COMMON AREA PROPERTY FRAUD/STEALING DUES

No Bylaws as required by State and our Covenants. Only 2 Board Members. No living HOA Registered Agent with State. Do I have to pay these people dues for our State maintained sewer while the HOA signs over Common Area to people for their monetary benefit without the Homeowners knowledge or consent, and Sewer Bills seem to be padded after standing up against another increase in monthly dues after they already doubled? I have no one to turn to. Sheriff doesn’t do anything after showing property fraud. I don’t know what attorney or law enforcement would help without being corrupt. It has been me against them for years now. Any suggestions besides moving away which I cannot afford to do?

Is this in your eyes or others? IF so, then you have enough people to start making changes. If it is only your opinion, maybe it is skewed?

Plus not enough details to explain what is going on. Not sure even if you have the full story either to judge.

Sound advice.

Hang around here on this forum long enough and you will see that it's very common for posters to have their facts wrong, be guilty of making statements that aren't true, exaggerate, etc,. I'm not saying you are one of these people but based on your belief that the FBI should get involved it appears you may be.

MillieG1, I can’t say that I fully understand your pain because I do not know the situation of your association. However, I can certainly relate to your concern. No one on this forum can know about the people running your association, only you know through your own observations. So, I believe you on fraud and stealing. And also understand your sheriff dept not paying any attention. It’s a common phenomenon unfortunately.

Here’s the problem and rising incidents most likely not in all parts of the USA, but, it’s catching like a wildfire. That is, it’s becoming a norm in associations to willfully not abide by the CC&Rs. Why? Not sure. It could be because as a society we have and are generally becoming a very tolerant society and with too much tolerance comes apathy, willingness to get together and “fight” to set things right has become a thing of the past. I am sure you are not looking for philosophical answers, instead want options/solutions to your questions.

Please know that experts on this forum are very knowledgeable and very helpful and give proper advice or guidance to the advice seeker BUT their sound advice would only work when the association is not corrupt, people on the Board are not greedy and corrupt and/or the advice seeker is willing to fight the hardcore battle with the Board/association who knows what they are doing is improper but do it anyways because how many owners have the time to pick a battle with Board/association. It sounds like you are believing and suggesting that your association is being run by some bad apples. But, I rather not assume anything.

Some of us seeking advice are perhaps more aggrieved (for the longest, have no option to move, feel trapped, other owners are not supportive even after experiencing the same things as the advice seeker, can’t see our property losing value but unable to do anything about it unless spend a lot of money on attorney etc). So such advice seekers probably see this forum as a place of last resort or seeking understanding from the forum about their problem but get frustrated not finding results. Perhaps, you might be in that situation but I am not assuming anything. Just know that sometimes you’re not going to get the exact answers you are seeking. It’s okay.

What I’ve said above is from my own being aggrieved personal experience, hence, my own opinion. But, I’ve noticed a pattern in general that the condition of the Associations(not all of course) are starting to breakdown more so now than ever before. In my own case, every member of our current Board practices with deceit, deliberately chooses to not follow the CC&R, but they do it in a way that they present a cohesive and calm front while behaving as if nothing is wrong. In that environment, any owner would think he/she is crazy and such two faced nonsense is what’s been making things harder on property owners. Not all Board members are bad, some get on the Board for all the right reasons. But fact remains, list of such Board members is getting smaller and smaller with each passing day.

Dont give up, but don’t get frustrated either. Just know you cannot change the world alone, you need support from owners. If you have it, then you’re in luck, if you don’t have it, then be at peace with the fact that you know what’s wrong but this is type of situation that you might not be able to fight alone. Good luck to you!

I know the definition of friend and family and it isnt an Acquaintance. From what you are saying, the land that is owned by all Homeowners can be signed over by a Board Member to their daughter, so the daughter can sell that land and profit for herself, all without a vote and knowledge of the Homeowners?

Well we do not know all the details. I have no idea why call the FBI? They are not the ones to handle this. It would be your local district attorney's office.

Have no idea what you identify as common area and what was sold. That covers a lot of area. Plus considering the HOA is a non profit that money would have gone to the HOA pocket on the first time sold. The second time sold is none of the HOA business. They do not own it anymore

See how some of the bouncing balls work?

Thank you for your response and help.
They are both-Townhouses with lots used solely by the Owners and Single Family Homes and their lots used solely by them.

The HOA owns our road which is in horrible shape, Common Area that is land, and a sewer system.

After the Developer died years ago, the HOA-mostly 1 person, but sometimes a 2nd person has been handling everything, including the money,without regular meetings and without Minutes when we do meet. When I asked what the remaining Common Area land was and to who all The prior Common Area land had been signed over to, I got very vague answers and a run around that did not answer the question by the 1 person who handles mostly everything . I only found out Common Area Land was being signed over to other Homeowners -the HOA family and friends-without all other Homeowners’ knowledge when these Homeowners claimed in a survey all of my land was theirs. It looks like after they claimed it and deeded it,that my acreage was sold as NEC, and they used my land as part of their new Mortgages. When I got my own survey and deed that corroborated our original development survey, they sold their home and left, But They are continuing to do this now to a neighbor next to our development and it looks like they are claiming some more of our HOA Common Area land in another survey and will most likely deed it to themselves after they sell the home that is located near that Common Area land.Fraud, Mtg Fraud is prevalent among house flippers who are not legitimate.

I don’t know the answer. They started in late eighties, and have been amended a few times since. We do not have By-Laws which concerns me, others are new here and not awake, but it doesn’t seem to bother the person running things and taking in dues money.

Please tell me how to find a good attorney.

Ok thank you but that doesn’t help me to know who is a fighter and not corrupt. I need to be able to determine that.

You meet with the attorney. The attorney looks over the covenants, statutes and case law (for a fee). He/she tells you if there's anything he/she can do to help you and exactly what this is. If the attorney thinks you have a valid legal point, then most likely the first step will be the attorney communicates by letter with the HOA.

If the attorney does not feel you have a valid legal point, then he/she should explain why not.

Be aware that, in some cities, attorneys are so busy that even when a HOA owner has money to spend on this, the attorney may have to turn you away.

That is very helpful! Thank you very much. What I really want is for these people to be held accountable.

Two things assured in life... Death and taxes. You already seen death... Time to follow the taxes..

Thank you for replying and your suggestions. I agree with you about the police. That is why I want to go to higher law enforcement on this situation. But, I do not know how to contact them to be taken seriously. And there are even more concerning levels that might be involved -I see this from the facts. Someone higher has allowed them to get away with this scheme. I do need to be more succint with my summary of events, but to explain it to other Homeowners who are not awake and haven’t been paying attention, my words must also be simple and explanatory. It’s not easy to do, because it is such a convoluted, deceptive scheme, and a lot of people do not know how to recognize fraud, or they do not understand what happens in a higher level of fraud. Criminals bank on this.

If the original developer dies (or goes bankrupt), then any land that he owns would be sold. This is normal.

Presumably there would be covenants that run with the land, and the new owners would have to abide by them. But we don't know what those are. or the status of the original owner's legal arrangements. Usually legal agreements have to be recorded in order to be in effect, and if the original owner failed to follow through, this could be a problem. But we don't know.

During the Great Recession a number of builders went bankrupt, and some of their new communities were never finished or were finished with cheaper homes and fewer/no amenities - the original buyers were not happy but nothing illegal had happened. It's one of the risks of buying in a community that's still under development.

Lawyer up first to see if you have a case worth pursuing.

I am very confused about the common area you say is on your lot and then said is deeded to someone else? Was it common area or did you own it originally? Who owns it now?

Or not got an answer with details one can follow?

Sorry not finding many people to support your fraud and stealing concept. It is if you want to convince others or court your going to have to express the facts.

You have multiple people telling you that they can't understand what you are saying. They are not trolls. I have no idea if your claims are warranted or not because I can't make sense of what you're saying because all you are able to express are your feelings. If you want help from this forum, or a lawyer, you are going to have to learn how to articulate cold hard facts in a non emotional way. Facts do not include accusations.

That is your perspective, not mine. No, I call them trolls when they attack me, which is an emotional and bullying response on their part. People come here for help and not to be bullied. That is all I have to say on this.

So if this was sold off why do you care? It is not owned by you or the HOA.

Estimated cost to get either a competent attorney's opinion or a title search company's opinion on the situation: At least $5000.

The more raw documentation MillieG1 can provide to the attorney (or title search company?) ostensibly proving her assertions, the lower the cost of the attorney or title search company.

MillieG1, consider calling some title companies and see if they can offer an opinion about the validity of the "chain of title" for the land which you claim was illegally deeded. If you can bring copies of plats and deeds to any meeting, and state with specificity which land you believe was improperly transferred from one owner to another, I am sure this would help enormously. Be very clear. For example, state, "I believe this land could not be deeded to X, because the land belonged to Y, and covenants for the land state that Y must have a vote of the owners to transfer ownership of the land."

That helps a lot! Thank you very much for that information.