Another word for Bully HOA

Dear Patch Readers,

Bullies are alive and thriving within our Condos and Co-ops Boards in Long Beach.

Now, while many HOAs are managed properly, there are some Boards which manage small Condos and Co-ops that have decided to run their respective properties like it were their own private domain.

Take my Board for example.  We are a small community of 14 units.  The lower units of our townhouses were hit very severely by Hurricane Sandy.  While the upper units sustain some damage, it was only to their garages, and around $5,000.  The lower units had reconstruction costs closer to $40,000 to $60,000.

Taking the above information into account, it would probably surprise everyone that our HOA decided to do renovations and assessed us close to $50,000 each.

While this renovation started as a steel beam replacement, it now incorporates mahogany doors, extension of the decks, new stairs, plus some other cosmetic changes that our President wants.  

In addition, another assessment was piggy-backed on this one for $105,000.  That’s over $600,000 worth of repairs, you would think our units were about to collapse.

Plus, the Board was generous enough to award the first $511,000 renovation to the husband of the President of the Board.  Can you see where the bullying comes in?

Most of the homeowners went along and paid the initial $38,000.  No one wanted a foreclosure threat hanging over their heads.    

One homeowner spoke up at the meeting held in September 2013, and said he did not have the money.  He also reached out to the Board in January 2014, before the first $10,000 was due, and again asked for their help.

The response from the Board was to place a lien, and then proceed to issue a summons of foreclosure.

Our Board’s motto is “Do as you are told, or else!!!!”

Why you may ask yourself, did they not work with this homeowner?  They wanted him out, because he questioned their accounting practices, he questioned the conflict of interest of hiring the husband of the President of the Board, he questioned why they have to do all of this work at one time, when people are still trying to recover from Sandy, he questioned why they are not applying for help from NY Rising?

This job was filed with the Long Beach Building Department as costing $275,080.  A $236,000 profit is nice.  Now, if the President of the Board is also Vice-President of the construction company, is this a conflict of interest?

Not everyone has deep pockets.  So like your children in school, who cannot afford the $200 sneakers, or the fancy phones, or worse yet, does not follow the “popular” kids in school, they are bullied and called names, and ostracized.

You protect your kids, the Board of Education protects your kids, but who protects homeowners who are bullied by an HOA?