HOA and their shady tactics
There is a pretty universal truth behind all this: goodwill and reasonableness often get you nowhere with institutions like the HOA. Apparently, a specific, cited, enforceable threat is the only thing that does.
When you read the story, you will notice this: every time she contacted the HOA with proof, respectful demands, and conclusions she reached with the help of professionals she paid with her own money, she was met with a bit of the old ‘guilt-shifting’.
What strikes me most is that institutions use this tactic, thinking it will get them somewhere and make the person fund things they shouldn’t. You have to be really confused to think that a root invasion coming from a common area is somehow your responsibility and not theirs.
Either way, when the neighbour threatened with [rightful] legal action, they suddenly started to ‘cooperate’.
This is one of those stories where I need to know what happened next, and I’m definitely going to be checking Reddit for updates. Honestly, if the person manages to get all that money in return, it would be something like Divine justice.
This is a case of a volunteer board that doesn’t fully understand the infrastructure they’re responsible for, and even if that’s very humane, it doesn’t justify the fact that when they had proof they were wrong, they consciously chose to hide it rather than do the right thing. So legal action was the only way out, really, and they had it coming.
Let’s face it, it would’ve been much cheaper for the institution to simply do what they had to do; now, they will have to pay triple the money. Luckily, organisations like Small Claims Court exist, so individuals who normally have no power against these institutions can take legal action when injustice occurs.
Author: Kayitsi.com
