The road to justice and equality in HOAs is fraught with huge roadblocks for the homeowner.  Just finding someone who can explain what is going on or how to deal with the threat and demand letters that keep pouring in can be daunting enough, but fInding an attorney knowledgeable in HOA law who is willing to represent a homeowner is almost impossible in some parts of the country and very difficult in other areas.

The Mis’s are thriving in America’s almost 330,000 mandatory membership homeowner associations – MISinformation, MISstatments, MISunderstandings, MIScalculations and MIStakes.  Housing consumers are often misinformed about what they are getting themselves into when they buy a unit in an HOA.  The information provided by all the professionals along the line is misstated and often miscalculated leading to some less than welcome surprises down the road.  Mistakes are made and somehow the homeowner always ends up paying.  

What can a homeowner, caught in the crosshairs of an out of control association, do?  WHat shouldn’t they do?

Bill Davis is On The Commons with us this week.  Bill is an attorney in Texas who found himself in the unenviable position of having to go to court to protect his property rights.  He learned all about HOA law and now represents homeowners against their HOAs.  We’ll find out what is going on in associations and talk about some things people need to watch out for and things homeowners should never agree to.

The first time I spoke to Lincoln Cummings, one of the founders of the Community Associations Institute, I asked him; “Why homeowner associations”?  I was surprised when he said because young professionals often left family and friends behind to pursue careers out of state where they found themselves alone and without the support they had at home.  He thought HOAs would provide a sense of community for an otherwise largely transient society.  There is nothing sinister about what he wanted however the “instant community” that was intended to provide that safety net came loaded with unintended consequences.  

Far from what we typically think of when we think of communities, over the years HOAs have morphed into what can best be described as war zones where pettiness, fear and adversity rule.  You need go no further than Auburn, California for an example of what I mean. Not far from Lake of the Pines Homeowner Association is Beale Air Force Base where our young military families live. They are far from home, away from their families and in need of that safety net Lincoln talked about.  One man found a way to support them, one man helped them furnish their homes and when the US government refused to do the job they were elected to do and closed the commissaries instead of passing a budget,  these young families were left without food.  Again, one man helped feed them.

On the Commons this week we are joined by Dennis Kocher.  Dennis is a Vietnam era vet who understands the hardships often endured by young military families. Dennis found a need – and filled it.  For over the last decade, he used his passion and skills for furniture building to furnish the homes of these young military families on base, making their lives  just a little more comfortable and their immediate surroundings a little more beautiful.  As Robert Baden-Powel said; “The most worth-while thing is to try to put happiness into the lives of others.” I think Dennis would agree with that.  However, as we all know, no good deed goes unpunished and now Dennis finds himself in the cross hairs of some of the people in power in his HOA.  Please join us, we’ll talk to Dennis, find out why trying to bring a little joy and happiness into the lives of the young folks in his community would cause such heart burn in his HOA. 

Hot off the presses – there were 328,000 involuntary membership residential associations in America in 2013 according to a new fact book put out by the Community Associations Institute (CAI). I have to wonder just how accurate that number is. We’ve heard about associations that are defunct and the ones that were voluntarily terminated by the members because they found them to be more of a problem then they were worth. Are they part of that number?

On today’s show we visit an association in Texas that, happily, expired a number of years ago. But sometimes even a dead HOA just refuses to die gracefully.

Joining us On The Commons today is Bill Davis. Bill is one of a relatively small handful of attorneys who represents homeowners in litigation against their associations. With his terrific senses of humor and irony, he reports on some of the more bizarre goings on that are missed by the more casual or emotional observer. We’ll talk to Bill and find out just what HOA Board meetings and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings have in common. Perhaps the answer for “rogue boards” is a 12 step program? Join us.