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SOUTHCHASE
PARCEL 45, ORLANDO, FLORIDA.
Trouble brewing in DOWNS HOA Revolution in CAI stronghold? By Jan Bergemann |
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The problems started as they always do
in homeowners' associations. Arguments how to run the association! But
then in the DOWNS HOA, a nice neighborhood with about 800 single family
homes, the trouble went much further. They only have a little park
as common property, no clubhouse or swimming pool and the whole annual
budget is $ 160.000.00. According to information received more than a third
of this budget is used to pay for the services of Leland Management Company
and Paul Wean, the HOA Attorney on record. Today there is a law-suit about
public records, a recall petition so far unanswered by the board and determined
homeowners willing to oust the current board.
The list
of complaints from the upset homeowners reads like the one in many
other associations.
One of the leaders of the opposing homeowners,
Stephen Cluney, has filed a law-suit against the association for violating
Florida Statutes F.S.
720.303 (4) (g) "A current roster of all members and their
mailing addresses and parcel identifications." According to a newsletter
the President of the board uses a recent survey for his defense, claiming
that a majority of homeowners didn't want the roster revealed.
Another recent argument was the fact that the board prohibited the taping of a board meeting. Here in Florida this issue is regulated under F.S. 720.306 (8) "RECORDING.--Any parcel owner may tape record or videotape meetings of the board of directors and meetings of the members. The board of directors of the association may adopt reasonable rules governing the taping of meetings of the board and the membership." The board's interpretation of this Statute: "If one of the participants objects, the meeting can't be taped!" When complaints didn't go anywhere concerned
homeowners got together and filed a petition for a Special Meeting to recall
the board according to F.S.
720.306 (3) and the association's deed restrictions.
Emotions are running high! Sue Carpenter, the CAM manager, is speaking of slander and accuses the concerned homeowners of intimidation to get the necessary signatures and even of not having the required necessary number. But wouldn't even a few more than 200 signatures be sufficient to call for the meeting, considering there are about 800 voting interests in the community? On the other hand the "dissidents" - so named by the manager - are accusing her of intimidating people to withdraw their signatures from the petition. Their main complaint : the manager should have stayed neutral and should not, as a hired hand of the association, take sides in this conflict. The date for the Special Meeting was according to the petition set for Oct. 22nd. The board had first announced a board meeting for Oct. 29th., but then declared the newsletter announcement a mistake and set that meeting for the 22nd. of October, according to the manager "an honest mistake!" According to Florida Statutes: "Business conducted at a special meeting is limited to the purposes described in the notice of the meeting." So the two meetings can't be combined into one. But when no further contact was made the
"Concerned Homeowners" decided to go ahead with the Special Meeting as
planned and sent out the final invitation
for the meeting to all homeowners.
In my honest opinion these kind of war between neighbors wasn't what was intended when these homeowners' association were created. But nowadays they are very common in these neighborhoods, advertised as "carefree" and "easy living". While in former times neighbors were fighting about a permanent barking dog or music being too loud, today whole neighborhoods are involved in huge law-suits, management companies are hired at great expense and a specialized attorney is on permanent retainer. A whole industry has been created in order to help these neighbors live in these communities. But the growing number of law-suits show that these communities created by developers and the government definitely don't guarantee "carefree and easy living", but rather often create legal chaos much to the dismay of all involved homeowners. Today you read about law-suits in communities
about flying the American Flag, color of door trim, fences too high or
wrong color. The list goes on and on! While the industry tries to blame
these problems on uninformed or "disgruntled" homeowners, it seems very
obvious that most homeowners are buying homes to live in peace, not to
get involved in malicious fights within the neighborhood.
And many of these homeowners, after investing
their life savings in their dream home, don't have the finances to fight
for their rights in courts of law or follow the advice often given by industry
partisans : "If you don't like it, move!"
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