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RuthF1 (Washington)
Posts: 117
Posted:
Has anyone had this happen to them? We are in WA state

An owner, who is in bank foreclosure (their house goes on the block 10/8/10; Association has a lien for delinquent dues and they have been fined for many rule infractions; is moving. Much to the relief of their neighbors as this family has been harassing many of their neighbors to the point a judge gave an anti harassment order of protection to one of them.

An owner in our complex put an offer on their place. When they found out they went nuts (the listing agent’s words) and about tore up the agent’s office. What came next boggles the mind.

When the prospective buyer brought her inspector in they found that all of the appliances, all of the shelves out of the cupboards and most of the cupboard doors; door knobs; any stainless steel trim that was around the back splash of the kitchen had been removed. A huge red stain that is thought to be red chalk was spread over the white carpet. Screws were put into the garbage disposal and turned on so it is broken. And the final insult, a bowl of kim chee was left on the counter to smell up the house.

Do we as an association have any recourse? The neighbors below are afraid they will turn on faucets and flood their place or worse yet start the place on fire (you have to know the whole story of how unstable these two are).

Their listing agent told the prospective buyer to rescind their offer and "RUN". She is quitting as their agent as she caught the husband in the home destroying property.
DonnaS (Tennessee)
Posts: 5,671
Posted:

These foreclosure laws are complicated but I would think that the Bank owns the unit. They should be contacted and have the locks changed. Then again, if this owner is such a rat, destroying a locked door will not stop him from just leveling the place.

I would think that the police could be called if they break down an outside door because that should be association property. This is a perfect example of the type of people who do not pay their dues, make their mortgage payments and just are plain ugly tempered people. The world has lots of them hanging around, just waiting to take their anger out on anything available.
RuthF1 (Washington)
Posts: 117
Posted:
That is the problem, the bank was letting them do a short sale so it doesn't own the unit yet. So they can still go in and out. That is what is concerning the neighbors. If they are that mad they may leave a faucet running or even start a fire.
JohnB26 (South Carolina)
Posts: 1,569
Posted:
Should the owner do any damage OUTSIDE of HIS property ... call law enforcement and file charges.

So far, he has done nothing illegal (or contrary to the HOA documents) other than not pay assessments.
RuthF1 (Washington)
Posts: 117
Posted:
That is where we are at right now. Like I said it is the owners next to them that are worried about "what could happen".

The police did tell us today if they are going in late at night and making any kind of noise they would be glad to come over and "check it out". They know the entire story and have been dealing with these two for a year now.

We are hoping when the bank finds out what is going on they take the unit ASAP to prevent further damage.

r
BarbaraD6 (Florida)
Posts: 347
Posted:
Ruth,

In our townhouse community this has happened many times. One person even came back and did flood the unit. Another unit was trashed and just the walls and floor were left.

The good part is some investors love buying those up as they can buy it cheap,fix it up and sell it for a profit.

Barbara
RuthF1 (Washington)
Posts: 117
Posted:
That is what one of the realtors told us. This is sad and scary for their neighbors. Too bad something can't be done.

r
SteveM9 (Massachusetts)
Posts: 3,699
Posted:
Quote:
The good part is some investors love buying those up as they can buy it cheap,fix it up and sell it for a profit.


Yep, let them trash it. The worse it is, the better price I can get buying it. Repairs are cheap.
RuthF1 (Washington)
Posts: 117
Posted:
Not sure I would buy into that thought process Steve as by lowering the price for theirs affects all of our property values. I am pretty sure one of my jobs as a Board member is to try and keep the property values up.

SteveM9 (Massachusetts)
Posts: 3,699
Posted:
Ruth, I never expected you to take my advice. I was just looking at it from an investor's standpoint.
RuthF1 (Washington)
Posts: 117
Posted:
sorry Steve this whole thing has us all on edge. We all feel like we have to take turns "taking watch" to see when they come and go then listen for water running or smelling smoke .

If I told you the whole story about what we have been dealing with for a year it would curl your hair. I never met evil people like this before, AND that says a lot as I've worked with the Police dept as a volunteer teaching self defense. Even the stalking cases we ran into never had someone this unbalanced.

SteveM9 (Massachusetts)
Posts: 3,699
Posted:
Its only going to get worse as the economy gets worse. Banks are just starting to foreclose on properties where people stopped paying 24 months ago.

Unfortunately your HOA cant kick someone out of a house they own. Good luck.
JohnB26 (South Carolina)
Posts: 1,569
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By SteveM9 on 08/27/2010 6:54 PM
Its only going to get worse as the economy gets worse. Banks are just starting to foreclose on properties where people stopped paying 24 months ago.

Unfortunately your HOA cant kick someone out of a house they own. Good luck.

THANK THE CREATOR THEY CAN'T - TALK ABOUT A FASCIST ATTITUDE!?
GlenL (Ohio)
Posts: 5,491
Posted:
Actually John our CC&R's give our Association that option; however I don't know that it has ever been used since the COA was formed in 1992.

Studies show that 5 out of 4 people have problems with fractions
SteveM9 (Massachusetts)
Posts: 3,699
Posted:
Quote:
Actually John our CC&R's give our Association that option


Heh, good luck with that. Just because its in your CCR's doesn't mean its legal or enforceable. A judge would laugh, and toss you out of court.
JohnB26 (South Carolina)
Posts: 1,569
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By GlenL on 08/28/2010 12:03 PM
Actually John our CC&R's give our Association that option; however I don't know that it has ever been used since the COA was formed in 1992.

Never mind the judge, I would consider running the issue by Mrs. Smith and Wesson
JohnB26 (South Carolina)
Posts: 1,569
Posted:
notice that i said 'consider'
GlenL (Ohio)
Posts: 5,491
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By SteveM9 on 08/28/2010 12:17 PM
Actually John our CC&R's give our Association that option


Heh, good luck with that. Just because its in your CCR's doesn't mean its legal or enforceable. A judge would laugh, and toss you out of court.

Why do you assume it is not legal or enforceable? It is part of a legally binding contract that the homeowner willingly signed and agreed to be bound by.

Studies show that 5 out of 4 people have problems with fractions
SteveM9 (Massachusetts)
Posts: 3,699
Posted:
Quote:
Why do you assume it is not legal or enforceable? It is part of a legally binding contract that the homeowner willingly signed and agreed to be bound by.


I assume this because I know the court system. Judge's are not stupid, they can smell "bs" a mile away. If a judge finds one of your CCR's unreasonable or against the law, he will invalidate it. Doesn't matter if you signed it or not.
MaryA1 (Arizona)
Posts: 7,043
Posted:
Steve,

IMO, it would be very unwise of a BOD to operate on the premise that the CCRs (or a particular restriction thereof) is not legal. And, you may think "Judge's are not stupid", but I've heard of some pretty stupid court decisions!!
SteveM9 (Massachusetts)
Posts: 3,699
Posted:
Quote:
IMO, it would be very unwise of a BOD to operate on the premise that the CCRs (or a particular restriction thereof) is not legal.


Normally I would agree with you, but we were specifically talking about kicking out a person who owns a property in an HOA. We were not discussing "general" CCR rules.

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