us via email. We told her she was way out of line and that it wasn't her business to try and make business arrangements involving rent with our tenants.

There are a number of other issues, but clearly, we're getting a front row seat on why HOA's are often considered such a nightmare of petty little martinets chasing positions of authority in order to become neighborhood bullies. At this stage we're trying to consider our options, which is to complain to the city about the double standards and non-compliance, seek legal representation to head this individual off, and write to all the households with the association to notify them of the woman's abuses and the fact they need to find someone else to take on the job and apply it in an even-handed and appropriate manner.

Finally, do we have grounds to report the HOA for its obvious neglect of its own regulations and city ordnance regarding the roofing issue? Doubtless the two HOA representatives who told me conversationally about the roof would deny it now until they're blue in the face, but clearly they had to know, especially as code requires appropriate posting at the front of the property. They also noted how everyone watched the work being done in virtual hysterics because it was so obvious how poor the workmanship was. It's not as if we want to sue for the money, because in all fairness, we got the house at a reduced rate because of the roof issues, so whatever we spent was saved on what we would have doubtless paid for the house if the shingles had been sound. I simply have issues with the fact the HOA had a legal responsibility and took no action because the head was 'friendly' with the home owner, while in other areas we are obviously suffering now via a fractious relationship to a HOA that was actually complicit in the problems we're dealing with now.

Any thoughts?

[Mr. Knowitall]

HOA's often have restrictions on appearance, or maintenance requirements, but they don't typically require homeowners to prove that they are using licensed contractors or that they've pulled permits. If such rules exist for your HOA, you are certainly free to inquire with the HOA as to why they were not enforced.

You purchased a home knowing it had a visibly and obviously defective roof? Then that is now your problem to fix, not the HOA's. If you were in a condo, and the association were responsible for repair and maintenance of roofs and exterior walls, then it would be something you could take to the HOA, but when you choose to buy a house that needs a lot of repairs because it's is cheap, you accept that you'll be doing repairs.

You have a problem owner across the street who made an unauthorized proposal to your tenant? She may well be on the HOA, but nothing in what you have said would make such an approach to your tenant a HOA issue.

[Nick33]

The situation wasn't one of angling for the HOA to take care of the roof, as I pointed out quite clearly. As I also stated quite clearly, we received a substantial discount on the price of the house that took into account the fact we'd have to repair the roof, so we have no issue with the money we had to outlay.

Also, proving something, and knowing something are entirely different matters. For example, on two sides of the house are neighbors involved with the HOA - one is the president, the other the treasurer - and both freely admitted that they well knew that the roofing work was being done without a permit as they were both well-acquainted with the home owner and her son, who performed the work in such slovenly manner and who they also freely described as a complete idiot. Apparently, the entire neighborhood watched on with great hilarity as the work was performed 3 - 4 years ago - the way it was described to us, it was like watching the three stooges at work, all rolled into one, as the shingles were laid in crooked fashion all over the place and in totally the wrong layout, with overlays placed in the wrong direction so that leaves and rainwater were able to eventually work underneath. When we bought the house, some section of the roof had leaf accumulation a foot deep UNDER the shingle edges in the corners/angles. It was just a complete joke that you had to gaze at in disbelief, wondering how water hadn't ended up pouring into the house itself. All of that of course is neither here nor there from a legal standpoint, particularly as the individuals concerned would doubtless develop amnesia regarding the information imparted.

Yards are supposed to be well maintained - ours when we purchased it, was in a very patchy state and had, according to one HOA neighbor, been turned into a virtual sandpit by former tenants and their kids. We've been tending to it while trying to figure out what direction to take, but being summer there are limits, especially as we can't put down something like 'weed and feed' because it would burn the lawn at this time of year.

Our point is simply that, according to HOA regulations regarding maintenance, lawn care, appearance, etc, the HOA essentially used their regulations for nothing more than toilet paper for years prior to our arrival where our property was concerned, yet have now cynically decided to scream at us over the very issues they allowed to accrue over years - and only at us. Half the houses in the HOA have issues with lawns, etc, some considerably worse than ours, yet short of going door to door to ascertain it, I can assure you we're the only ones being harassed over issues the rest have long been allowed to do as they please without recrimination - they just don't live directly opposite this harridan. I actually went around yesterday and today with a camera to prove my point. Do I need to go door to door to get statements to the effect these home owners have never heard a peep from this individual?

We've had demanding and snotty emails sent to us, rude messages left on our answering service, threatening and abusive phone calls to our home, one of which so distressed my wife I had to take the phone from her to deal with the offensive woman involved. As stated, she has seen fit to approach our tenants, with her HOA hat on, to try and work deals with the rent, and has taken to writing us to 'renegotiate' the terms of the lease our tenants signed. Why? Because our tenants have proven too lazy to mow the yard, as per the lease, and at one point allowed the yard to turn into a jungle (I have since taken over the management of the front yard because we simply cannot trust our tenants to maintain it). This HOA individual took it upon herself to write to us and state that 'your tenants might be more inclined to mow the yard if you gave them the kind of lawn the the place needs'. As we said to her, the terms of our lease are none of her business, and regardless of the patchy condition of the lawn (which we reminded her she could have done something about in the past) the tenants are required to maintain it as per the lease until such time as we arrive at a workable solution, which she is well aware we have been endeavoring to address. She's long been made aware of the fact that we intended to re-sod months ago, but called it off when we realized that we simply couldn't rely on the tenants to maintain it, and that it was thus pointless to throw down a couple of thousand dollars only to watch it go to waste. We have since been casting around trying to find another means of addressing the situation - xerescaping, rock gardens, etc - that fit in with the HOA's rules and allow us to address a perennial problem with tenants who don't want to mow. (We can add lawn maintenance into a lease in future, but of course not with the current one). We have actually reached a point where we think this woman is angling, via our tenants who she's befriended, to get us to stay with re-sodding because she hates the idea of our xerescaping the plot, even though HOA rules permit it. I should also point out that the woman has a business relationship with one of the tenants, which is making things a little incestuous from our perspective and adding to our thoughts that there's something cooking in the background. If all that sounds odd, factor in the point that when we emailed our tenants regarding why they hadn't mowed the lawns for weeks, they shot back with comments that virtually mirrored the HOA rep's words about being more inclined to mow a new lawn rather than the old one - even referring to her and her desire for fresh sod to be laid down.

Bottom line, we inherited a disaster zone when we bought the house and have diligently applied ourselves, financially and otherwise, to fix up a house that had assumed near legendary status in the neighborhood for the slovenly manner in which it had long been maintained, and which the HOA had happily stood by and done nothing about where its own rules are concerned for the exterior appearance and yard - simply because the HOA maven was a buddy of the owner. The house itself, inside and out, is now fine, with only the gardens to fix up. Years of neglect mean that it will take time to repair, and it will be done, in spite of this appalling woman and her behavior, not because of it.

We simply want to know if we have the option to approach a lawyer and get this neighborhood's resident bully to back off or litigate for her misapplication and abuse of her position within the HOA - or is it permissible to unevenly apply regulations to such an extent that a HOA can target one home amongst 20 or so properties, be abusive and hot-tempered, simply because it faces her own home? As I stated, before, at one point this woman rang our home and screamed at my wife that she was going to specifically cite our property to the City and the mayor (not the HOA) yet there is no record of the woman ever citing the previous owner, her friend, when the house and property was in far worse condition. Nor is there any record with the city of her complaining about other homes in the association, even though many have considerable issues, a number of them worse than our own. We simply feel this individual is an extreme example of someone using HOA authority highly selectively, unevenly, and in a very abusive manner, especially in a situation where we've even given her a tour of the house to show her how much has been done to repair it from its former appalling state.

At this point we simply feel like leveling the yard of all the shrubs and vegetation, leaving nothing but a plain bare surface (permitted within the HOA rules) and signing the home over for section 8 rental just to distance ourselves as much as possible day to day from the property.