HOA threatens 'jail time' for family over color of backyard play set
This just seems silly, when talking about private property rights. I know they have the whole association thing going they signed up for, but the point of vague and useless terms and subjective analysis is such that this is wasting all the money people stick in the HOA and the people themselves. A total waste that only seems to feed the lawyers.
From the Yahoo Homes article: "We know now that it was reported by our codes enforcer, a guy who is not a resident and is a paid employee of the association. He brought it to the attention of the office manager, another nonresident paid employee, and it spiraled from there."
Another way to see it is in the conflict between a corporations's stockholders and the managers (who are employees). That was the origin of the leveraged buy-outs of the "junk bond era" when owners took back their companies. (It saved Disney from another remake of The Apple Dumpling Gang by launching Splash instead.) The HOA must have elections of its own: the boards must in some way represent the property owners.
In point of fact:
"Board of Directors
The Raintree Lake Property Owners Association is managed by a nine-member Board of Directors that governs and oversees the operations of Raintree Lake by enforcing the covenants and policies of the Association. The board is elected by the membership each year on the last Thursday of March. Each director is elected to a two-year term, while officers are elected to one-year terms. The terms are staggered so that either four or five directors are elected annually."
Far more than you care about here -- http://rlpoa.com/about/board-of-direc...
And it is a problem with "managed" anything, but homes in particular. Years ago, in Lansing, Michigan, my first wife and I lived in a large apartment complex where the managers and maintenance did, indeed, live there. But I have not experienced that since. When I moved to Austin in 2011, the complex of 285 units had about 1000 residents, but no managers on site. The office closed at 6:00 PM (sometimes 5:00 if they wanted to go home). Anything after hours went to an answering service that forwarded a message to someone. I rented a car, brought it home after 6:00, and it was towed that night for lack of a hang-tag. Getting it back cost $220, plus I still needed to get my wife to the airport, another $50 cab ride.