VR (Texas)
Posts: 5
Posts: 5
Posted:
The HOA has been locked in a 3 month dispute with a former volunteer & disgruntled homeowner over ownership of the "HOA's" website. 5 years ago several volunteers, including the disgruntled homeowner created the website: a Homeowner & web designer created & designed it, another Homeowner fine-tuned & populated it, and the disgruntled one bought the domain name & service contract holding it all with his/her credit card; many more volunteers went door to door, and donated valuable incentive prizes, to get the Homeowners to register their email addresses and telephone numbers. Took 3 years but we got to over 95% participation. The disgruntled H. did not get ARC approval for a structure he wanted to install in his/her front yard and used the email system in violation of Board policy to get all the other Homeowners on his side (not his/her first offense on personal use of the email system). Board promptly decided to use another payment system with which s/he refused to comply. Over the next few months the relationship deteriorated and finally, s/he used his/her access to lock the HOA out of the website, confiscate the confidential Homeowner database, change ownership records, & appropriate several domain names and another website not purchased with his/her credit card. We've tried everything: calling the hosting company, several directors have visited him/her privately for weeks, telephone calls, demand letter from the Board, meetings with him/her. The only thing the HOA didn't do was threaten legal action. The only result is last week s/he returned the domain names and the website not bought with his/her credit card. S/He adamantly claims ownership of all, including the confidential Homeowner database (we don't have a copy due to a computer crash and no disk copies either) and particularly the domain name. We can only communicate with the 331 homeowners through posters, snail mail, & telephone right now. We're faced with either starting over or suing him/her. We tried to compromise but s/he apparently only wants a return to the HOA "using" the website with him/her holding full access, ownership, control, & editorial veto! Plus s/he wants a several thousand $$ cash penalty if the HOA "uses it against [him/her]" AND a promise that the HOA will never start it's own website! S/He says the HOA can go ahead and start its own website but without the confidential Homeowner database because s/he owns that too and doesn't want the HOA to "compete" with his/her website! S/He says s/he's doing all this because s/he's angry about the ARC denial from 10 months ago.
The CC&R's prohibit members from doing any act with the intention of harming the HOA or its operations, and from doing any act that would make it impossible or unnecessarily difficult to carry on the ordinary operations of the HOA, and from using the name of the HOA or anything like it except on behalf of the HOA, etc. No question of violations, and more than that I think. The Board is split: (1) obviously some want to sue or at least start a suit and hope s/he sees the light and returns everything (unfortunately cost estimates are between $25k and $50k); (2) others don't want to waste funds on a lawsuit and think it would be easier and cheaper to start over even if it includes going door to door again; they don't want to tell the homeowners what's going on, afraid to violate his/her privacy. They think no one is really being hurt and insist that suing him is not neighborly and any chance we have of resolving this will only come if we don't make him/her angrier. The Board is not prepared to reverse the denial and someone has suggested it might be cheaper to "buy" everything back from him/her although s/he has refused money to date.
IMO, this has the potential to go on for a very long time if nothing is done. Meanwhile we cannot easily communicate with our Homeowners, we don't have access to our neighborhood's public face, our Homeowners' privacy is at risk, and the HOA is being held hostage. Regardless of the cheaper cost, should s/he go ahead and run his/her own website as s/he plans to do, the HOA will still end up having to sue to stop him/her. Not to mention the fiduciary duties involved (e.g., collecting all those email addresses and unlisted phone numbers included promises to keep the info for HOA and personal use only. Could no longer guarantee that.). In the long run, I think going to court now should settle the matter for good and ultimately for (hopefully) less. We don't have to charge an assessment to do this but ultimately, as you know, it will come out of our pockets. I just don't see how we can walk away from this. It has been going on for more or less ten months and it's a drain. I feel like a warmonger but I also feel like rights are being violated, and worse. Please. I would appreciate any insight/suggestions/ideas.
The CC&R's prohibit members from doing any act with the intention of harming the HOA or its operations, and from doing any act that would make it impossible or unnecessarily difficult to carry on the ordinary operations of the HOA, and from using the name of the HOA or anything like it except on behalf of the HOA, etc. No question of violations, and more than that I think. The Board is split: (1) obviously some want to sue or at least start a suit and hope s/he sees the light and returns everything (unfortunately cost estimates are between $25k and $50k); (2) others don't want to waste funds on a lawsuit and think it would be easier and cheaper to start over even if it includes going door to door again; they don't want to tell the homeowners what's going on, afraid to violate his/her privacy. They think no one is really being hurt and insist that suing him is not neighborly and any chance we have of resolving this will only come if we don't make him/her angrier. The Board is not prepared to reverse the denial and someone has suggested it might be cheaper to "buy" everything back from him/her although s/he has refused money to date.
IMO, this has the potential to go on for a very long time if nothing is done. Meanwhile we cannot easily communicate with our Homeowners, we don't have access to our neighborhood's public face, our Homeowners' privacy is at risk, and the HOA is being held hostage. Regardless of the cheaper cost, should s/he go ahead and run his/her own website as s/he plans to do, the HOA will still end up having to sue to stop him/her. Not to mention the fiduciary duties involved (e.g., collecting all those email addresses and unlisted phone numbers included promises to keep the info for HOA and personal use only. Could no longer guarantee that.). In the long run, I think going to court now should settle the matter for good and ultimately for (hopefully) less. We don't have to charge an assessment to do this but ultimately, as you know, it will come out of our pockets. I just don't see how we can walk away from this. It has been going on for more or less ten months and it's a drain. I feel like a warmonger but I also feel like rights are being violated, and worse. Please. I would appreciate any insight/suggestions/ideas.