I am looking for some guidance in handling a situation in our gated community. The streets are private, not maintained by the city. The HOA is responsible for road maintenance, and there is a lot of finger pointing going on between the HOA and the contracted management company (Sentry Management).

I live on a dead-end street (cul de sac?). There is only one way in and out. The entrance / exit is bottle-necked by two large pot holes that have been there for about half a year.

I have sent multiple emails to the property manager at Sentry, with no response. Might as well be talking to a wall.

I sent an email to the president of the HOA, more than two weeks ago. She replied that she had asked the property manager about it. I have not received any further information. I have sent her (the HOA president) additional emails asking whether the property manager had replied. Again, I might as well be talking to a wall.

I am thinking that maybe it is time to take some sort of legal action, but I am reluctant to incur any costs unless there is a good probability of recovering them, either from the HOA or the management company (the management company clearly has deep pockets).

I have no idea where to start.

Do we have a Florida attorney on board here, who deals with this sort of thing, and who could point me in the right direction?

Here are the pot holes:

Have you considered spray painting a big penis around the pothole? I remember a story or two where doing such a thing actually got the roads fixed quickly. Link to article for those who don’t believe me

Pothole is directly in front of next door neighbor's house. He has a young daughter (maybe 8 yrs old?). Penis would not be appropriate.

Honestly, you are stuck in the middle and personally I would go buy so cold pot hole asphalt bags, fill the holes, and then send a bill to both the HOA and Property Mgmt company.

If you get paid great, if not, at least you've saved the expense of an attorney and a lot more aggravation.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sak...18bdec88a89f2b77dca1

Perhaps you can get a trusted neighbor to help?

I'm an asshole, so my advice may be skewed. Buy two small trees at home depot or lowes. Plant them in the potholes.

I remember one on downtown DC long ago that was so big and so long ignored by the city, someone put a king size mattress in it.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
Pothole is directly in front of next door neighbor's house. He has a young daughter (maybe 8 yrs old?). Penis would not be appropriate.

Too bad they aren’t in front of the HOA president’s house. Of course if they were, they have been fixed long ago.

The cold mix idea is a good one as long as the HOA doesn’t say you got in the way and made the eventual hot mix repair more expensive and try to stick you with a bill. Of course, it sounds unlikely that they’re gonna do anything.

I’m obnoxious enough I’d consider raising the issue with all the affected neighbors and trying to get everyone to regularly pester the president until she gets her thumb out. If there was an HOA meeting I’d bring up there too.

Seriously though, fixing with cold patch may be your best approach.

quote:

Originally posted by h2oys:
Honestly, you are stuck in the middle and personally I would go buy so cold pot hole asphalt bags, fill the holes, and then send a bill to both the HOA and Property Mgmt company.

If you get paid great, if not, at least you've saved the expense of an attorney and a lot more aggravation.
<snip>

I think that’s a good plan. Document everything.

Several of you have suggested that I do this with some sort of asphalt patching stuff.

That ain't gonna work. I'm old (84), I'm mobility limited, my balance sucks, I need a cane to stay upright and that doesn't always work, so there's no way I can do this myself.

I'm not going to pay somebody else to do it, I already pay the HOA do keep our streets repaired. If I'm going to give money to somebody for this situation, I'll give it to a lawyer, hoping that the problem gets fixed and maybe the lawyer gets paid by the non-responsive HOA and / or management company.

The suggestion about our neighbors is good. There are sixteen houses that are in the dead-end cul de sac street, fifteen of them are affected by the bottleneck caused by these potholes. If I can get all, or most of them to email both the management company and all board members of the HOA on a daily basis, we might get some motion.

Or maybe a petition for a special election to remove the board members, or at least the president, for failure to perform. I would need some help in wording this. Are any of you qualified to help with this?

Or maybe start with a letter from a lawyer. We need to do something, I'm just not sure what.

Would some of your neighbors on the cul-de-sac help with the physical work of the asphalt patch?

Back to my original question: Are there any Florida attorneys here, who can offer advice or services?

If you hire an attorney, and if you are able to recoup costs from the HOA or management company, will those costs not eventually be passed onto you in the form of higher HOA fees or a special HOA fee?

I agree with your line of thinking, but I am not sure if you are not going to pay one way or the other.

I don't know how you feel about bluffing or getting creative with the truth, but would an e-mail to both the management company and the president of the HOA asking who your insurance company should contact regarding vehicle damage/trip and fall/etc. resulting from their lack of keeping up with proper maintenance get either of them to move? While both might blow off a home owner generally people don't enjoy dealing with insurance companies or their lawyers.

Does your HOA hold monthly board meetings?
Perhaps you could attend one and raise your concerns there.

I would send a certified letter to each board member and the property manager advising them of the inherently dangerous conditions, including photographs. I would include something in there that the HOA and property management company are now on actual notice of the dangerous conditions, and their failure to act reasonably to correct the deficiencies in a timely manner may expose the entities to civil liability for personal injury and/or property damage. I would also review the HOA bylaws for any grievance or other procedures to force the issue. You can do these without an attorney.

Sending your letter to neighbors and asking them to send it too might add pressure.

Good luck!

Not an atty any longer (retired) and only been to Florida for vacation, but ...

Maybe send a letter to the HOA, the management company, and their respective insurers (if known), advising them of the potholes, indicating that they are a hazard to drivers, bikers, and pedestrians, and noting that it would be tragic if someone were to be injured because these hazards were not promptly repaired.

Once they are on notice, it can really light a fire under them - especially if their insurance company gets wind of it, because they are the ones who would be defending any liability claims and paying the settlement/judgement.

Edit: Sorry, JDSigManiac already made the same suggestion.

quote:

Originally posted by h2oys:
Honestly, you are stuck in the middle and personally I would go buy so cold pot hole asphalt bags, fill the holes, and then send a bill to both the HOA and Property Mgmt company.

If you get paid great, if not, at least you've saved the expense of an attorney and a lot more aggravation.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sak...18bdec88a89f2b77dca1

Perhaps you can get a trusted neighbor to help?

^^^This

These guy specialize in this sort of thing:

LAW OFFICES OF HERB M. MILGRIM, P.A.
1920 E. HALLANDALE
BEACH BLVD. SUITE #806
HALLANDALE BEACH, FLORIDA 33009

They may be too far south for you, but they may refer you to someone closer

quote:

Originally posted by h2oys:
Honestly, you are stuck in the middle and personally I would go buy so cold pot hole asphalt bags, fill the holes, ...

... and, ISTM, open yourself to liability.

There was one road on my commute that got so bad, one spring, that one dared not travel it faster than 15 MPH or so, at stretches. Somebody got out there and spray-painted across it, in both directions, in fluorescent paint: "Fix the this f**king road!"

(No, they didn't use the asterisks .)

perhaps put the writing in front of the hoa president's house and then paint arrow to the hole...