Abusive homeowner (VA HOA)

We have a homeowner who is probably mentally ill -- or maybe not, she could just be an obnoxious bully. She has gotten it into her head that the neighbors' paint does not exactly match hers, which is true but not the issue. Some are planning to paint now that winter is over. But she has screamed at them with no provocation as they come or go from their homes, with obscenities, harassed them with multiple phone calls during the night, and pounded on their doors and walls for hours.

Unbelievable, yes. One neighbor called the police on her -- there were three squad calls at the man's house -- but I gather that the police telling her to stay away from her neighbors has not been effective.

I know this is not a responsibility of a homeowner's association. Nevertheless, I am interested in any advice for us or information that can be passed on to the victims.

As you pointed out, it is NOT an HOA issue.

The individual should contact the police each and every time there is an issue (just to have a record).
The individual may want to consult with an attorney to see what other legal remedies are available.

It is not a question of bringing it to the HOA's door. It is already there and has been for some time. She has come to the last 2 annual meetings, ranting and shouting, and harasses our management company as well. It started with us, now it's her neighbors. Apparently all this is nothing that the law defines as its business.

I'm not looking for a "not your business" reply because I already know that. Just wondering if there is anything I'm not thinking of yet.

I'm sure everyone who reads the papers knows that we don't have good ways of dealing with mental illness in society.

Unless the owner can PROVE any CCR violations which the HOA should address ... as Melissa and Tim noted I would NOT become involved. All other issues are between neighbors and local law inforcement.

Presumably she was ejected from the meeting.

Presumably the management has petitioned for an 'order of protection'.

? No to both ?

Then I ask: What nuisance?

PitA, at the meeting she was allowed too much time to speak, and had to be silenced twice. After the meeting we adopted more formal procedures for open forum, which will be introduced at the next meeting. This is under control; I was not asking for advice about controlling her at the annual meeting. Just as I am not looking for "stay out of it" replies, I'm also not looking for advice on annual meeting conduct. And the management company is capable of taking care of itself. Also not what I asked about. While disruption at a meeting makes the meeting less productive, it does not impact the community as a whole.

Douglas, I will explore mediation services, although this is likely not something the HOA can spend money on. Perhaps the county has something of that nature.

As an addendum, I will just add that, while legally this is a neighbor to neighbor thing, you must realize that a woman who comes outside screaming obscenities is not confined to the other person in terms of effect. People in a wide radius can hear and see. It disturbs an entire section of the community. Residents are afraid of her. At the last occurrence a family with a stroller and young child were walking by. Please imagine the long-term effect on an entire 10-home radius in all directions if it continues. Who would want to live there? Not me.

Would you be happy to see a whole row of houses go up for sale? I don't think so.

If you have no suggestions for the problem I am encountering, that's fine. My ideas are tapped out, too. But if anyone does have something to offer, I'm interested in hearing it.

I think Tim's replies are most useful. the victims must contact the police every single time something occurs. Perhaps they even can get restraining orders.

IF your HOA has rules against noise nuisances, AND you have corroborated documented evidence of her yelling, etc., I suppose your HOA could send her a warning letter and then invite her to a hearing and fine her for disturbing others' peaceful enjoyment of their homes. Given that she seems pretty over the edge, It doesn't seem that would do any good to restore peace & quiet to the 10 homes, but it might be worth a try.

PitA, to what purpose is it to blame the directors of my HOA for possibly mishandling a 10-minute open forum at our meeting? That comment is cheap and irrelevant to my question, and serves only to stroke your own ego. Evidently you think you are better at chairing. Maybe you are. Maybe you are so skillful you know how to handle every difficult situation and every difficult person at a community meeting. More power to you. Nevertheless, if you think that shutting down our disruptive homeowner at a November meeting would have prevented her from going loco in March, you are deluded.

tou·ché

OP,

To directly answer your question re: advice for the HOs.

Tell them to call LE whenever they feel threatened or harassed.

More politely than I personally could: Inform them that this is NOT an HOA issue.

? Now that I have spouted the same platitudes as everyone else ......... ?

DonnaR5 VA Good suggestions above.

1- The bigger picture for the targetted 'victims', respectfully, might include that it would be of dubious legal basis & potentially expensive legal penalty - for there to occur some sort of attempted HOA intervention beyond behaviour or disturbance clearly in contravention of covenants/state duties on associations.

2 - Even if all the Directors were accredited psychiatrists and/or psychologists, what grounds would the Board have to intervene other than directly to uphold covenant/statutory duty anyway ? If the door poundings & shrieking were instead about plagiarism or artistic merit etc , would it be any different ?

3 - The remedy with least danger to property & civil rights, respectfully might be the targetted victims' own pursuit of restraining orders followed by contempt of court applications, howsoever expensive or uncertain.

4 - Mediation/ some sort of ADR is usually worth consideration.

But I wonder how many professional mediators want to immerse in lowprice, disorderly conduct scenarios, even mental capacity issues ? There are safety & liability aspects of overseeing such too.

5 - Finally the victims may have to recognize that for an association to open the door to being mental health police, could be a slippery slope for society.

My own jurisdiction & another have accumulated a dozen judicial orders for unit sale issued over 10 years. Only one clearly was an unambiguous danger to the community ( periodic strait-jacketd removals by police amidst recurrent hygienic dangers & fires barely avoided. A number were pro se/SRL self represented dlitigants badly imbalanced in judicial consideration of orders to force their unit's sale. Several judicial sale orders hit parents unable to control autistic children. One unit was ordered sold for a disruptive caregiver, one for vexatious litigation. One was not clearly more than just a hate-filled boozer.

Condo law reform here has now opened the door to personal removal orders as a judicial recourse for condo associations. ( "personal unsuitability for living in a condo community" ). This may not be a good idea at all for property & c9vl rights.

Good luck with addressing the victim's concerns.

Thanks, BobD. Just to be clear, the board is not considering any intervention, just searching for anything that may be helpful to the neighbors who are being screamed at and who are feeling unsafe (beyond telling them to call the police). I don't envy any lawmakers who have to navigate these issues, but I'm pretty sure I would come down on the side of people being entitled to enjoy their homes and property in peace.