Rally Against Las Vegas HOA Bully Boards Will Only Grow

February 14th, 2011. By AbiK

Thinking of Martha Stewart Gustavian Blue for your home’s exterior reno? Think again. Like that stamped cement driveway you saw on your trip to the northeast? Forget it. Husband travelling and you’re left to ensure the trash cans are tucked out of sight—pronto!—after the garbage truck sweeps by? Get moving. And don’t let me see those kids using sidewalk chalk out front!

Such is the life, apparently, of many a homeowner living within the confines, constraints and—some would say—convoluted constructs of an HOA, or homeowners’ association.

Used to be some odd symbol of “belonging”—or for some, status—to be a part of an HOA (no trailer trash here!) neighborhood. What with all the cookie cutter neatness, lack of individuality and security gates, it’s the facade of a picture perfect community. And a mere facade it’s seemingly become for some folks in Nevada—with a rather ugly behind-the-scenes picture.

An article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal shares what basically boils down to a case of schoolyard bullying—only the playground is now the development, and the bullies are the HOA boards. Those who feel they’ve been bullied (e.g., one homeowner was unjustly fined for the transgression of erecting a fence for which the HOA had previously approved the plans) have now joined voices, if not forces, to rally last Monday against HOA “bully boards”. They’re mad as hell and they want the folks in Carson City to do something about it.

According to the Review-Journal, the rallying homeowners are looking for legislators to, “introduce laws that would cap the amount of HOA fines and collection agency fees, eliminate “kangaroo courts” run by homeowners association boards and limit the mandatory arbitration requirement.”

At issue is Nevada Revised Statute 116—the state law that governs HOA boards. Rally organizer, Jonathan Friedrich, says in the Review-Journal article that 85 percent of decisions in mandatory arbitration go against the homeowner—which obviously brings into question exactly how these decisions are being made.

Friedrich has gone as far as to set up a grassroots website, www.hoa1234.com, to get the word out on the lack of transparency—and honesty—he and his rally mates see in how HOA boards apply rules and penalties. And it goes beyond just current Nevada homeowners—Friedrich and others are quick to point out that HOA bully boards do not exactly serve as an advertisement for prospective home buyers to want to lay down roots in Nevada. Friedrich even notes in the Review-Journal, “It’s interesting that on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service), Realtors are advertising, ‘No HOA.’ What does that tell you?”

We’ll continue to keep an eye on this story as Nevada may just turn out to be ground zero for upcoming HOA-related litigation, and hopefully, change for the better.

Tags: HOA, HOA fines, Homeowners Association, Jonathan Friedrich, Nevada

This was posted on Monday, February 14th, 2011 at 10:26 am and is filed under Emerging Issues, Real Estate . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.