Quail Valley HOA’s Consistent Abuse of Residents (Examples New & Old)

We have lived in Quail Valley for a little over two months now, and the HOA has revoked our parking space without warning each month that we have lived here. The back-and-forth correspondence with the HOA via phone and email has been frustrating because we both work long hours.

The first time our space was revoked, our house number on the curb was covered with black paint, and the word “VISITOR” was painted over that. We understand that the HOA can designate your reserved space as a “visitor space” if citations or fines have not been resolved. We checked our account online and observed no outstanding debt or other problem, as we expected. So we called to inquire about the situation and left a voicemail, but no one returned our call. Finally, the HOA sent an email stating that, according to the HOA records, the previous owner had not paid three months of HOA assessments.

This response by the HOA did not make sense for two reasons. During settlement, we saw the records showing that the previous owner had indeed paid the outstanding monthly assessments before selling us the house. Also, the HOA had no right to take away our spot due to the actions of a previous owner, let alone without warning.

After we inquired some more, a representative of the HOA came out to put our parking/house number back in place, painting it on the curb.

But that is not the end of the story. The same thing happened the following month. Without warning, our parking space number was painted over with black paint. We went through the exact same process and the HOA gave us the same rationale, which was frustrating. It took another week to get our spot back, and we still have no idea why this keeps happening. Feel free to share this story on Patch.com.

-- Ishmael and Isabel, April 2022

Editor’s comments: This is a typical example of harassment as faced by new families moving in to Quail Valley. Here is a curious thing. Compare this story with the very first story at the top of Chapter 1 of this “Living on Cuckoo Court” blog series. That story was related by a previous, decades-long owner of this same house. She lived here for three decades with her husband and children who are now middle-age, successful professionals. This property is, and has always been, well kept by its owners.
In her senior years, while working full time, this previous owner suffered a rising wave of HOA abuse in the form of spurious “violations” issued year after year. She had to fight each tedious turn-of-the-wheel.
When it came time to sell the house, the HOA attacked her one again, creating new (actually old, familiar, and spurious) fines and fees that would make a profit (for the HOA's business partners) at closing. As this previous owner was preparing to sell her house, the HOA again went on the attack. (See the last story in this article.)
Now, upon learning of the new residents’ experiences, she expressed dismay that the HOA continues to harass Quail Valley homeowners. On May 5, 2022, she wrote, “W.T.H. is the board doing? [A few years ago,] I also got my parking spaces obscured by the HOA, and then I got them back. … I feel bad that the new owners are going through this. I am so glad I'm not having to deal with it [HOA harassment] anymore.

This testimony is evidence that the HOA targets specific addresses for abuse. We are hopeful that–with a year's worth of evidence in these blogs, and with the election of some new members on the HOA board–the various twists and turns of HOA abuse will all be grinding to a halt.

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Steven Sellers Lapham is a 21-year resident of Quail Valley. A retired editor, he can be reached at MuskratMusic@gmail.com. The "Living on Cuckoo Court" collection of essays is on Patch.com. Read about the nationwide problem of "HOA corruption, dysfunction, and abuse" at Independent American Communities.