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Boy, there are lots and lots of takeaways from both articles â for me, here are the highlights (and a few lowlights):
Because of climate change, lots of people are looking into tearing out those expensive lawns and replacing them with native grasses and plants, and when itâs done right, the look can be quite tasteful, like the lady in this case. Instead, it seems the board let the one homeowner scream and dictate things and now theyâre out $100K and the law was changed, so HOAs will now have to rethink how they look at this stuff. Thereâs nothing wrong with doing some research â not everything will work everywhere, but you can deal with things more intelligently when you have some knowledge.
That case also reminds me of âCan You Dig This?â, a documentary I watched years ago on food scarcity. One of the folks featured was Ron Finley, who lives in the Los Angeles area (I canât remember if it was the actual city). He planted all sorts of fruits and vegetables in his front yard and anyone could stop by and take what they wanted (because the neighborhood was in a food desert). The city tried to go after him, and in the end, the neighborhood rallied together and got the ordinance changed (it had prohibited fruit trees or something in the front yard). Finley eventually did a TED Talk on his efforts (may still be somewhere on the website.)
I think more HOAs should research things like rain barrels, solar panels (which has been discussed on this website), and using ground cover instead of lawns â you might save lots of money on maintenance and the community will look just as pretty.
Some rules ARE too nitpicky â fining people because their window blinds are the âwrongâ color????? Others are necessary, like late fees for late payment of assessments (not to punish people but to give them the incentive to pay in full and on time). Itâs when boards go overboard that they end up getting all rules tossed by a judge because they refused to be reasonable and use common sense.
Itâs too bad the homeowners didnât pursue a special homeowners meeting to get rid of Olivia â that audit by the state should have been enough to get that going, and if he canât justify the $75K payments, they should go after that. Then again, this demonstrates that one or two people canât continue to dominate a community unless the homeowners allow it. I know some people said they were afraid to complain because of retaliation, but thatâs why itâs so important to find allies â itâs a lot harder to blow off or intimidate dozens of people.
That said, the guy whose car got towed on the day his plate expired â I agree it was excessive, but come on, Iâm sure he received a notice stating this was on the horizon. In most states, you can go online to take care of this and get your plates or updated registration within two weeks, and some will let you sign up for an alert youâll get up to 30 days in advance.
I think the Reston board was using fines as an income generator instead of doing the hard work of reviewing the budget to see where they could save and raise assessments as needed. Everyone knows about inflation and there are dozens of other reasons why costs go up, but by fining people for this, that, and the third, they can crow about âkeeping assessments lowâ
Turning off the heating and air conditioning for not paying assessments? Wrong! Unsafe! That board better be glad no one had any health issues resulting from that stunt.
Finally, all of these stories demonstrate how important it is for HOAs to review their documents every 5-7 years to see what needs to be added, dropped, or tweaked. As the neighborhood changes for whatever reason, peopleâs priorities will also change, and the documents should be updated to ensure the community runs smoothly, will stand up in court, and give people the flexibility to live their best lives.
If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it. Marcus Aurelius