Lawsuit filed against Poinciana HOA

Article Courtesy of News 13

By Stephanie Bechara

Published January 13, 2016

 

Some Poinciana residents say they’re being unfairly represented by their homeowner’s association; now they've filed a lawsuit against the HOA.

Friends of Poinciana Villages (FOPV), is an organized group of residents who are suing their homeowner’s association, developer AV Homes, and the association for Village One.

 

“The people who are members of FOPV feel that the homeowner's association is not representing their interests in the community,” said Keith Laytham, press secretary for FOPV.

The HOA is known as the Association of Poinciana Villages or APV. Residents claim that laws have been broken, such as not completing timely audits or improperly bidding out contracts.

Tom Slaten, the attorney representing APV, says that’s not true. “The complaint that the audit was late and then the general allegation that the major million dollar project or the $4 million facilities project should’ve been cast out to bid, but it was," said Slaten. "So they’re mistaken on pretty much everything that they’ve alleged.”

Friends of Poinciana Villages (FOPV), is an organized group of residents who are suing their homeowner’s association, developer AV Homes, and the association for Village One.



Laytham says it doesn’t stop there. He claims the president and vice president of the Village One unit of the APV were recently kicked out for having opposing views.

“If you’re a member of the board of directors, you’re supposed to be a rubber stamp figurehead for the developer and that if you do anything in opposition to that, your time on the board will be limited,” said Laytham.

In the lawsuit, FOPV is asking the court to stop all APV meetings and elections.

Jennifer Englert, the attorney representing FOPV, said that because they have asked them to mediate, they have offered to mediate and are waiting to hear back.

"The main issue is the election that is coming up and we want it to be a fair election. So we’re hoping that will be held off until we can have further discussions, if they’re really serious about helping the community,” said Englert.

“This community and this board and this management company have been very transparent. We are hiding nothing, we have an open door policy,” said Dottie McStay, part of the executive board for APV.

McStay said they’ve always welcomed questions and feedback from the residents and added that things could’ve been talked over before getting this far.

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