Homeowners asking for HELP!
MIRAMAR GARDENS TOWNHOUSE HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC.

 
Published March 17, 2003 

MIRAMAR GARDENS -- In 1972 the communities of Miramar Garden and Vista Verde were built.  Also,
in 1972 there was an association whose fees were paid to KISLAK, the bank that had all the mortgages.  In 1978 KISLAK sent a letter saying that the association was dissolved and not to send any more association fees.  In 1981 I bought my house.  In the title search nothing indicated that there was an association or that there had ever been an association.  Also, it was not revealed that there were any Bylaws.  If I had known that there was an association, I never would have bought this house.

This an explanation of this nightmare:

In 1996 a church or center came to our community.  We are talking about a very expensive church, Universal Truth Center.

Three homeowners from Vista Verde community went to ADESA, the company that had purchased vacant land at 47th Avenue and 215th Street.  ADESA gave a $45,000 donation for Vista Verde Center.  However, the donation was given directly to Universal Truth Center after Betty Ferguson, Commissioner, decided that was the proper way to handle the donation.  A newspaper article had used negative remarks to describe our community.  After the donation, boy, did they love us then!  At this time we homeowners of Miramar Gardens knew nothing of the donation.

Universal Truth Center accepted this $45,000 donation and started to plan how to spend this money without notifying us homeowners.  A group was formed called AMICUS, which had the best interest of the Universal Truth Center at its core.  None of the AMICUS group’s Board of Directors resides in Miramar Gardens or Vista Verde.  At this time, we also were under management by a group called Timberlake.

In 1997 Universal Truth Center went to court as “AMICUS Brief In Support Of Universal Truth Center Community Development Corporation And Timberlake Group As Co-Receiver.”  A summons and a complaint were sent to Miramar Gardens Townhouse Homeowners’ Association.  (This association had been dissolved by KISLAK in 1978.)  Plaintiff was Metropolitan Dade County.  Defendants were listed as Vista Verde Townhouse Homeowners’ Association (a dissolved Florida Corporation) and Miramar Gardens Townhouse Homeowners’ Association (a dissolved Florida Corporation).  Also on the summons was Miramar Gardens Homeowners’ Association, Inc., which is NOT our association.  This is a new HOA formed by Universal Truth Center Community Development Corporation to market and build houses in a specific area of the community.  (By law, they should have reinstated the OLD association, but this was not done.)  F.S. 617.305 was broken when a new corporation was formed with a similar name without reinstating the former corporation.

Citing F.S. 617.305, they asked to have a receiver appointed to manage the affairs of the homeowners’ association.  (In the absence of an association, Universal Truth Center CDC had been asked to administer funds.)  The following community problems were listed as caused by failure of the association:

No maintenance of any sort in the common areas; streets in need of repair; drainage system virtually non-functional; no street signs; trash problem; no lighting in the private streets; serious law enforcement problems and consequent serious crime problems. 

On January 13, 1998 without notice Judge Simon Stuart appointed a receiver, Moie Tendrish.  Tendrish’s salary was set at $240,000.  Our homes were used as collateral to guarantee Tendrish’s salary.  This was without our permission.  This amount was $10,000 per month, not to exceed two years. The county shall be entitled to reimbursement of all costs advanced to the receiver from special assessments against the subjects’ properties.  This was without notifying the homeowners.
One day we received a letter with the rules and regulations and a bill for the assessment of the month!

Angry residents felt controlled and manipulated by these injustices.  This is a low-income community.  Many persons are retired on fixed incomes.  Many are elderly persons.  Some are disabled.  They all value their homes and their ability to control their own lives, as part of a caring community.  Dreams of living peacefully in a happy environment are shattered.  We are people who love our families and want the best for them.  We do not want to have to fight for our rights in America. 

For example, this is one incident that happened on March 14, 1997.  Dade County issued a check for $10,000 to Universal Truth Center for playground equipment for our community.  Instead only $5000 worth of playground equipment was installed INSIDE the confines of the Universal Truth Center’s boundaries.  Our children cannot  play there.  By April 26, 1999 the remaining $5000 was still being used by Universal Truth Center “to support community organization.”  This is not fair to our children. 

Soon we homeowners began doing some research.  We discovered that the old HOA should have been reinstated.  Did you know that a registered agent for a HOA does not even have to be ALIVE?  The late Jorge Gomez died in 1994.  However, in the documents filed to reinstate Miramar Gardens Homeowners’ Association, Inc. in July 1998, Jorge Gomez was listed as the Registered Agent.  This is clearly wrong.

Also, in the document filed on July 21, 1998, three of the members of the Board of Directors do NOT reside in the community.  This violates F.S. 617.0832.  “Conflict of interest” can also be cited in these choices of directors:  One is the attorney for Universal Truth Center; one is the receiver, Moie Tendrish; and one is the owner of the management company.

By November 23, 1999 Dade County had already given Moie Tendrish $353,785.23, which is far more than his $240,000 salary.  If this sum of money had been given instead to our community, we could have improved our community for our people.

What did Dade County pay the receiver to do?  New rules and regulations were imposed.  Homeowners were harassed and threatened with warnings about losing their precious homes.  The retired, the elderly, the disabled were all terrified day after horrible day by the police and by Team Metro.  Angry people in the community resented having no say in their own lives.

Here are some of the other things that we do NOT have, because of the persons who are now running our lives:

No community meetings, no votes, no budgets, no notices and, most of all, no caring about the health, welfare and safety of the homeowners.  Plainly, they do what they want to us, as though they were the owners of all of our homes.  It is plainly disgusting to know that our freedom of speech has now been taken away from us.  All of the rights and privileges that we looked forward to enjoying as we grew older are now gone, because of the dictatorial persons in charge of our community.

Finally on December 21, 2000 Judge Simon Stuart removed the receiver.  The receiver had been in his position for three years, instead of the original two years that he was supposed to be there.  We had protested in court and contacted various department heads in Miami and had many conferences, trying to get rid of the unjust management group.  We thought this would end the corruption.

Then the second part of the nightmare began.  On December 21, 2000 -- the same day that the receiver and Timberlake were removed from power -- a new contract appeared, signed by a woman that nobody had elected.  Keep in mind that the homeowners in the community did not elect this new Board of Directors, because on the day of the so-called election we were protesting at Carol City High School.  There was a bad storm that day and only 12 persons attended the meeting to “elect” the new Board of Directors.  As always, they did not care.  They did it anyway and they got away with it!  After having been in court for two years to get rid of Timberlake, we are faced with Timberlake again.  We had spent thousands of dollars to achieve justice, but Timberlake is now back stronger than ever with a contract that cannot be broken.  All of our time and money is down the drain AGAIN.

The injustices continue.  Presently, there is Case #200200815 before the general counsel of DBPR against Timberlake Management Group.

We have not paid our association fee, because it has not been legal to collect fees for a HOA that does not exist.  For the past four years we have lived in fear and terror, because we are a low-income community and we cannot afford proper legal aid.

Now on February 27, 2003 some homeowners received a proxy to vote at a meeting.
These proxies and notices of meeting were sent just six days prior to the meeting.
The number of board members has been changed from nine to seven.  At no time was there a vote to make this change.  The proxies and notices are in English, but many in our community are not able to comprehend English.  Worse yet, some of the people who received proxies were not allowed to submit their proxies.

We are desperate.  We want to return to a peaceful, happy life.  Now our peaceful community lives in hell.

Please help us.  There has to be someone in this world that will help us take back our lives and our homes.  Thank you.


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“I, Taimira Perez, give authorization to distribute these documents to any department or organization.”  --  Taimira Perez.