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This was a head scratcher
because the landlord could rent to someone else, just not the
Lobaughs. They got the run-around about why the HOA wanted the
Lobaugh family out. But Lisa Lobaugh, the landlord and the agent
who rented the place think they know why. It’s because the
Lobaughs have two children, ages 12 and 6, who are sometimes
joined by friends and relatives, use the pool nearly every day.
The family moved here from Pennsylvania and the constant
sunshine and having a pool is a novelty that hasn’t worn off.
The problem is not the children, she said, it’s the community’s
attitude toward children.
“It’s not a kid friendly environment,” Lobaugh said. She said
that families with children move in, but the hostile environment
forces them to move. “I want to tell (these families), don’t
unpack your boxes. It’s one year and you’re out.”
The Lobaughs’ landlord, Paul Walsh, said he’s been getting the
runaround when it comes to why the Lobaughs can no longer rent
in the community just off U.S. 41.
Walsh said he was first told that the paperwork was late and
that’s why he couldn’t rent to the Lobaughs. Then they told him
that the Lobaughs didn’t follow the rules.
But that was the first time he had heard of any rules violations
regarding the family. Why wasn’t he, as the landlord, informed?
Walsh thinks these excuses are a ruse. “It definitely is
discrimination,” he said. “But how to prove it?”
I thought I might just
ask. So I called and left messages with the president and the
vice president of the Jonathan’s Bay Association but neither
returned my calls. |
