The HOA and / or its contracted management company (Sentry Management) is sending nasty-grams to my wife, threatening her with fines, attorney fees, etc.

It looks to me like a very clear case of selective enforcement; my wife is being threatened for doing something that a large portion, probably the majority, of homeowners in our subdivision have done.

We have a few Florida lawyers here on SIGforum. If any of you would be willing to discuss this with us and perhaps write a "cease and desist" letter to the HOA and the management company, please let me know. Or, if you have a referral for us. We are in Seminole County, just north of the Orlando city line.

You could reply in this thread, or contact me at the email address in my profile.

I will get you my HOA attorney information, all he does is HOA work, you can chat with them and see if they will represent you.

Do you have a PDF of the by-laws and covenents?

If not does your HOA have a web page where you can download it, if so then the first option is to open the PDF and Ctrl-F (find) the topic and see what they say about the subject.

I am on our board, but FYI all HOA's are governed by those documents, and they have a lot of requirements now they have to follow.



Update, check your e-mail

We had Sentry at my condo, they appeared to be a bunch of fucking potatoheads.

Sorry to hear about this.

This is an advantage to being a gangster.

quote:

posted by HRK: I will get you my HOA attorney information, all he does is HOA work ...

I had no idea HOA disputes were such a big business.

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
I had no idea HOA disputes were such a big business.

I am on the HOA board now, been on it before, we're small 66 homes, simple HOA, easy to manage, zero issues with homeowners and the board. We use his firm for advise, education, and enforcement, and lucky we haven't needed to go that far.

Not just disputes, there are a lot more things going on, and getting advice on matters makes sense.

Laws changed in FL after the Miami Condo collapse, things got a lot stricter, HOA requirements were improved, processes detailed, what you can and cannot do. Condos were the heaviest hit as were large HOA's.

His firm is more of an advisor to HOA's on the laws, we have to have 4 to 8 hours a year of CE's ,and he provides free of charge classes to HOA that are using them for legal services.

We've not had to send letters to our members, the subdivision is well run and people who care about their homes.

You only turn him loose when you get someone that just ignores the rules, bylaws, covenants and city rules. (Que the "you wouldn't get me in an HOA area" comments) and if you know you're that way, don't buy in one.

But yes with the new laws in FL, it is big business.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeGLI:
We had Sentry at my condo, they appeared to be a bunch of fucking potatoheads.

You are not allowed to shoot them.
You are not allowed to shoot them.
You are not allowed to shoot them.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by MikeGLI:
We had Sentry at my condo, they appeared to be a bunch of fucking potatoheads.

You are not allowed to shoot them.
You are not allowed to shoot them.
You are not allowed to shoot them.

You are absolutely allowed to shoot them, that's why they're called potatoe guns. You're discouraged from shooting at them; it's preferrable to peel the skin and boil them!

Hi V-Tail,

Have you checked to see if your neighbors are getting the same letters? They might be receiving them too.

It could be the HOA management company has just noticed the issue, whatever it is, or a neighbor may have complained and set this in motion.

In any case, if you are the only one, that is a big deal, but you may not be.



.

This is why you don’t live in an HOA. Literally everyone I know who has lived in one has dealt with some bs similar to this

My aunt passed away, my cousin inherited her townhome in a HOA community, and he moved into the townhome. My cousin is quite the colorful character and is about as subtle as a freight train so I knew amusing HOA stories would soon follow.

My cousin wanted to install a hot tub in the screened in patio, but it required HOA architectural approval and they denied it. He knew it was selective enforcement bullshit so he found out the address of every HOA board of director (BOD), and then went about finding out if they had hot tubs. Of course, several of the HOA BOD members had hot tubs. My deceased aunt's good friend is an attorney and would help my cousin out from time to time so he wrote a selective enforcement letter to both the BOD and the BOD's attorney that named names on which BOD members had hot tubs. My cousin's hot tub was approved the same week.

In other words, it might be in the OP's best interest to determine the addresses of the BOD members and find out if they're selectively enforcing CC&Rs on others but not themselves.

quote:

Originally posted by limblessbiff:
This is why you don’t live in an HOA. Literally everyone I know who has lived in one has dealt with some bs similar to this

We don't know the reason is BS..... lets not lump every HOA or HOA board member (these are volunteers not paid employees) into a single category.

You know, like the way anti-gunners lump all gun owners into a group of people that might do something criminal, just because they have a gun.

quote:

Originally posted by limblessbiff:
This is why you don’t live in an HOA. Literally everyone I know who has lived in one has dealt with some bs similar to this

For every story of foolishness, I promise you I can show you a yard full of shit in front of a run down house within 3 miles of our planned retirement home.

quote:

In other words, it might be in the OP's best interest to determine the addresses of the BOD members and find out if they're selectively enforcing CC&Rs on others but not themselves.

Absolutely, if there is selective enforcement, however it's also possible the letter he received is valid, and he needs to fix something to be in compliance.

We really don't know enough to determine one way or the other at this point since we only know one sides interpretation of what is going on...

I am the President of my HOA. We (I mostly!) undertook a extremely heavy lift to get our HOA's Protective Covenants and Bylaws revised/amended. Here's one of the gems we removed from the original Protective Covenants document:

quote:

"Nothing shall be done on any Lot, in any Road or in any Open Space which, by noise, smell, or otherwise shall constitute, in the opinion of the Board of Directors, a source of unreasonable annoyance to the Lots Owners or occupants or to the public or a nuisance."

THAT simply had to go! Anything enforceable needs to be in the governing documents, period...It's either in there, or it's NOT in there! Our HOA Board (at least under my 6-year tenure as President) has the stated position that the Bylaws and Protective Covenants should not want anyone to NOT live here! When I step down, that lasting accomplishment will ensure that any potential 'HOA Board Nazis' that may wish/seek to 'wield power' in the future will need to operate within the Protective Covenants and Bylaws as amended!

quote:

Originally posted by limblessbiff:
This is why you don’t live in an HOA. Literally everyone I know who has lived in one has dealt with some bs similar to this

I have read and reread the original post, where is VTail asking who lives in an HOA or if they would?

I'll wait...

quote:

Originally posted by limblessbiff:
This is why you don’t live in an HOA. Literally everyone I know who has lived in one has dealt with some bs similar to this

While I would agree, 65% of new builds are in HOAs, with some regions approaching 90%. They're increasingly hard to avoid.

The best part is, I get to pay $1,280 / year for an organization that won't get the gates working properly (gated community), leaves monstrous potholes for more than a year (two VWs and a Corolla have disappeared, never to be seen again), but spares no effort harassing homeowners for egregious violations like parking with curbside wheels four inches onto the grass for a couple hours while an electrician needed the driveway and garage.