HOA intimidation and retaliation
Our HOA is in a battle with our board over a $2.8m LIP that the homeowners are against. The board will not take a vote and is moving forward and has increased dues by 20% and want to impose a $7-$10k assessment to the homeowners and also possibly taking a HOA loan for the balance. They will not be truly transparent on project and funding. When there is dissenting opinions other than theirs they are dismissive. Requested docs some of which they produced and others not and for no reason. Now because I have stood up to their inaccuracies with substantiating documentation they have said I am disruptive and therefore can no longer attend meetings other than by ZOOM and can not have any contact with them, friends etc. At a board meeting when I showed a contract was a conflict of interest the involved board member repeatedly screamed at me to the point that other attendees had to tell him to stop. I reported it to the management in writing and the HOA attorney aware yet did not address. I then got the notice I described above.. is this intimidation, harassment, retaliation and a violation of my first amendment rights and the open meeting law related to HOA. What if any recourse do I have. I am female and none of the dissenting males were limited or with the same restrictions imposed.
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Janet,
I truly am sorry to hear of your situation but it a growing trend throughout this state. Attorneys and community managers have taken to advising these boards that by taking advantage of what was originally placed in law as an absolute backstop on assessment increases in these communities they can increase the assessment 20% year after year without homeowner approval. Thereby circumventing the special assessment approval requirements from members. I’ve introduced legislation this year in HB-2126 to attempt to mitigate this improper use of this limit.
The vast majority of the members in this coalition are female because they have been viewed as the easier target for intimidation and harassment by boards and community managers alike. They are all members of this coalition to fight back, and I’m truly proud of all of them for standing up for their rights. I do what I do because of all of you. Associations have no right to restrict your ability to object to the way they are running your community. You pay for everything in your community and have the absolute right to have a say in how the community is run and how your money is spent. There are no dictatorships in this country. You have a fundamental freedom of speech that is protected by the first amendment especially if expressed against a “limited public official” as defined in a recent Appellate Court decision, that these board members are. In accepting a position as a board member for these communities they have to understand that they may be subjected to dissenting opinions from the members that they govern. Any attempt to retaliate against any homeowner simply for expressing his or her objection to decisions of the board would be considered by the Courts and a direct violation of that members first amendment rights. While the association can assess fines for these actions, any attempt by the association to enforce those fines in court could be responded to with a SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) motion. Please remember one thing common expense assessments are statutory liens and foreclosable, but all fines, penalties and any other fees charged by the association are not and a lien can only be placed on your home by the association suing you in court to attach that lien. If any fine was ever applied to you based on retaliation for participating and opposing actions of the board, the association can only make that fine a lien on your home by a judgement lien. This is the door that is opened for anti SLAPP claims. While you will have to prove your case and anti-SLAPP claim is a big deal in court. Look up ARS 12-751 as the statute addressing SLAPP. Please contact an attorney if you are ever involved in any legal action.
The open meeting laws do not allow any board to deny access to any board meeting to any member in the community. While they can establish decorum requirement for those meetings, they can never deny you access, irrespective of any past issue. They can ask you to leave any meeting where they believe you violated the decorum requirements for that meeting, they cannot prevent you from attending any future meeting.
There is also Federal law enacted thru HUD labeled “Hostile Housing Environment”, where the association can be held liable for any action, or the hostile housing environment caused by either the board or any member of the community against any protected class. Look up 24 CFR 100.600. for more details on this issue.
Dennis