Is This Slumlord Behavior? (An HOA is AWOL on Safety ... Again)

UPDATE (6/6/22): The back deck appears to be fully repaired, and the whole property better maintained. This is good news. (See last photo in slide show above.)

UPDATE (5/17/22): A resident here shows me the new bannisters (still wrapped in plastic) that will soon be installed on the back deck. A big cleanup of the property happened over the last week. This is good news. I hope to post a photo of the repaired deck (which I'll take from the public path) as soon as the work is done. I hope this family can apply for and receive pool passes from the HOA soon. If the blog below sped things along, it served its purpose.-SL

During the Quail Valley HOA's annual inspections of houses and yards in June 2020, some of the single-family homes were dinged for "Address Numbers–Unapproved"; "Dead/Bare Grass"; and "Door–Unapproved." Residents rushed to the hardware store–during the first deadly wave of covid–to buy grass seed and rent power washers (while the CDC was advising that we not visit any stores at all). But it looks like the HOA did not send the owner-landlord a violation notice for the back deck at 18923 Quail Valley Boulevard, which is still in obvious and dangerous disrepair. (I paid $70 for a printout of the June 2020 inspection report; there's no entry for this property). See photo.

Dozens of school children pass by this dismal scene every day on their walk to school, as a path runs alongside the property leading to the school and to Strawberry Knoll (county) Park .

Perhaps the landlord of record, Mr. Steven Bodner, knows of the problem, but a person answering his phone stated that he seems to be unaware of it. Does the HOA have an obligation to notify the landlord of this property decay? The disrepair of the back deck endangers the residents of this house, who include children.

Quail Valley HOA collects $600,000 in dues from its 592 homeowners every year. It conducts annual and spot inspections of properties, which often cite residents for trivial or absurd "violations," as documented in this blog series.

Today, the HOA declines to remove dangerous, huge, HOA-owned pine trees next to houses, despite spending $25,000 each year on "tree care." In 2021, the HOA was unable to muster a quorum of residents to elect a new board member. It's not just the physical properties. The residents are demoralized, and community spirit is in need of resuscitation. Something is wrong, and something has to change.

** ****************** **

We welcome any possible factual corrections and/or updates from the Quail Valley HOA, and would post them in this blog, if any are forthcoming.

"Slumlord behavior" could be defined as neglecting maintenance and infrastructure upgrades while bleeding money from a community through dues, fees, fines, and re-sale of properties.

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.