Idiots in Fla-stranger saves solder's home from dipstick HOA and their (Bleep) lawyer

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The punishment should fit the crime.

I agree but, the counter argument is that a man who skips out an $200 that he agreed to pay is ALSO morally wrong. In fact what the soldier did was the primary act and what the HOA did was a response. Both of them are wrong but, to quote the schoolyard mantra "he started it".---yeager
Yeah, but even in the worse school yard, hitting the kid who cut the line for the slide with a brick is over kill. So, it would appear, is a 600% Attorneys fee and the threat of losing your home, over a $200 bill. Deployment and its financial hardship aside, the punishment should fit the crime.


Respectfully,

jdkelly
 
This story smacks of predatory practices; on the part of the HOA. They are holding all the cards in this situation, and there's no need to start foreclosure.

The collection fees appear unreasonable. Despite the fact that some folks just love it every time some "violator" get roasted;..."I pay my bills, damn straight he should pay his too or take any consequences"...in some kind of passive-agressive pique of rage, this is not the way our legal system works. Despite what some former tilecrawlers might claim.

Here's another story with more info:
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Bill comes, house may go while he's deployed

Bernie Haithcock says it's hard to track his homeowners fee. The neighborhood association is eyeing foreclosure.

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER, Times Staff Writer
Published November 12, 2004

TAMPA - Three and a half years ago, Bernie Haithcock paid nearly $100,000 for a 1,500-square-foot home in the Villages of Lake St. Charles, a Riverview community.

The Air Force reservist, an electrician at MacDill Air Force Base, fit right in. About half of the 216 families who live in the Villages come from a military background.

But soon after he settled in, the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks happened. Haithcock was moved to active duty and has been deployed ever since, with his primary assignment at Robins Air Force Base, south of Macon, Ga.

Now Haithcock, 42, faces the prospect of losing his house because he failed to pay his annual $200 homeowners association fee on time.

In June, six months after the fee was due, the Villages association put a lien against Haithcock's home. Association leaders say he now owes more than $1,400 - the $200 fee, a $105 late fee and more than $1,100 in attorney costs.

If he doesn't pay up soon, association vice president Kate Cockerill said Thursday, "we will have to consider foreclosure."

Annual fees are part of owning a home in the Villages, Cockerill said, and, deployed or not, Haithcock needs to take care of his finances.

"My husband's in Iraq right now," she said. "And we've paid our dues."

Haithcock maintains that he was hundreds of miles away when the notice to pay the fee arrived in his Riverview mailbox in January. He said his mind has been on other things, including his assignment overseeing the security alarm division at Robins.

Haithcock doesn't have his mail forwarded to Georgia because his duties require him to travel to other bases frequently. His neighbors save his mail for him, and he comes home periodically to get caught up on his correspondence, he said.

"I worked hard for that house," Haithcock said Thursday from Georgia. "And there is no wife to get the mail when I'm gone. There's only me, and when I'm deployed, my mind is on the mission."

Seeking to settle the matter, he recently offered through his attorney to pay the association $616 - the annual fee plus a $100 late fee and about $300 to cover attorney costs.

"They refused," said Haithcock's attorney, Kenneth Grace of Tampa. Grace is an Air Force veteran himself. He said he usually represents homeowners associations with grievances against residents like Haithcock.

"I have dealt with these cases from the other side, and $300 is a reasonable legal fee," Grace said. "We're not going to pay unreasonable attorneys fees, which is what they're asking."

The association attorney, Elizabeth Frau of Meirose & Friscia in Tampa, was not in her office Thursday. But Cockerill said the association has tried to work with Haithcock. She notes that the association didn't put a lien on the home until June, six months after his annual fee was due.

"Our whole (homeowners association) board is from a military background," she said. "So it's not like we aren't understanding of that lifestyle."

This is the first year the association has filed liens against residents' homes, she said. And Haithcock isn't the only resident facing the specter of foreclosure.

"We're having problems with people paying their dues," Cockerill said.

The association uses the fees to maintain the community's amenities, like landscaping and recreational facilities. When residents buy into a community like the Villages, they agree to pay such fees and to adhere to rules about things such as the appearance of lawns.

If the rules aren't followed, it's within the association's power to file a lien and pursue foreclosure - even if it's over a fee as small as $200.

"I agree the HOAs need this assessment money to operate, and they need to be paid," said Grace, Haithcock's attorney. "But when I saw the bill against my client had crept up to $700, then $800, then $1,100, and now more than $1,400, I just thought it was unconscionable. I know from my own experience how being on active duty can really disrupt your life."

County records show this isn't Haithcock's first instance of financial problems related to his deployment. In October, the county water department put a lien on his home after he failed to pay a water bill. He said Thursday he has since taken care of that outstanding payment. "When I got deployed the last time there was a bill for $98, and I didn't have time to take care of it before I left," he said.

He concedes he needs to pay his bills on time, but wishes the association would be more understanding of his circumstances - and his efforts to take care of his debt.

"You don't have a man that's saying, I'm not going to pay it," he said. "And it's not like I've been sitting home watching Sunday night football, just ignoring the bills piling up. I've been defending my country."
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Get a judgement, wreck his credit, but don't foreclose over a $200 fee, even a $1400.00

And if FL is a homestead state there are still ways to take someones house, don't know about HOA's but try not paying the bank back. ;)

Smoke
 
jdkelly said:
Deployment and its financial hardship aside, the punishment should fit the crime.


Respectfully,

jdkelly

I agree with you. But, really I don't think that a deployment to GEORGIA should have made it all that difficult to pay the bills in Florida. Macon and Tampa are less than 400 miels apart. All it would have taken is a check and a 37 cent stamp to clear this up long before it got to this point. The guy is on an AF base in a state that actually shares a border with his home state. I'm sure he is serving his country well. But, he isnt exactly in a foxhole in the middle of nowhere.
 
This HOA jumped the gun. Their action is out of proportion to the debt. A co-worker was sent to Ft. Huachuca at the beginning of the war and was given a couple of days to get his stuff in order. He didn't have time to do all of it. Fortunately, he had family in the state who could look after things.

Rick
 
I believe that in this case, the attorney and the HOA are acting in a predatory manner (MOA)

If you read the copies of their minutes here: http://www.villagesoflsc.com/forms.htm , you might get that impression too. :fire:

Their rebuttal seems less than cordial as well, from their web site:
http://www.villagesoflsc.com/generalinfo.htm

BIASED MEDIA REPORTING: As many of you may have seen on the news or in the newspaper, one resident has decided to use the media in an attempt to get out of paying his dues. The Board has made numerous attempts to work with him, but to no avail. And although he is trying to make this a military issue, the Board was not even aware he was in the military until just recently (and as many of you probably already know - the Board itself has deep military ties!). The Board hopes that everyone realizes how biased the media is being & that if you have any questions, concerns, or would like more information, that you would contact a Board Member directly. Thank you.
 
I personally hate HOAs, and will never willingly live in a neighborhood which has one. (Course, I don't want to live in a neighborhood period.)

I make my living in real estate. And I come across this all the time. I always get calls from clients who've just moved in and finally read the HOA documents they were supposed to have read before signing the final docs. They call me to complain about not being able to leave their garage door open during the day for longer than 30 minutes, or the DE JR fan can't replace his status quo mailbox for the RED #8 one he saw in the catalog. That part of the HOA picture is assinine and stupid, and what I consider to be an infringement on property rights.

However, in situations where individually-owned units are physically connected with other either by a wall, shared roof, etc, there has to be some organization in place to pay for the "common" things. If only HOAs could limit themselves to these and similar maintenance issues (landscaping, "green" areas, etc. the idea would work.

As far as the soldier's situation goes, nothing takes the place of good old-fashioned responsibility. If he would have taken the responsibility seriously, none of this would have happened. Do I think the HOA is right in bringing such action against him? OF course not. But as with most awful things that happen, it could all have been avoided with a little bit of care and attention.
 
ARperson said:
As far as the soldier's situation goes, nothing takes the place of good old-fashioned responsibility. If he would have taken the responsibility seriously, none of this would have happened. Do I think the HOA is right in bringing such action against him? OF course not. But as with most awful things that happen, it could all have been avoided with a little bit of care and attention.

I agree. One of the things I counsel my troop on is financial responsability. It saves money in the long run, and avoids all sorts of problems.

However, mail gets lost, bills dissappear in the junk, mistakes happen. Generally you pay the late fees and life goes on. I think that he should of paid it, late fees and all, early on. When I deployed last time, I had all my mail forwarded to my parents. It was tough for me, and I don't even own a home.

The problem here was that they tried to make an example out of him, because "they were having troubles with payments".
 
The punishment doesn't fit the crime.

C_yeager,

I don't think the punishment fits the crime. Whether he's in a fox hole or not, the high attorneys fees and the threat of foreclosure are not warranted for a $200 bill, at least IMO.

The HOA could put a lien on the property and collect all monies owed them, all REASONALBE attorney fees owed them and all late fees owed them, when the property sold. The HOA is not in a position to lose any money, in fact they will make more in the long run. I won't speculate as to why the HOA took this tacit, but it is over kill and predatory.


Respectfully,

jdkelly
 
This smells

like 'someone' 'somewhere' is trying to get a piece of
property cheap and thinks this is an 'opportunity' !!!!

Ever see all of the infomercials about 'how to be a millionaire
by buying foreclosures' - yeah - right

The only people making money are the ones selling this
'information'. If it were THAT easy............well
 
Ok we have a lawyer that does the same stuff and says a lein fee of $300 is about right.
Thier lawyer is charging about $1100.


Someone please tell me how putting a lein on a house costs $1,100, for a non-payment of $300?

There is also a fairly easy way to get money, get a collection agency on him, it costs nothing unless the fee is collected. The HOA would simply wait until the late fee's would equal the collection agency fee when the bill is paid, once they reach that limit, put the collection agency on them. When they pay you get the $200+ and the agency gets some of the late fee money.

That is how I run my business client's non-payment. Sounds like the HOA is being lead astray, possibly by a greedy attorney.

Wonder if that attorney's spouse is a real estate agent...
 
Under the provisions of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act of 1940, you may qualify for any or all of the following:

• Reduced interest rate on mortgage payments.
• Reduced interest rate on credit card debt.
• Protection from eviction if your rent is $1,200 or less.
• Delay of all civil court actions, such as bankruptcy, foreclosure or divorce proceedings.

Service members involved in civil litigation can request a delay in proceedings if they can show their military responsibilities preclude their proper representation in court. This provision is most often invoked by service members who are on an extended deployment or stationed overseas.

The bill for the fee + late fee, OK. Possibly even the original attorney's fee (totalling the $1148.50 paid). Continuing to add attorney's fees (claiming the rise to $1400) is a crock. The HOA VP should know about S&S 1940; the HOA attorney certainly should after all that exhausting research she's billing for and allegedly doing!

No mention of what the reservist did prior to activation; perhaps he's taken a large pay cut and is juggling bills? Doesn't make him a deadbeat...
This is the first year the association has filed liens against residents' homes, she said. And Haithcock isn't the only resident facing the specter of foreclosure.
Oh wait, a whole community of reservist deadbeats!
About half of the 216 families who live in the Villages come from a military background.
 
So when his neighbor who's getting the mail for him saw the notice for the fee, he didn't call the guy immediately to let him know?

Last I knew the S&S Act only worked on stuff you did previous to service. If he bought the house after signing the dotted line, it doesn't apply. The debt part anyway. Than rental thing and stuff I don't know about.
 
"We will look into what we believe is the overbilling of attorney's fees and late fees, and we'll see if my client has any recourse there."
Good. Hopefully, some bastiches will get disbarred.
 
"In June, six months after the fee was due, the Villages association put a lien against Haithcock's home."

if the HOA didn't sue, this deadbeat would likely have never paid (and he shouldn't get a pass just because he's a reservist; should police officers get a pass if they break the law?).....something doesn't just "slip your mind" for six months -- that's deliberate
 
DaleJunior, yes, it COULD have been deliberate. I differ with you as to the categorical, absolute, nature of your comment.

Bills which come in once a year tend to not be upfront in one's memory. If one is away from home, and mentally involved in a totally different world, it's quite easy for things "back home" to slide. Not correct to do, but commonplace.

As a "for instance", I just got my property-tax bill. I have until the end of February to pay without any add-on penalty. I know folks who will wait until nearly the last minute, just as a regular thing. If they were to be diverted by such things as military service or family problems in some other location, I can readily see how they could goof up. Stuff fades from memory...

Art
 
I will never understand the mentallity of willingly paying for a piece of property, paying for construction or purchasing a home on it, then paying the government for the privledge in property taxes then pay tribute to a HOA.
You couldn't convince me to buy property where my neighbors reserve the right to tell me how to live all the while extorting money from me. :rolleyes:
 
I was just talking to a friend of mine with a townhome just outside of seattle. Her dues are over $300 PER MONTH! Of course that pays for the grounds etc. but jeez I can mow my own lawn.
 
Has anyone heard if this matter is settled yet? You would think that if the HOA is now aware of this persons circumstances and having the majority of this bill paid that they would just end the matter. IF they do persue this matter further to collect a few hundred more dollars we will all know that this was predatory in nature.

I would like to know if it is settled or not. If it isnt, his HOA needs some fine tuning.
 
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