Legal Cost "Ciao Bella" vs HOA
Donation protected
DISCLAIMER The following statements are according to my understanding and in good faith that they are true based on personal and physical evidence in my possession today. I apologize for any typos, as my experience is mainly that of housewife, wife, mother and grandmother. Organizing a "Go Fund Me" is the LAST THING I would have ever considered doing. 
WHAT MOTIVATES ME This is my effort to help my neighbors and friends, Anna and Frank. It is my hope that something positive and good will happen as a result of what I refer to as "Anna and Frank's HOA-FROM-HELL EXPERIENCE" to stop what I believe to be Homeowners Association ABUSE. In my opinion, if there was such a thing as "HOA Syndrome," Anna and Frank have been and are currently suffering from it!
ABOUT ME: I am a friend and neighbor of Anna and Frank Manzo in Bella Vita on Lake Conroe---a 56-lot subdivision an hour's drive North of Houston, Texas.
FACT (WHAT MANY PEOPLE DON'T KNOW!) Texas Homeowners Associations (HOAs) and the volunteer/elected Board of Directors (BODs) who oversee them are NOT REGULATED. To quote Beanie Adolph, Director, HOA Reform Coalition of Texas
on 3/21/06 in her testimony at a TX House of Representatives Joint Hearing: "Since 1983, an HOA has the upper hand in any dispute with a homeowner, because every step of the way the HOA increases the ultimate cost to the homeowner by adding hundreds of dollars of attorneys' fees, for phone calls and letters, and for any other attention to the dispute."
Further, "Fifty-five million Americans live in developments overseen by community associations," says consumer watchdog Ken Hyland. "Four out of five of those associations are doing well, but the other 20 per cent have problems."
BACKGROUND INFORMATION RE THE PROBLEM: Frank (retired police officer) and Anna bought a lot and built their dream/retirement home on Lake Conroe. The home was completed approximately December 2015. Their custom home builder originally submitted "balanced beige" as the exterior color of their home to the committee that approves new home construction. This was a standard practice their builder used at application stage for every previous home he had built in Bella Vita.
At roof stage, the Manzos chose the EXACT TILED ROOF (COLOR) of an existing Bella Vita home. At paint stage, the Manzos chose what I consider to be a "light pink color" to MATCH the TILED ROOF. The home was painted. Only THEN did the BOD request that Anna and Frank's builder submit to the BOD the exterior color sample as was painted on Anna and Frank's home. Only THEN did the BOD demand that the home be repainted the originally-submitted color "balanced beige."
Frank and Anna requested and tried to organize a hearing with the BOD. For numerous reasons, the hearing did not take place. The BOD requested mediation. For numerous reasons, the mediation did not take place.
With no warning/communication to Frank and Anna, a "non compliance" was filed against their property in Montgomery County February 2016 by the Bella Vita HOA BOD's attorney. I happened to find the "non compliance" myself online while conducting a Bella Vita HOA records search, and I downloaded/sent the document to Anna and Frank as a FYI.
Determined to keep their house color "as is," on June 7, 2016, Frank and Anna (through their newly-hired personal attorney) filed a Petition for Declaratory Judgment and Suit on Breach of Contract naming our HOA, the old and new BOD, and the old and new Management Companies as defendants asking for the following: (1) To keep the color of their home; (2) To be refunded their original $1,250 new home construction deposit; (3) Attorneys' fees; (4) Costs of suit; and (5) Such other and further relief to which Frank and Anna may be justly entitled.
On July 8, 2016, the Bella VIta HOA attorney filed an answer and a counter-claim on behalf of our HOA for injunction and damages against Frank and Anna.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN Legal representation for the defenants named in Anna and Frank's petition will be (apparently) paid either directly from our HOA's assessment funds which were $3,300 per lot for 2016, as our HOA WAS BROKE OCTOBER 2015 AND COULD NOT PAY OUR BILLS WHICH WERE OUTSTANDING, and/or through the insurance that our HOA BOD acquires/pays which is a requirement in our by-laws. ...Or at least this is my speculation from legal/filed documents I have seen thus far.
Legal representation for Anna and Frank will be paid OUT OF THEIR PERSONAL FUNDS. A ballpark estimate of the cost of legal representation is (in my inexperienced opinion) $50,000 - $150,000. You can bet the HOA BOD are counting on the fact that most property owners WILL NOT UNDERTAKE SUCH EXPENSE TO FIGHT THEIR HOA IN COURT.
HOW WILL THE MONEY BE USED To pay Anna and Frank's attorney(s)for legal representation in their petition and the defense in the HOA's counter-claim (lawsuit).
HOW YOU CAN HELP If, indeed fifty-five million Americans in America are willing/unwilling members of homeowners associations, are there 100,000 disgruntled Americans who agree that HOA abuse (power with no regulatory agency) is a problem?
Can at least 100,000 people give $1 each to fund the attorney fees for Anna and Frank? I will start this "Go Fund Me" with a $100 donation today. Obviously, donating more than $1 is also an option just as I am doing.
THE LAST WORD I find it ironic that my friend and neighbor, Frank, spent his career as a police officer sworn to "serve...without favor or affection...malice or ill will...to see and cause (my) community's peace...according to the law..." finds himself on the receiving end of what I consider HOA BOD ABUSE WITH NO ACCOUNTABILITY.
Please post this to your social media for others to see, comment on, and act on as their conscience allows. Please ask reporters to write about "Frank and Anna's Pink House vs their HOA" legal battle taking place TODAY. Please let this start a discussion regarding what I personally consider to be POWER WITH VERY LITTLE ACCOUNTABILITY---that I believe is happening thrughout America---and the urgent need for LAWS that hold HOAs and BODs accountable for their actions.
Thank you!
Julie Williams
WHAT MOTIVATES ME This is my effort to help my neighbors and friends, Anna and Frank. It is my hope that something positive and good will happen as a result of what I refer to as "Anna and Frank's HOA-FROM-HELL EXPERIENCE" to stop what I believe to be Homeowners Association ABUSE. In my opinion, if there was such a thing as "HOA Syndrome," Anna and Frank have been and are currently suffering from it!ABOUT ME: I am a friend and neighbor of Anna and Frank Manzo in Bella Vita on Lake Conroe---a 56-lot subdivision an hour's drive North of Houston, Texas.
FACT (WHAT MANY PEOPLE DON'T KNOW!) Texas Homeowners Associations (HOAs) and the volunteer/elected Board of Directors (BODs) who oversee them are NOT REGULATED. To quote Beanie Adolph, Director, HOA Reform Coalition of Texas
on 3/21/06 in her testimony at a TX House of Representatives Joint Hearing: "Since 1983, an HOA has the upper hand in any dispute with a homeowner, because every step of the way the HOA increases the ultimate cost to the homeowner by adding hundreds of dollars of attorneys' fees, for phone calls and letters, and for any other attention to the dispute."
Further, "Fifty-five million Americans live in developments overseen by community associations," says consumer watchdog Ken Hyland. "Four out of five of those associations are doing well, but the other 20 per cent have problems."
BACKGROUND INFORMATION RE THE PROBLEM: Frank (retired police officer) and Anna bought a lot and built their dream/retirement home on Lake Conroe. The home was completed approximately December 2015. Their custom home builder originally submitted "balanced beige" as the exterior color of their home to the committee that approves new home construction. This was a standard practice their builder used at application stage for every previous home he had built in Bella Vita.
At roof stage, the Manzos chose the EXACT TILED ROOF (COLOR) of an existing Bella Vita home. At paint stage, the Manzos chose what I consider to be a "light pink color" to MATCH the TILED ROOF. The home was painted. Only THEN did the BOD request that Anna and Frank's builder submit to the BOD the exterior color sample as was painted on Anna and Frank's home. Only THEN did the BOD demand that the home be repainted the originally-submitted color "balanced beige."
Frank and Anna requested and tried to organize a hearing with the BOD. For numerous reasons, the hearing did not take place. The BOD requested mediation. For numerous reasons, the mediation did not take place.
With no warning/communication to Frank and Anna, a "non compliance" was filed against their property in Montgomery County February 2016 by the Bella Vita HOA BOD's attorney. I happened to find the "non compliance" myself online while conducting a Bella Vita HOA records search, and I downloaded/sent the document to Anna and Frank as a FYI.
Determined to keep their house color "as is," on June 7, 2016, Frank and Anna (through their newly-hired personal attorney) filed a Petition for Declaratory Judgment and Suit on Breach of Contract naming our HOA, the old and new BOD, and the old and new Management Companies as defendants asking for the following: (1) To keep the color of their home; (2) To be refunded their original $1,250 new home construction deposit; (3) Attorneys' fees; (4) Costs of suit; and (5) Such other and further relief to which Frank and Anna may be justly entitled.
On July 8, 2016, the Bella VIta HOA attorney filed an answer and a counter-claim on behalf of our HOA for injunction and damages against Frank and Anna.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN Legal representation for the defenants named in Anna and Frank's petition will be (apparently) paid either directly from our HOA's assessment funds which were $3,300 per lot for 2016, as our HOA WAS BROKE OCTOBER 2015 AND COULD NOT PAY OUR BILLS WHICH WERE OUTSTANDING, and/or through the insurance that our HOA BOD acquires/pays which is a requirement in our by-laws. ...Or at least this is my speculation from legal/filed documents I have seen thus far.
Legal representation for Anna and Frank will be paid OUT OF THEIR PERSONAL FUNDS. A ballpark estimate of the cost of legal representation is (in my inexperienced opinion) $50,000 - $150,000. You can bet the HOA BOD are counting on the fact that most property owners WILL NOT UNDERTAKE SUCH EXPENSE TO FIGHT THEIR HOA IN COURT.
HOW WILL THE MONEY BE USED To pay Anna and Frank's attorney(s)for legal representation in their petition and the defense in the HOA's counter-claim (lawsuit).
HOW YOU CAN HELP If, indeed fifty-five million Americans in America are willing/unwilling members of homeowners associations, are there 100,000 disgruntled Americans who agree that HOA abuse (power with no regulatory agency) is a problem?
Can at least 100,000 people give $1 each to fund the attorney fees for Anna and Frank? I will start this "Go Fund Me" with a $100 donation today. Obviously, donating more than $1 is also an option just as I am doing.
THE LAST WORD I find it ironic that my friend and neighbor, Frank, spent his career as a police officer sworn to "serve...without favor or affection...malice or ill will...to see and cause (my) community's peace...according to the law..." finds himself on the receiving end of what I consider HOA BOD ABUSE WITH NO ACCOUNTABILITY.
Please post this to your social media for others to see, comment on, and act on as their conscience allows. Please ask reporters to write about "Frank and Anna's Pink House vs their HOA" legal battle taking place TODAY. Please let this start a discussion regarding what I personally consider to be POWER WITH VERY LITTLE ACCOUNTABILITY---that I believe is happening thrughout America---and the urgent need for LAWS that hold HOAs and BODs accountable for their actions.
Thank you!
Julie Williams
Organizer and beneficiary
Julie Dunaway Williams
Organizer
Conroe, TX
Anna Manzo
Beneficiary