Right to face accuser

SC is a Sunshine Estates Laws state, ergo one has the right to face his accuser. I am receiving so many letters for petty violations and suspect a single member of our HOA is generating these.

The board refuses to disclose his name. Does it have to disclose it?

Best for now, John

You point is well taken. Our board has a high turnover and many directors don't realize it has been going on for over 7 years now. Motorcycles were not allowed, when 3 bikers joined the board they allowed them. I fought it at meetings and the harassment started from 2006 forsooth. Any other idea to stop it?

John,

Read through your state HOA laws to see if there is a provision requiring the HOA to identify the accuser.

In Arizona, the statutes provide:

"C. A member who receives a written notice that the condition of the property owned by the member is in violation of the community documents without regard to whether a monetary penalty is imposed by the notice may provide the association with a written response by sending the response by certified mail within ten business days after the date of the notice. ....

"D. Within ten business days after receipt of the certified mail containing the response from the member, the association shall respond to the member with a written explanation regarding the notice that shall provide at least the following information unless previously provided in the notice of violation:
1. The provision of the community documents that has allegedly been violated.
2. The date of the violation or the date the violation was observed.
3. The first and last name of the person or persons who observed the violation.
4. The process the member must follow to contest the notice." ARS 33-1803

Note that this statute does not really require that the HOA identify the person who initiated the complaint. It only requires disclosure of the name of someone who "observed" the violation. So if I complained to the board and they sent someone else to verify the violation, the HOA would not have to disclose my name.

John,

Our governing documents allow the individual to question the accuser only at a hearing.

There have been many discussions as to whom the accuser actually is. Similar to the police investigating a complaint, the Association (for us it's the Architectural Committee) investigates complaints of alleged violations. If the police sees a violation of the criminal code during the course of the investigation, then the police bring charges and are considered the witness to the crime.
If the Association confirms a violation exists while investigating the compliant, an argument can be made that they (the Association) become the witness to the violation.

You may be right that the person you suspect is actually behind reporting your violations to the Association.
If the violations didn't exist, that person wouldn't have any credibility with the Board. If the violations do exist, well you are in violation and need to bring the issue into compliance.

Similar to Police issuing speeding tickets, there are some who speed and don't get issued a citation because the Officer is busy writing someone else their citation, the fact that others are in violation of the same covenant doesn't mitigate that a violation exists on your property.

I see the following options:

1) Comply with the rules/regs so there is nothing to complain about.
2) Report alleged violations of others to the Association so they also are brought into compliance.
3) Both 1 & 2

Don't know anything about South Carolina law, but FWIW here is what we do:

If the issue can't be photographed we require the complainant to appear at the hearing or if that is not possible to submit a written signed statement. Everything else can be anonymous.

To the best of my knowledge there is nothing in our GD's about this issue so we established this as a policy, included in our Covenants Rules.

How many complaints are too many? Our Staff Compliance Inspector complained to me that "Mrs X" was issuing too many complaints. I asked him if they were all legitimate. He said " well, yes, but there are too many". I suggested he just follow the rules and procedures and get on with it.

Paul T

SELECTIVE ENFORCEMENT

Since I have just recently brought this subject up at our last BOD meeting, I'll share some on this topic. The five member board here in my community has been less than stellar since its inception five years ago. Amazingly, projects have gotten done, which takes up about 50% of the time, the other 50% is spent fighting amongst the remaining egos.

When I became a BOD member, I joined the property manager and one other BOD member for walk-through's around the complex. Right now these walk-through's are done every two weeks, and the violations are written down by the property manager, at the direction, many times, of the other BOD member. Also, any resident can give the information on a violation to the property manager. I immediately noticed, after the 2nd walk through that the same several families, usually renters, were given repeated violations. Other owners, were NOT given violations, when having the very same violations as the renters. The President of the BOD at that time, as I learned after working with him for several months, actually HATED certain people in the complex. As a result, he abused his power to enforce violations on certain people, and overlooked these same violations on people he was friends with. Nothing was consistent, and sadly this was in his power to do this.

Now, if one wants to prove a case of selective enforcement, I'd suggest taking a camera and go around and take pictures of violations, that have not been enforced, that may be the same as the violations you received, To make a clear cut point to the current BOD, that in fact, selective enforcement is going on, and it's illegal, and you will have pictures to prove it. It's also called discrimination. This may bring light to the situation, if in fact, this is being done. Having said that, I do agree with several others, if you are in violation of some by-laws, correct the violation, and move on.

In my opinion, it's better to handle this with the whole board, as mentioned, they are all part of these decisions. From experience, I know, when seeking that one "name" that is responsible, one is looking for an excuse to seek revenge as opposed to resolution.

I would think that you would also have to prove that the Association was aware of those violations.

The easiest way to do this would be to report those violations yourself via certified mail.

I guess one would have to ask: "Are the complaints legitimate"? If so, follow the rules.

Paul T

Looks like we may have drifted a bit from the OP's post? But, as long as we have, it appears the walk throughs are on the outside? If so, if one's property is in compliance, he probably won't be cited?

Paul T

Yeah, usually those that are caught.

The HOA has a duty to protect and enforce it's own rules. It is NOT considered harrassment to point out violations if acting as a HOA. It's like saying the cops are "Harrassing" people who speed down a certain road and given tickets for it because they shoot radar every few weeks. People harrass people...HOA's just enforce the rules...You call the police when someone calls you names...You go to the board when that garbage can was photographed sunday evening...

HOA's can harass people and cops can be fired for profiling...

I have little doubt that you justify this harassment because "it protects property values." In fact, it does just the opposite.

In some states, including mine, a person selling his home must disclose certain problems to a potential buyer. This includes not only defects in the property but also known nuisances. Having a bunch of pecksniffs assaulting your property every few weeks would be something that a seller would have to disclose as no reasonable person would likely purchase a home in such a hostile and threatening environment.

Since 80% of homeowners have already voted with their wallets not to live in an HOA, that 20% who might have been interested will quickly dwindle to just a handful, if any. The seller will be forced to dump his home on the market at fire-sale prices.

Nothing effects the value of your home more than sale prices of similar homes in your area. When one seller short sells or dumps his home in desperation, the value of every other home goes down.

When we were looking for another home last year, we told the realtor that there were two deal-killers: swimming pools and HOA's. We do not need the hassle of either one and the home we finally purchased has neither a pool nor an HOA. That means that in my eyes (as well as 80% of other homeowners), a home in an HOA has zero value.

Larry, you say:

Having a bunch of pecksniffs assaulting your property every few weeks would be something that a seller would have to disclose as no reasonable person would likely purchase a home in such a hostile and threatening environment.

Sorry my friend, but that is real reach....LOL

Just wondering how many houses in HOA's are under priced compared to similar houses not in HOA's? We receive comps for our general areas by email from real estate brokers about once a week and overall it looks like our properties may be slightly higher than similar non HOA's properties. Of course, there variables to consider such as elevation, physical surroundings and so on. Overall, it looks like being in a HOA hasn't presented a downside, for us, anyway. Perhaps some of the forum members that are in the real estate industry could comment?

Paul T

Brad,

You are confusing the home's market value with curb appeal. The value of your home is determined by how much homes of a similar size in your area have sold for in the recent past. Unless there have been a lot of sales in your HOA in the recent past, your home's value will likely be determined in part by what houses outside your HOA sold for.

I asked an appraiser once about how landscape and exterior appearance play into the equation and his answer was that it does not. I think they view landscape as something that is temporary; that it could dry up and blow away next week.

Curb appeal, on the other hand, will have a bit to determine how quickly your home sells but does not effect the value of the home. Neither curb appeal nor market value means anything until you put your home on the market. BTW, the last time I sold a home it was on the market for 4 hours. It had a lot of curb appeal and no HOA. But we still got only market value.

I am curious to know how you determined that your home's value has risen 35% in a period when the average home is worth about half what it was a few years ago. Did someone make a written offer to buy your home at that price?