Home Owner's Association Scams; Be Aware

Homeowners Beware: This just happened to me and here is the letter I wrote to Associa in response. Collecting stories for a book...

I am writing in response to a recent situation that I had to deal with because of an error by your company. It was extremely inhumane and irresponsible on the part of your company. Not only was it vicious and discriminatory, it was also an unnecessary waste of your time and a great deal of my money. Although I have been victimized beyond anything imaginable by your company, I have come to accept that there is very little recourse for most people when this is done. As I have come to realize, it also occurs on a very regular basis by your company and others such as yours. As of this date, I have collected 36 stories equally as vicious as mine.

One such story I witnessed involved an elderly woman who had been stricken with dementia. She was not paying her association dues as a result of memory loss and other medical issues related to her condition. No notification was ever provided to her family regarding her lack of payment. One year later, when finally settled and her children took over her estate; they attempted to sell her home. Your company robbed her estate of $12,000.00, $8,500.00 of which was fees and legal costs. That is elderly abuse and robbery. I have collected 35 other stories equally disturbing as well.

I will begin by telling my story, then proceed to explain how I plan to gain recourse, since it is not available through the legal system. I had an annual payment of $250.00 due to you by March 1, 2017. Because of my daughter’s wedding March 3rd, I became a little distracted and forgot to pay it. However, immediately upon realization of this, I paid you 14 days late and included my $20.00 late fee. I paid you $270.00. That should have been the end of this story, as I have never had a history of being late or not paying since beginning business with you in 2003. Nevertheless, I heard nothing more until June, when I received what appeared to be a scam letter from Keough and Moody. Scam letters are quite common here in Florida where I live, especially toward the elderly such as myself. Therefore, knowing that I’d paid this bill; I ignored the letter and threw it away.

About a month later, I received another such letter telling me that I owed nearly $1,000.00. I knew at that moment that this was positively a scam and immediately submitted it to the Better Business Bureau as a complaint. I was contacted by Associa, (Tam Noonan) and thanked for contacting the BBB regarding this issue and an investigation was begun. Once again, at this point, I thought this was a resolved issue. Nevertheless, the letters kept coming, each demanding more money than the one before. This scam had to stop! I then sent a cease and desist letter. Any attempt to try to pay my monthly fees online were met with a block and told that there was attorney action. This was insane! I finally contacted an attorney to resolve this ridiculousness. That is when I found out that this was real, and not a hoax by some scammers. Although I was 100% sure I’d paid the bill (and had provided proof of such) and that there was absolutely no way this could be anything but a scam, I found out that day that the scammers were you…It was Associa that was scamming me and thousands of others like me. I had had no trouble with your company in 13 years….WHY NOW? THIS WAS ACTUALLY REAL!!!

The harassment continued to the point of illness and medical treatment. I was then served with papers to appear in court, 3 days after being hit hard by Hurricane Irma. What kind of scumbag does something like that? I was given 23 days to try to put my home back together, purchase a plane ticket, rent a car, get a hotel and get to Illinois to try to appear in court. Thank you! I had my attorney seek a continuance, which was granted until November 17th. Still, I had this huge expense hanging over my head with no time to prepare for it, while trying to replace my roof, windows, doors, food, etc. I was without electricity, food, internet, gasoline, water, etc. for nine days, as was my entire town.

I somehow managed to get the funds together to make it to court on the 17th with every intention of submitting my records and clearing this matter up. It was very expensive to make this trip from Florida to Illinois to resolve this matter; which was ridiculous to begin with. One simple customer service phone call would have prevented this entire fiasco. However, when I arrived, I realized that there was no chance of any justice prevailing in this case or any of the many, many others I heard in that courtroom that day. Nor was anyone interested in anything remotely resembling justice. I never realized the mafia-like practices HOAs resort to with their members. I listened to story after story of HOAs, (mostly yours) abusing, harassing and financially destroying victim after victim after victim. Your own attorney from Keough and Moody even declared that I was correct, right in front of the judge. He said, “I know this stinks and you paid, but that’s just the way it is and there’s nothing that can be done about it.” BUT I DECLARE, “YES, THERE IS!!”

After being presented with my options of just signing and agreeing to pay this fraudulent bill that even your own attorney said I did not owe, or setting a trial date, what choice did I have? I could either spend thousands again to return to Illinois in a month…(plane tickets, rental car, hotel…etc.), or agree to pay this fraudulent bill that I clearly did not owe. It was simply cheaper for me to be scammed by you than to fight for what was right. Therefore, I am stuck putting $1,022.61 into your disgusting pockets that I do not owe you, or spending more than that trying to fight for what is right, justice. It is not my fault that you misapplied my funds from the beginning.

It is true that the common people have no financial recourse against mafia-like organizations such as yours; and I will have to give you my hard earned money. You will successfully steal that from me and many other just like me, who do not deserve this. However, I will have my recourse….This is how I will make that happen. Unlike the millions of people that you scam on a daily basis, I am different. I am a writer. I’m educated and I’m smart. I will use the power of the pen.

Not only do I plan to submit this story on social media to be shared with thousands, I plan to collect as many stories as humanly possible and write a book. It will be an expose. I will continue to gather case story after case story until I feel I have enough…then I will write a book exposing you, your mafia-like practices, your assoicates such a Keough and Moody and many others just like you. I may never have my day in court, but you will be exposed…YES…YOU WILL BE EXPOSED…and that will be my justice and hopefully justice for the many others out there who have been scammed by you.

***IF YOU HAVE A STORY TO TELL REGARDING ABUSE YOU HAVE SUFFERED AT THE HANDS OF A HOMEOWNER’S ASSOCIATION, PLEASE CONTACT ME AT THE EMAIL ADDRESS BELOW. I WILL THEN CONTACT YOU TO SET UP A TIME TO INTERVIEW YOU. YOU WILL BE ASKED TO SIGN A STATEMENT OF HONESTY AS WELL AS AN AGREEMENT TO ALLOW ME TO USE YOUR STORY IN MY BOOK.

louisapapa@gmail.com

Louisa G. Papa, M.A.