Insurance claims and rate increases

Started by IreneJ • 30 replies • 3547 views

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IreneJ (California)
Posts: 38

Posted:

Does anyone know how much insurance rates increase after a claim is filed and paid? We have 2M directors and officers coverage that a claim is being paid from. We have never filed any claims through our insurance in almost 7 years. The carrier is going to have to pay out close to $400k on this claim. Our monthly rates are around $10k per month and Im not sure what kind of affect this will have on our policy rates.

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

You want the bad news or the really bad news? The bad news is you will be lucky to keep your insurance at all. Insurance companies are known for dropping clients after paying out a claim. Especially one that big. Which indicates there are some real issues going on that makes your HOA very risky.

The other bad news...If they do keep you, expect to raise your dues. A HOA is ONLY funded by it's owners FOR it's owners. So the amount they increase your payment will have to be divided amongst ALL the owners. So I would start reviewing your documents on how much you can raise your dues without a membership vote. The Board typically can raise dues around 3 to maybe 5% a year. Otherwise a larger increase than that will take a majority vote of the membership. Which is a much harder pill to swallow or give someone to take.

This is why I warn people that suing your HOA is suing yourself and your neighbors. It puts the entire HOA at risk of paying higher insurance or losing their insurance altogether. Atleast your not having to divide the whole 400K amongst eachother. That could be much worse.

Former HOA President

JM10 (California)
Posts: 503

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By IreneJ on 01/03/2013 12:43 AM
Does anyone know how much insurance rates increase after a claim is filed and paid? We have 2M directors and officers coverage that a claim is being paid from. We have never filed any claims through our insurance in almost 7 years. The carrier is going to have to pay out close to $400k on this claim. Our monthly rates are around $10k per month and Im not sure what kind of affect this will have on our policy rates.

I'm with Melissa on this although I can't say for sure how much. The insurance rates will surely increase if the insurance agency doesn't drop your HOA. We recently won a judgment against our HOA for tens of thousands. And the violations were bad and continue. For that amount of money, something must have been really wrong and I have to wonder how long it went on. You say your HOA hasn't filed a claim for 7 years, but during that 7 years, was this case and the violations happening?

I disagree with Melissa on one point. We were forced to sue our HOA just as anyone might be forced to sue their local government because our civil rights were violated. I don't hear many people saying that the African Americans and other people of color shouldn't have taken on states like Mississippi in order to get their voting rights. We couldn't speak at meetings; we couldn't vote and we were falsely accused of violations and there was an attempt to defraud us and fine us for things that weren't against the CC&R or any civil code.

We no longer are part of that HOA community but we expect them to have to face some pretty grim realities in April of this year.

What I would suggest is the following:
1) Look at the actual insurance policy and all the endorsements.
2) Look at ways in which you can show your community has changed for the better in reaction to the claim.
3) Shop around now for another insurance company with similar policies.
4) Consider if your directors/officers were individually responsible (willful misconduct).

From what we know, our board directors misled our HOA and conducted business in ways that broke civil code. The membership could attempt to claim that their decisions should be void since the decision were made improperly, however, we also went out of our way to inform our fellow members. They reacted with apathy.

JM10 (California)
Posts: 503

Posted:

I forgot to add that the insurance company, Farmer's, had strategies that actually increased the cost to their company. We were supposed to have free mediators. They refused, but because to do otherwise, would be contempt of court, they paid for one (resulting in a delay of almost half a year). We asked to see the insurance documents, they refused to give us one with the endorsement so we twice requested and just got a document that listed all the endorsements that were included or excluded. The court decision came in October, but we got the documents in mid-March only after we got an attorney involved.

You might also check on the conduct of your insurance agent and their specialist.

Even for making the appointment with the mediator, they chose the last one offered and didn't show up ready to fully deal--insisting on another separate mediation date during a specified period which the agent then couldn't make and thus it was Farmer's specialist that broke the original contract--not the board. What a great example for the board.

Our attorneys were surprised as well. The specialist kept giving us false information that I don't see how they could insist or expect anything other than the same from the board. My husband feels this was Farmer's strategy to bankrupt us and to discourage others from following suit. So what should have been resolved in January didn't get resolved until July and the board still hasn't satisfied judgment or the contract.

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

My advice about suing your HOA is suing yourself and your neighbors is a fact. You are a member of the HOA and so are your neighbors. It is funded by you all. So if the HOA has to defend itself in a lawsuit the money has to come from the dues you and your other owners pay. The D&O insurance basically protects the HOA BOD from being personally sued for their actions while acting as representatives of the HOA.

I believe that if you read and understand your CC&R's and by-laws then 95% of your issues with your HOA can be handled INTERNALLY. A HOA is managed by it's members for it's members too. The documents do allow for changes to be made by majority vote if a rule doesn't work for the HOA. Plus it allows to remove board members if the ones elected are doing a bad or questionable job. Which can ALL be done without a lawyer. Which is most cases is required to represent the HOA in court.

Now for that other 5%...Yes, I agree there are times to lawyer up and take the risk. I did it myself once. My HOA tried to pass an expensive unnecessary pool repair with a special assessment. I had to force them to do it by the rules. Long story and yes I was a board member at the time. So I understand completely the want and desire for your HOA to follow the rules. I had to swallow that pill that paying for a lawyer and risking paying higher dues/special assessment was going to happen.

However, if you are going to sue your HOA do NOT do it as an individual. My lawsuit involved about 10 other homeowners who was against the pool repair and special assessment. We pooled our money together to pay for the lawyer. If your HOA isn't listening to the majority, then that's the time to make the majority of ACTIVE owners to take action. It may sound contradictive to what I have said. However, as a group it would act more like a class action suit. Which would give more owners who are upset with rules violations/lack of enforcement a better chance of winning. An individual it just makes everyone pay and not alot of people happy even if they are right.

Former HOA President

McgrathH
Posts: 30

Posted:

melissa p is a hick hillbilly, who needs a crane to left her out of her double-wide. take her comments with a grain of salt

IreneJ (California)
Posts: 38

Posted:

Thanks everyone! This case is a bit unusual in that the majority board (4 people) filed a lawsuit against the 5th board member's wife. The board member's wife had coverage for the defense under her personal policy. After the first court appearance, the board decided to add her husband's name onto the lawsuit (5th board member). This kicked in the D&O policy coverage. Unfortunately, the homeowners had no voice in the matter. They were not the ones who wanted to sue. It was the four board members who made the poor decision. None of the costs on the plaintiffs side are covered, that is coming out of the operating expenses. The defense costs are 100% covered BUT from what you have all just said - the policy will either be dropped or cost a lot more. Basically, homeowenrs lose each way as a result.

IreneJ (California)
Posts: 38

Posted:

Melissa, what happens if they drop us? Doesnt SOME agency have to give us insurance? I realize that it may be very expensive but we will have to be insured?

SteveM9 (Massachusetts)
Posts: 3,699

Posted:

Quote:

Unfortunately, the homeowners had no voice in the matter. They were not the ones who wanted to sue. It was the four board members who made the poor decision.

Another reason to pay attention to the board members and who you vote for. If you dont vote in the right people or fail to get rid of the wrong people, eventually it will hit your wallet.... hard.

LarryB13 (Arizona)
Posts: 4,099

Posted:

If your homeowners bothered to seek out legal advice they would find that they have a pretty good case against those four board members. They used association money to fund a lawsuit for their personal benefit, lost the case, lost the money, and are likely to now lose future insurance coverage.

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

Unfortunately your choices are limited. If they do drop you, then you all will have to find a new company. Which most likely will charge a high rate due to your past issues. It's kind of like you all just got a bad credit report on yourselves for this. I've heard there may be only about 20 insurance companies nationwide who even offer HOA insurance. So the offerings may be limited. We used Travellor's insurance by the way.

I hope you all get together and kick these board members out next election or even before. Hopefully, you will have some common sense people who have a clue be willing to run for office. That's going to be your biggest hurdle is finding people to replace anyone on the board after this mess. It's going to leave a very sour taste in many people's mouths. However, it may inspire some to do a better job and take over. I'd concentrate on that aspect.

Not knowing all the details of this whole situation, I don't get how your board could have sued another board member with the D&O insurance in place. This sounds like it could have been a situation where the board sued a member who happened to be a board member. Otherwise I don't see why the board member sued would have had to take any personal steps from protecting their assets. Plus did I read the husband was a board member? Should only be one representative from each lot owned. So can't have a husband and wife both on the board at the same time typically. One vote/One lot.

Your HOA really needs to get back to basics and educate itself. May I suggest having some just plain workshops where you all get together voluntarily and read your documents? Just take a section at a time and figure them out. Most issues can be resolved INTERNALLY and is all in the documents before anyone needs to go to an outside source.

Former HOA President

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Irene

What is this claim being paid for?

Thanks

IreneJ (California)
Posts: 38

Posted:

I'm posting under my wife's account but here is the situation. I am a board member who found some problematic invoices with our highest paid vendor who was also working without a license in the community. I brought it to the boards' attention in an executive session and three directors became very defensive and one quit. Our attorney suggested a forensic audit after looking at the evidence I presented. The board refused. Homeowners were not happy with this vendor workign in their homes and he was a liability to the community. Eventually, he crashed his work truck into the front of the complex making homeowners more mad (rightfully so). People refused to have the vendor in their homes so the 3 directors created an "executive legal committee" without me and filed a suit against my wife for "intentional interference with prospective gain" and for "defamation of the contractor". They did this because they knew I was protected as a director. They hired an attorney who was convicted for drug trafficking to represent them. Truck Insurance (our hoa policyholder) decided to defend my wife for the "defamation" portion of the lawsuit because it involved an HOA vendor. At the case summary conference, the board decided to add me to the lawsuit. This made NO sense because by marriage I would be part of the lawsuit indirectly anyway and since they formally added me to the suit, the D&O policy kicked in and gave us an additional $2M in coverage. This has to be the result of their attorney who has NO idea what he is doing. After getting out of prison, he got his bar license back and this was his first case. Before prison, he only practiced DUI and immigration law. Everyone's thoughts are correct - NO ONE WANTS TO RUN with this going on! They are afraid to get sued themselves. We have 416 units and our dues are at $285, they have spent all the money in our operating account and have now dipped into our reserves. There's little I can do because they discuss everything in their "executive legal committee" and they ignore the advice from our regular legal counsel and management company. I tried mediation, small claims court, sitting them down and talking nicely, etc. They are hell bent on taking down the association to fight a battle they cannot and will not ever win. They also just had the vendor file the exact same lawsuit against my wife and her defense is also being covered by the HOA policy so whatever is left on the policy will be completely depleted after that goes to trial. I'm open to suggestions. You can reason with the unreasonable however.

IreneJ (California)
Posts: 38

Posted:

the claim is for our legal defense. They are suing us for $400K. They say this amount is the difference we have paid using a more expensive contractor over the unlicensed contractor with the bad invoicing. Its' ridiculous. Our case can be found at seagatesecrets.com

LarryB13 (Arizona)
Posts: 4,099

Posted:

I just read through the first complaint on your website. What a crock!

The first thing I noticed was Orange County. Many years ago I represented myself in a lawsuit here in Arizona. The other party hired a high-dollar attorney with a reputation for extremely bad behavior. During the trial, the attorney started in on me and the judge called us both to his chambers. The judge reamed the lawyer a new one and during his rebuke advised the attorney if this was the way he wished to conduct himself that he should take up a practice in Orange County. California courts in general are chaotic and apparently Orange County Superior Court is the worst of the worst. You have my sympathies for being a defendant there.

In the complaint itself, I noticed that one of their claims was that your wife had filed a complaint with the office of consumer affairs about "Gus," who is not even a party to this particular lawsuit. There is no mention of what the nature of the complaint was and whether it had been sustained or dismissed. I must admit that this is breaking new legal ground: One party suing another for making a lawful complaint with a state agency about a third party without regard to the agency's decision.

Arizona common law holds that complaints made to state agencies are protected by absolute priviledge. Even if the complaint is knowingly false and/or made with a malicious intent, the party against whom the complaint has been filed cannot sue in civil court.

The other thing I noticed is that the complaint never claims that the HOA dissolved its contract with Gus (the contractor) nor does it claim that it suffered any actual economic loss. Generally a person cannot recover damages without sustaining some actual loss.

SteveM9 (Massachusetts)
Posts: 3,699

Posted:

Unlicensed contractor in California with poor paperwork habits? I'm guessing the State of California Dept of Revenue and the IRS would love to know about them.

LarryB13 (Arizona)
Posts: 4,099

Posted:

OMG! I just read Gus' complaint.

Gus said he suffered, “a loss of his reputation, shame, mortification, and injury to his feelings.” He also suffered, “humiliation, mental anguish, fear, and emotional and physical distress, sleeplessness, and loss of appetite.”

Who knew that a contractor named Gus could be such a sensitive guy?

LarryB13 (Arizona)
Posts: 4,099

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By SteveM9 on 01/05/2013 5:30 PM
Unlicensed contractor in California with poor paperwork habits? I'm guessing the State of California Dept of Revenue and the IRS would love to know about them.

I looked at the documents on the website referred to above. The contractor does have a license but it was suspended for a time for failing to have workman's compensation insurance. It is not clear what agency was involved or when the suspension became effective. The text in the document stated:

"This License is under suspension for the following reasons:

"1. License is under suspension for failure to comply with Workers Comp. A workers´ compensation certificate or
exemption statement may have been received by the Board but not yet processed. Once the certificate or
exemption statement is processed the suspension will be lifted retroactively to the effective date of the certificate or exemption statement. Ask the contractor for proof of worker's compensation and contact the insurance company to verify coverage."

I looked at all the documents posted on the OP's website and I have to admit that I have a hard time concluding that the contractor is bilking the association. What I see is evidence that the contractor cannot spell very well and that he has a difficult time keeping his records up to date. On the other hand, I also saw nothing that would justify a lawsuit against the OP and his wife. As mandatory members of an HOA they have a right to express their concerns about those doing business with the association and to obtain the records of those transactions.

IreneJ (California)
Posts: 38

Posted:

thank you so much for the comments and advice. Gus was working in the community on a daily basis. We pulled his license and noticed it was suspended. He was working in the community that day and we have pictures. In order to avoid extra liability, we notified the association's attorney and reported it to the contractor's board. Gus was fined by the contractors board as a result. He corrected the problem and was allowed back on teh job. If we had not reported him, this probably would not have been corrected and he would have continued working. It is interesting that you noted about consumers rights in reporting this. This lawsuit was filed in retaliation because we reported unlicensed activity, which is our right as consumers. A nonprofit group - Cal Home Law took interest in our situation and is helping us research if we have protection under a "whistleblower" claim. In the meantime, we filed another complaint with the CSLB for the vendor's retaliatory action against us for a legitimate complaint that resulted in the vendor being fined! The case is so incredibly stupid and sad! I guess I should mention one of the major issues - Gus and the board president have a 15+ year family friendship. As a board member, I feel it was my duty to question discrepancies on invoices. This is what happened when I followed my duties. IT should also be noted that Gus continued working in the communityh for 8 months before he became "too stressed" to work here. He has not worked in the community since August but he is still collecting $50-60K paychecks each month for work he claims to have done over 1 year ago. Lastly, Gus was never under a contract, he was one out of four vendor we used on a rotational basis. We do not have formal contracts with any of these vendors. I will say however, the other vendors always placed bids but Gus was the only one not required to put in bids so technically, there is no way to prove he had the cheapest rates. On the contrary, I can prove he has double billed and been paid twice (verified by homeowners) and charged the association for work that was not done. If you look at his invoices on the website, you can see we were deeply overcharged for simple drywall work. I am only one person who is outvoted every time so I do not have any authority to keep him from working in the community. If he gets the $350K judgement, it will be paid out of the HOA's insurance policy. Either way, it's a bad situation for homeowners. I think I will look into the IRS, that may be a good path to travel.

LarryB13 (Arizona)
Posts: 4,099

Posted:

Neither lawsuit against you seems to have much merit. I think I said above that I noticed they alleged that you had complained to the state agency but they both left out the part about the outcome.

The courts in Arizona have ruled that legal proceedings begin when a person files a complaint with a law enforcement agency. It is universally accepted that statements made in court are absolutely immune from lawsuit and the rulings in AZ have extended that protection all the way back to the first contact with a police officer. Thus, if you report that your neighbor robbed a bank he cannot sue you for making that report, even if it is false. His sole recourse is to seek criminal charges against you for making a false report.

I have not seen this principle applied to quasi-judicial proceedings, such as the registrar of contractors, but can see no reason why it would not apply. I do not have any idea how California views this issue, but I would find it hard to believe that any court would allow a lawsuit to proceed based on the fact that you reported a violation to the state and the state sustained your complaint. It would be counter to public policy to allow a person found guilty of violating the law to sue the party who reported him.

The Arizona case that I referred to is Ledvina v. Cerasani and was published by Division Two of the AZ Court of Appeals in 2006. The court wrote a "police complaint was absolutely privileged as statements related to a judicial proceeding under sections 587 and 598 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts (1977)."

The Arizona Court cited a California case and provided some commentary in a footnote. The case is Hagberg v. Cal. Fed. Bank FSB, 81 P.3d 244, 249 (Cal. 2004) and the footnote reads:
"Until recently, California courts of appeal had disagreed about the nature of the privilege applicable to a citizen’s report to police. Compare Williams v. Taylor, 181 Cal. Rptr. 423, 427-28 (Ct. App. 1982) (absolute privilege) with Fenelon v. Superior Court, 273 Cal. Rptr. 367, 368-69 (Ct. App. 1990) (qualified privilege). In Hagberg, the California Supreme Court resolved that conflict and held that statements made to police about suspected criminal activity are absolutely privileged. Although Hagberg construed Cal. Civ. Code § 47 in determining an absolute privilege applied to citizen complaints, the same policies that inform that statute also inform the common law rule."

(Your attorney will understand all that.)

JM10 (California)
Posts: 503

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By IreneJ on 01/06/2013 12:57 AM
thank you so much for the comments and advice. Gus was working in the community on a daily basis. We pulled his license and noticed it was suspended. He was working in the community that day and we have pictures. In order to avoid extra liability, we notified the association's attorney and reported it to the contractor's board. Gus was fined by the contractors board as a result. He corrected the problem and was allowed back on teh job. If we had not reported him, this probably would not have been corrected and he would have continued working. It is interesting that you noted about consumers rights in reporting this. This lawsuit was filed in retaliation because we reported unlicensed activity, which is our right as consumers. A nonprofit group - Cal Home Law took interest in our situation and is helping us research if we have protection under a "whistleblower" claim. In the meantime, we filed another complaint with the CSLB for the vendor's retaliatory action against us for a legitimate complaint that resulted in the vendor being fined! The case is so incredibly stupid and sad! I guess I should mention one of the major issues - Gus and the board president have a 15+ year family friendship. As a board member, I feel it was my duty to question discrepancies on invoices. This is what happened when I followed my duties. IT should also be noted that Gus continued working in the communityh for 8 months before he became "too stressed" to work here. He has not worked in the community since August but he is still collecting $50-60K paychecks each month for work he claims to have done over 1 year ago. Lastly, Gus was never under a contract, he was one out of four vendor we used on a rotational basis. We do not have formal contracts with any of these vendors. I will say however, the other vendors always placed bids but Gus was the only one not required to put in bids so technically, there is no way to prove he had the cheapest rates. On the contrary, I can prove he has double billed and been paid twice (verified by homeowners) and charged the association for work that was not done. If you look at his invoices on the website, you can see we were deeply overcharged for simple drywall work. I am only one person who is outvoted every time so I do not have any authority to keep him from working in the community. If he gets the $350K judgement, it will be paid out of the HOA's insurance policy. Either way, it's a bad situation for homeowners. I think I will look into the IRS, that may be a good path to travel.

We were concerned about an unlicensed contractor working on our HOA, but that wasn't a concern for our board. No contracts. No licensed contractors. And it looks like no reporting to the IRS of money spent on independent contractors. Went to court. Still the HOA feels there's no need for contracts or a licensed contractor. I'm guessing that's one of the reasons Farmer's settled. Farmer's case was handled by Truck insurance. The specialist, Frank Armstrong, actually increased the costs on both sides and not only by prolonging the case.

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

I had to deal with an "Unlicensed" contractor in our HOA. The bad part was he was the ex-president of the HOA and still on the board with me for about a year. He was a somewhat trusted individual in the neighborhood although the very reason I got elected is because many did not trust him. Rightfully so. Others had tried to run against him and he would defame them. One called him out on having no license and he got into some deep do-do about it for a bit. He then went and told everyone the guy was an old crazy fart out of his mind. This man was a veteran of our armed forces and very respectable person. Basically, this "contractor/handy man board member" was a con man living off the HOA dime. (He ripped off elderly people with alzheimers!!!)

It was EXTREMELY difficult to deal with this situation as he was "buddies" with many of the neighbors there and I was the "New" person. However, I was able to see through his game and was able to curb ALOT of it. At one point forcing him to get licensed and insured for one of his "businesses". Unfortunately, it was for house painting and he did crappy work.

So I understand what your going through with this guy and board. My solution was kind of simple and would be VERY helpful to any HOA. I put in a strict policy of 3 bids and ONLY licensed and Insured contractors for bids above $200. Establishing this policy cut down on his ripping of the HOA. I would accept any and all bids from any HOA member as long as they understood the person had to be licensed and insured. If you had this policy in place it would have made it easier to prove your case. Without this policy it's going to be harder to prove. If your HOA had no such policy of hiring licensed/insured contractors then he could have kept working regardless. I'd suggest putting this policy in place and having it atleast in the meeting notes.

You say they are claiming 400K. Don't panic!!! The insurance has a cap on what they will pay out in a suit. It's NOT that much. More like 80K if that. Plus if there are any claims of anguish or hurt feelings crap it is usually tossed out. Those are usually in personal injury cases such as car accidents. Defamation has to prove the fact were untrue. Obvisously this guy had no license and insurance. Which is provable by his punishment and need to get it re-instated. I would just call this a fluff case with no merit. Just some way to try to intimidate you. I would always file a counter suit and ask for the attorney fees to be paid by the other party when you get to court. Most likely they will have each side pay their own court costs unless this case angers the judge enough to punish the other side.

I don't think the other side has a case and the 400K never awarded.

Former HOA President

IreneJ (California)
Posts: 38

Posted:

JM10 that is our claims specialist. Can u contact me? Info at seagatesecrets dot com?

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Irene

It seems you brought this law suit upon yourself based on a worker with an expired license.

Either there is more to this then you simply being the innocent "victim" or you do enjoy cutting your own nose off to spite your face. Which is it?

LarryB13 (Arizona)
Posts: 4,099

Posted:

John,

I do not see how these people brought this lawsuit upon themselves. They filed a complaint with the licensing board alleging that the contractor was operating without state-mandated insurance. The licensing board investigated and found that the contractor was, in fact, operating illegally and they suspended his license until he could prove he was in compliance.

Both the contractor and the other HOA board members are suing the OP and spouse specifically because they filed the complaint. These are plain old SLAPP suits: Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation. They are suing the witnesses against them for the purpose of intimidating any other witnesses from coming forward.

Think about this: Suppose someone runs down one of your kids and leaves the scene. Witnesses can identify the driver but refuse to speak for fear of being sued by the person who committed the crime. If they speak up they would, as you said, be bringing a lawsuit upon themselves.

While there may be more to this whole story than what we have been told, the two lawsuits speak for themselves.

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Larry

Irene and/or the hubby keep lifting their skirt the more questions are asked. I still think there is more to the story then a worker/company with an expired license.

IreneJ (California)
Posts: 38

Posted:

If it seems like I'm "lifting my skirt" it's only because questions were asked. I have nothing to hide. I'm not gaining in anyway by this contractor not working. As a board member it's my duty to question invoices with discrepancies. I should be able to do this without being sued as I was voted in by the homeowners. I tried mediation and every other method to resolve this. At the end of the day I am the insured not the other four board members. I think there was confusion about our policy on hiring unlicensed contractors. Our Cc&rs actually state licensing requirements and minimum insurance requirements. The association has followed these rules with all vendors except this one. Furthermore, 4 members of the past board have given depositions that they did not use this vendor because of his status with the licensing board but one board member continued to allow him to work. This has been a continual problem and is well documented in meeting minutes.

IreneJ (California)
Posts: 38

Posted:

SO...to make a bad situation worse, a fire destroyed my unit. The fire started in the presidents rental unit (he claims he does not own any other unit that where he lives). The fireplace was modified (per 14 investigators) and burned four units, mine included. The board president will not admit to owning the unit because if he does, then the lawsuit he has against me will implode. Meanwhile, work cannot begin on the other three units until someone allows access into the unit with the fire and permits are pulled. I have the deed showing he is the owner but the charade continues. He and his three buddies on the board are calling the shots and since he wont admit it's his unit, he has not filed a claim.

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

Have you checked the Tax Assessor's office? They should have on record the real owner. Just need the lot number of the unit. One thing is for sure...Death and Taxes...Keep in mind that information isn't the most recent and can take upwards to 6 months to best reflect who is the owner. I just not sure the deed you have is a true reflection of who owns the unit.

Our city just passed a law that will allow the city to condemn property if they can not reach the owner in a certain time limit. That was due to the tornado outbreak in the area that destroyed many houses and people leaving them abandoned. You may want to check to see if that is a law in your area to get the ball moving.

Sorry to hear about the fire and loss. Fireplaces have always been a concern in our HOA as well. We had a home go up due to one. The HOA wasn't responsible though. We just discouraged people from using them unless they were in good condition.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Former HOA President

IreneJ (California)
Posts: 38

Posted:

I went to the city today and they said they will intervene. Thank you Melissa

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

Your welcome. I just happened to be watching the news and caught that clip. Other cities most likely had similar rules. Since it was a fire that would extend out of the HOA rhelm and into the city/county. It's best they handle this at this point.

Former HOA President

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