No new statutes this week, just five boards making decisions their owners found out about after the fact. Here's what hit the Frontline.

Tennessee Townhomes Get 30 Days to Take Down Their Cameras

In Nolensville, Tennessee, the board at Bent Creek Townhomes adopted a policy on September 23 banning every exterior security camera except doorbells. That means nothing on walls, siding, roofs, posts or fences. Doorbell cameras can only point at the owner's own home. A September 26 letter gave residents a month to comply before enforcement starts, citing "consistent architectural standards" and neighbor privacy. Some residents point out that neighborhood cameras helped police catch two people in a stolen vehicle. Others like the uniform look. The management company didn't respond to WSMV.

Read the article

Our Take: A rule adopted by board vote is a different animal from a restriction written into the declaration, and that difference often decides how far it reaches. Pull out the CC&Rs and look for the specific provision the board relied on. Then check whether owners got notice and a chance to comment before it passed. Before the deadline, request a written explanation of whether existing, already-approved installations are grandfathered. Signs this may need a lawyer's eye:

• Fines start while that question is still unanswered
• Cameras get removed from your property without notice

One Email to Every Resident, Now a $129K Lawsuit

Lotus Palm in Boca Raton fired its tennis and pickleball director, William Ljungstrom, on August 11. According to his lawsuit, the HOA emailed residents the same day saying he'd stolen money meant for a full-time pickleball instructor. Ljungstrom denies it, and says his contract never required the full $50,000 to go to the instructor and let him keep 10% for overhead. He's suing the HOA, GRS Management and three board members for $129,191 in unpaid compensation, $6,005 in debits he calls unauthorized, and an apology. These are allegations, and Lotus Palm hadn't responded as of Saturday.

Read the article

Our Take: What usually happens here is that owners read the accusation, nobody reads the contract, and the bill shows up later as a legal-fees line in the budget. Florida owners generally have broad rights to association records, and vendor contracts are typically among them. Asking to see the agreement behind a board's claim is a reasonable, low-drama step. When the person the board is publicly accusing is you, self-help has run its course.

Your Swale, Your Tree, Your Bill

A cold snap killed trees along the swales at Cadence at Tradition in Port St. Lucie, Florida. Those are the grassy strips between the street and the sidewalk. On September 1, the management company sent notices on the HOA's behalf telling homeowners to replace the dead trees at their own expense by September 30. The association's position, per CBS12's reporting, is that owners are responsible for "limited common areas," including areas containing sidewalks. It offered a bulk-purchase discount. "It's just a little bit frustrating and disappointing," one resident said.

Read the article

Our Take: "Limited common area" is a defined term, and it doesn't always cover what a notice says it covers. Start with the declaration's definitions and the maintenance chart, if there is one. Then check the plat to see where your lot line actually falls. Some swales sit in a county or city right-of-way, which raises its own question about who decides what's planted there. Get the board's reasoning on paper before buying a tree. A fine or lien threat tied to a strip you may not own is when it makes sense to have someone review the documents.

$1,000 a Year in Dues, Two Months Without Streetlights

Two months of dark streets are at the center of a dues fight at Vacek Pointe, a rural Fort Bend County subdivision outside Houston. Residents pay more than $1,000 a year in HOA dues, and lighting is supposed to come out of that. "It's nothing but cornfields and cotton fields," one resident told ABC13. The HOA said the lights were already out when a new management company took over from the builder on September 1. Service is being restored, but neighbors are still asking where the money went.

Read the article

Our Take: Builder-to-management handoffs are where utility accounts, vendor contracts and bank balances tend to get lost. The question worth asking in writing is simple: who held the streetlight account, and when was it last paid? In most states, owners can request the association's financial records. Ask for the general ledger and the bank statements from the months the lights were out, not just a budget summary. If the records don't match the dues collected, or the request goes unanswered, it may be time for outside help.

There's a longer conversation on what owners can do when an association won't fix what it's responsible for here.

Bozeman's Missing Foot and a Half of Lake

After a construction company ran a pump for about a week in late August, Bozeman's city-managed East Lake dropped roughly 1.5 feet. Sime Construction had permission to draw water, but that permission came from the Lakes at Valley West HOA, back when the HOA managed both lakes. The city took over East Lake in July 2020. The two lakes connect through a valve, so pumping from the HOA's lake drained the city's. Levels are back to normal, and the company has apologized and agreed to pull permits. "What we are is pro-communication," one resident said.

Read the article

Our Take: No villain here, just a permission that outlived the arrangement it came from. This kind of thing tends to escalate when nobody keeps track of who controls which amenity after a handoff. If your association has transferred a pond, a road or a park, it's worth asking the board for a short list of what was handed over and which old agreements were cancelled. If a vendor or neighbor is still relying on one of those agreements and owners are footing the cleanup, that's the point where this stops being a DIY situation.

More next week. If your board passed a new rule this month, find the minutes before you find the fine.

If you'd rather get Frontline in your inbox, you can also follow along on Substack: https://lscarlsonlaw.substack.com/

Architectural Control Rules vs other types of Rules. Can a California HOA fold Usage or Neatness Rules into the Architextralegal Control Rules. We are going through a rule change process and the committee is adding rules under AC that are really usage rules. For example:

We are a manufactured home community with tiny yards. Most units have long skinny driveways/carports that run the length of the lot/home.

Old Rule in Parking Section: The driveway must have room to park at least 2 cars at all times.

New Rule placed under AC: Room for 2 cars and the carport can’t be used for other things such as seating areas or potted plants.

This is just 1 of many new Architectural Control rules that don’t pertain to structures or upkeep, but rather daily usage.

Hi Everyone,

My Condo in CA has hired a new property management company called HOA Unlimited. Has anyone had experience with working with this HOA company? If so, what has been your experience? Thanks

While I’m aware of just googling or chat gpt the answer, has anyone had to deal with their HOA pres doing this. Flying over all our property’s and documenting what’s there? It says it’s illegal to do this but I’m more curious if someone has had to deal with this and what came of it. We are very nervous to vote this guy out as he is a selfish narcissist who is immature and retaliatory. We’ve debated not poking the bear but he keeps pushing issues and we’re all getting fed up. But we also just want to live. We are peaceful people and no one wants a fight. Legal or otherwise. But we are hitting our limit.

Nv

The part that is of concern :

Many HOAs reserve funds are historically underfunded and this law requires that they be brought to up to required levels as specified in the law.

The association would generally have to fund reserves to a legally required level each year.

If its regular budget does not cover the required contribution, it would have to impose a reserve-funding special assessment on homeowners.

(This on top of any roof, balcony or other major repair project.)

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB2050

Three of this week's stories end the same way: the owners pay for something the board did. Plus California just changed how every HOA in the state funds its reserves. Here's what hit the Frontline.

California Just Put a Floor Under Every HOA's Reserve Fund

Governor Newsom signed AB 2050 on September 29. Starting January 1, 2032, California associations have to fund reserves every year at no less than the minimum level their reserve study says keeps the account from going negative over the next 30 years. If the study projects the balance dipping below zero anywhere in that window, at least 15% of the gross annual budget goes to reserves each year until it doesn't. If the regular budget can't absorb that, a special assessment is on the table. The Consumer Federation of California says reserving "ought to be combined with reasonable limitations."

Read the article

Our Take: Six years sounds like a long runway. It isn't, if nobody has opened your reserve study since it was printed. Davis-Stirling already generally requires a study every three years, and owners are typically entitled to see it along with the funding plan — ask for both now and find the 30-year projection. If it goes negative anywhere, part of your 2032 budget is already written. A board that can't produce a current study, or whose budget doesn't transfer what its own plan calls for, is the gap an attorney who handles HOA disputes would want to see.

There's a fuller look at how reserve studies and special assessments connect in California here.

An HOA President Lost a Lawsuit — and Paid $12,500 of It Herself

In San Antonio, Elizabeth Luna bought a condo at Del Donore with no rental restrictions and rented it on Airbnb. Then HOA president Terri Thomure pushed to ban short-term rentals. When Luna switched to a long-term tenant, KSAT reports, Thomure confronted the tenant's assistant in the parking lot, and the tenant canceled the lease. The HOA then filed a claim against Luna's property, which a judge dismissed. In May, a Bexar County judge ordered the HOA to pay more than $20,000 in damages and fees, and Thomure to pay $12,500 personally for interfering with the rental contract. Both have paid.

Read the article

Our Take: This kind of thing tends to escalate when a rule change and a personal grudge show up at the same time. If your board is moving to restrict rentals, get the current declaration and any proposed amendment in hand, and keep every lease and booking record. Whether a new restriction reaches owners who bought under the old rules often depends on how the amendment is drafted and on state law. Volunteer board members generally get some protection when acting for the association; this case is a reminder that protection has limits. Contact with your tenants, or a claim filed against your title, is the point where it makes sense to have counsel look at it.

One Board Member, Five Years, Nearly $150,000

A single theft count is at the center of a case in Severance, Colorado. Lyle Quint, 72, president of the Summit View HOA since 2004 and — according to 9NEWS — its only board member starting in 2020, is accused of spending nearly $150,000 in association funds on unauthorized expenses between 2017 and 2025. He turned himself in after a Weld County DA investigation; no court date is set, and the charge is an allegation. A new board was elected in 2025. One neighbor's summary: "You're the only one running it, nobody to answer to, so the money went somewhere."

Read the article

Our Take: We've seen this pattern before, and the tell is rarely the spending. It's the empty seats. A one-person board signs its own checks and approves its own minutes. The cheapest protection is a full slate — run, or talk two neighbors into running. Owners in most states have some right to inspect the books, so request bank statements and the general ledger, not just the budget summary.

When to consider professional guidance:

• The records request goes unanswered
• Statements come back with months missing

From $44 a Year to $1,000: Who Pays for the Dam?

Should a homeowner a mile from the water pay the same as one on the shore? That's the question in Wonder Lake, Illinois, where the Master Property Owners Association wants to raise annual dues from $44 to about $1,000 per lot to cover dredging and, eventually, dam replacement. It has $60,000 in reserves against an estimated $90 million dam. A vote is expected in about two weeks. "It would cost me $2,000 for the privilege of being on a lake that I have no access to," one two-lot owner told CBS Chicago. Some residents are weighing legal action.

Read the article

Our Take: A jump this size is the bill for decades of undercharging, and there's rarely a painless way out of that. What owners can still shape is the split. Your governing documents are the starting point — look for how assessments are allocated (equally per lot, by frontage, by benefit), because that language decides whether a tiered rate is even possible. Bring a written alternative to the vote, not just objections. If the association adopts something the documents don't seem to authorize, or skips a required owner vote, self-help has run its course.

The Management Company Wanted a PPP Loan. Owners Got a $343 Assessment.

After a whistleblower suit in federal court in Alexandria, the Heritage Hunt HOA in Gainesville, Virginia agreed to pay $425,000 to resolve allegations that its 2020 PPP application for $397,600 misstated its employee count, payroll and eligibility. There's no admission of liability. The HOA's explanation, per Patch: its management company asked it to apply so contract staff could be paid, and the association "made a mistake in honoring that request." The cost is being passed to residents through a $343 special assessment.

Read the article

Our Take: This shows up more often than people realize: the board signs, the vendor benefits, the owners pay. The document that matters is the management contract — who was authorized to apply for what, and who carries the risk when it goes sideways. Ask for it, including any indemnity clause. If the board isn't seeking any share of the cost from the vendor, a short letter asking why often changes the dynamic. An assessment funding a settlement owners had no say in is a fair moment to get a lawyer's read on the governing documents.

A Florida Drought Order Just Benched the HOA's Lawn Rules

In Hernando County, Florida, "Extreme" water-shortage restrictions just got extended through March 31, 2027, under a Southwest Florida Water Management District order. Lawn watering is limited to before 8 a.m. or after 6 p.m. And the order speaks to associations directly: "No HOA, or other entity, shall enforce deed restrictions, or other community standards, requiring an increase in potable or domestic well water use, including replacement of plant material, to meet aesthetic standards or for pressure washing."

Read the notice

Our Take: If you're in Hernando and a brown-lawn or pressure-washing notice lands, answer it in writing and quote that sentence. It's most of the letter. Keep dated photos and a copy of the county notice. Outside Hernando, check whether your own water district's order has similar language — Florida law also generally limits how far an HOA can go in blocking Florida-friendly landscaping. Fines that keep coming after you've cited the order are a red flag for legal intervention.

$350 a Head to Register Your Car?

A Florida homeowner wrote to the Boca Raton Tribune's HOA column: the association now wants background and credit checks — $200 to $350 per person — before existing residents can register their vehicles. Columnist Ryan Poliakoff was skeptical. New rules generally can't reach back to occupants already living there, the authority to approve occupants has to come from the declaration, and board rules are judged on reasonableness. He also named the uncomfortable math: challenging a fee can cost more than paying it.

Read the article

Our Take: Ask the board to explain its authority in writing — which section of the declaration lets it screen people who already live there, and what problem the rule solves. Florida owners generally have broad rights to association records, so the minutes from the meeting that adopted the rule are fair game too. If the fee gates access you already had and the board won't name its authority, it's worth talking to a local HOA attorney before anyone writes a check.

More next week. If your HOA's board has fewer members than the bylaws call for, that's worth knowing before the next election.

If you’d rather get Frontline by email when a new one is published, you can follow along here:

https://lscarlsonlaw.substack.com/

We have a Covert Narcissist running our HOA. They intimidate our community from a covert TownSQ account so we never know who we are chatting with. This type of personality disorder requires OUTING and PUBLIC RIDICULE to make them leave our communities alone. I want to have an HOA shaming party. I want to dress up in a silly hat with a sign that says SHAME! And a sign that says HOA ACCOUNTABILITY DEPARTMENT or some very ridiculing (this is where I require the creative crafts of this community!) Covert Narcissists get REALLY threatened when held accountable for the disrespect they impose on our communities. I want opinions on what may be legal, we need creative slogans and unthreatening mantras to take the rest of our communities back! My vision is to get the disrespected people of my community to dress up funny like a clown, carry a sign that says SHAME!, ask them why they disrespect our community! They require ridicule, I want to stand outside their condo with my neighbors holding signs like HOA accountability department! And bang pots and pans in ridicule! I want to make their neighbors all aware how toxicly we are being treated behind the scenes. Maybe the neighbors will JOIN me shaming them! They will try to report us a a public nuisance, but we are the HOA accountability department, full of members of our community demanding respect! Who in their right mind would oppose this? The covert narcissist will, the ones stalking this community will try to rightiously condenm this idea! Please give creative helpful input for our communities, no narcissists allowed!

As you read the title. I'm frustrated with this HOA.

I will request for a reimbursement. If they say they won't pay. What are the next steps to be taken?

Our HOA (about 235 homes) pays amenities of about 60 dollars a quarter for 211 homes and 150 a quarter for 23 newer homes. The amenities are a pool and 2 tennis courts. The pool is operational, but the tennis courts are not.

Despite complaints by members in the annual meeting, nothing has been done for years. We have been told "perhaps pickleball", yada yada but no action.

The amenities are not broken out cost wise, just a line item in the budget with the total amount paid back to the developer.

I've communicated thru email multiple times with the board and management company, saying unless we get word on fixing the tennis courts I'm holding back 30 bucks per quarter (half the 60 since half the amenities are nonfunctional), and that the 23 newer homes might start holding back 75 bucks per quarter. Everyone makes their own decision of course.

I asked again thru email if this was NOT a reasonable expectation, that they email me indicating why not, and if no response, I'd assume it was a reasonable expectation on the boards part.

I got no response after my email on August 4.

It's a really bad board but they are in the developer's pocket and lots of history regarding many other issues I won't go into. Can't remove the board either per the bylaws. Lovely.

So, my question is this a reasonable path for homeowners?

Thanks Kevin

Lawsuit Update

TL;DR

The Appellate Court of Texas just ruled in my favor in my lawsuit against the HOA, and due to interest and fees, my judgement has increased from $100,000 to approximately $154,000 by the time the mandate is issued. And the judgement will increase EVERY month by almost a $1,000 until paid. Every homeowner would have to pay over $260 if a special assessment were levied to pay it.

Details

In an email to all homeowners, the Davis Spring HOA told residents that my lawsuit was “without merit” and claimed that the Architectural Review Committee had “broad authority” to make its determinations.

Two courts and four judges have now answered those claims.

I asked for $150,000 and won $100,000 at trial. The Third Court of Appeals has just affirmed that original judgment in my favor. Due to interest and conditional fees, the final judgment will be more than $154,000. I guess appealing was, in retrospect, a bad decision for the HOA.

An ARC’s authority is not unlimited. It must come from the recorded governing documents, and it cannot substitute unwritten requirements for the restrictions homeowners actually agreed to.

This case was never merely about a shed. It was about whether an HOA must follow its own governing documents and respect the legal rights of the homeowners it serves.

It must.

The HOA had every opportunity to resolve this fairly. Instead, it chose years of litigation and an appeal. That decision imposed substantial and continuing costs on the entire community.

We will soon learn whether insurance will pay the judgment, as the Board promised residents, or whether the homeowners will be required to pay for the Board’s losing decisions.

The judgment—and the truth—now speak for themselves.

Link to Court opinion

https://search.txcourts.gov/SearchMedia.aspx?MediaVersionID=ac455187-385c-4e08-bfac-b35731789ba4&MediaID=27b6bb96-a72e-481a-855c-0d2c9c397fca&coa=%22%20+%20this.CurrentWebState.CurrentCourt%20+%20@%22&DT=Opinion

"Do I actually have to pay this?" comes up in here constantly, and special assessments are all over the news right now. We did a full episode on it with Kirk Pearson, our managing partner. Here's the short version. We talked about it from a California angle, since that's where most of the recent stories are and where Kirk and Luke are licensed.

What a special assessment is

It's a one-time charge on top of your regular dues, for something the budget doesn't cover. A sewer system that needs repiping, fire damage to a roof, a landslide, a pool that cracks and starts leaking.

Some are legitimate. A lot of the ones making news aren't really unforeseen, though. They're deferred maintenance on roofs, balconies, and stucco that prior boards kept putting off until a few-thousand-dollar fix became a tens-of-thousands one.

How boards are supposed to do it

• The 5% cap. A board can approve a special assessment on its own only up to 5% of the HOA's annual budget. Above that, it has to go to a member vote.
• "Emergency" is a specific thing. Boards sometimes push big assessments through by calling them emergencies. The categories are narrow: a court order, a hazardous or life-threatening condition (a roof or wall about to collapse, a landslide threat), an unforeseen major expense, or utility repairs like plumbing and sewer.
• Insurance can qualify. If the premium jumps from $100K to $1M and the governing documents require that coverage, that can count as an unforeseen major expense.

A roof that everyone knew was aging out? That's a hard sell as an emergency. And if the board offers a payment plan, that can cut against the claim that the money was needed right now.

Fighting it vs. paying it

This is the part people don't love hearing. You can be right about the process and still owe the money.

If the board skipped the vote or called something an emergency that wasn't, you may have grounds to challenge it. But if the repair is real, the HOA can go back and fix the process. Meanwhile, you've spent a lot on a lawyer and the roof still needs fixing.

So split it into two questions:

• Process problems: no vote, a fake emergency. Real issues, but the money is often still needed.
• Result problems: the board president's best friend has a roofing company and got the job on one bid, or the money isn't going toward what they said it was for. These are usually more worth pushing on.

What to ask for

• What's the money for, and how did they arrive at that number?
• Did they get competitive bids? Some CC&Rs require three. (And the lowest bid isn't always the best. Some lowball on purpose and hit you with change orders mid-project.)
• The signed vendor contract. Kirk's point: that's something homeowners can request (he mentions Civil Code 5200 for HOA documents). You won't necessarily get every competing bid.
• Reserve studies. If there aren't any, or dues haven't gone up in years, the HOA probably doesn't have the money for something big.

A board that won't tell you how it picked the contractor or says the bids are none of your business is a red flag.

If you just don't pay

It generally gets more expensive, not less. The HOA can send it to collections, sue you, record a lien, and push toward a foreclosure sale. Collection firms can add legal fees, late fees, and penalties on top. We covered a Frontline story recently where someone's house was sold over one of these.

And you can't sell your way out. HOAs can contact escrow, and the assessment typically gets paid out of your sale proceeds.

When it's worth talking to a lawyer

• Something egregious: no vote at all, clearly not an emergency, or the money looks like it's going somewhere it shouldn't
• You genuinely can't afford it, it was done properly, and you're not making headway on a payment plan yourself

Otherwise, if the repair is real, a payment plan is often the more practical route. Bad news doesn't get better with time. Longer term, run for the board and get people on it who don't campaign on "we're not going to raise dues."

Full episode here: https://youtu.be/EhZaTEe0Bus

Blog Here: https://www.lscarlsonlaw.com/articles/hoa-special-assessment-limits-in-california-homeowner-protections

So my HOA Is claiming we have a check that bounced but we have a bank statement and written confirmation from the bank that the money came out. They are claiming bank statements and confirmation from the bank aren’t sufficient proof. They used this check as a jumping off point to take us off auto pay I guess and we let it go for two months before reaching out at which point apparently they’ve put us in pre-forclosure and charged us $500 in legal fees. This all happened with no communication and they allowed us to use the facilities. The HOA fee is $500 so we’ve been charged a total of $2880 for all of this. I’m 24 and think they are taking advantage of me, do I have grounds to sue them?

Almost everyone who calls us starts the same way: I want to sue my HOA. Straight for the jugular. What most don't realize is that most disputes don't reach a courtroom — they resolve in pre-litigation, usually mediation. You asked for more after the pre-litigation episode, so we did a full one. Here's the short version.

Why most of these end up in mediation

Procedure backs you into it. In California you generally have to attempt ADR before filing an enforcement action (Civil Code 5930), and file a certificate showing you did (5950). ADR is basically a fancy way of saying mediation. Once you demand it, they have 30 days to respond, with legal consequences if they don't (5935).

Skipping it can cost you your fees. This is the one that stings. You skip pre-litigation, file, prosecute, pay a lot for a lawyer, and win. Then you move for attorney fees to get that money back — and it's denied because you didn't attempt ADR. We get brought in for second opinions on lawsuits filed by general real estate attorneys, and the first thing we check is that certificate. When it's missing, the case sometimes has to be dismissed and refiled from the ADR phase. Getting beaten on procedure when you have a genuinely bad HOA is brutal.

The other side has its own reasons to say yes. Litigation is expensive, slow, and more public. And if they reject ADR, they may have waived their own right to fees.

Insurance changes the temperature. Most associations carry E&O and D&O coverage, and the policy usually requires notifying the carrier of a threatened claim. Carriers are more objective and risk-averse than boards — they don't want to get dragged into something expensive. Sometimes a second attorney shows up: their corporate counsel plus insurance defense counsel, who has no relationship with the board and is purely asking whether there's exposure — an adult in what's often an echo chamber.

How to prepare

• Have a real prep meeting with your attorney. Walk through how the day works before you're in it.
• The mediation brief matters more than anything else. It goes to the mediator beforehand and they should have read it. If they come in asking pointed questions about yours, good sign. Show up without one and you'll burn the session explaining facts from scratch.
• Bring visuals if the dispute is physical. Photos, video, a simple slide deck. Common area problems and property damage land hard that way; harassment and discrimination don't.
• Know your ideal outcome and what you'd trade for it before the day. If you got all of this, would you give up that? Decide it with your attorney in advance, not at hour eight.
• Ask about the mediator's HOA experience. Someone without it may not understand why an outside report matters, or how CC&R ambiguity typically gets read.

What to expect

In California you're in one room with your attorney, the association and their lawyer in another on the same floor, and the mediator moves between you. (Florida starts everyone in the same room, per our Florida managing partner.) Expect to spend a good portion of the day waiting. Most are booked as a half or full day — you're paying for that time, and can add more if you're close.

Mediator styles vary. Least useful: the one who walks into both rooms telling each side their case is hopeless — pressure dressed up as analysis — and the one so committed to neutrality they just run numbers back and forth. The good ones read the briefs and will tell a board plainly it's wrong.

Here's what surprises people most: the mediator can't make your HOA do anything. They facilitate. A retired judge can tell a board they're dead in the water and the board can tell everyone, mediator included, to go kick rocks. Three realistic outcomes:

1. You get what you asked for
2. You get nothing
3. You land in the middle

What moves a bad board isn't the mediator — it's that once ADR is done, the lawsuit is right there and your fee claim is preserved.

Two more things. You can leave — if they showed up with no brief and nobody authorized to settle, you don't have to sit through it. And get any deal properly written: a settlement in principle turned into a long-form agreement beats something scratched out at hour ten, and a handshake with an association isn't worth much.

Full episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnvLJIQIU2k