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Code inspector goes to house over tall grass complaints; resident has mental health crisis and points gun at inspector; cops come in armored vehicle and shoot resident to death (www.kjrh.com)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/usa@lemmy.ml
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[–] 20 points 1 year ago (9 children)

I don't understand HOAs having so much control over people's property.

Where I live if you live somewhere that has rules about how the exterior of a place looks, it's part of a strata and you pay monthly fees and the strata pays for landscapers to come in and mow everyone's lawns, repaint people's houses, repair the roof, clean the eaves trough, etc.

Seems so backwards that you just own your home outright but if you don't maintain it properly someone can just fine you. Take care of it yourselves then and leave me out of it.

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  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    California just passed a bill that caps HOA fines at $100 per offense. (iirc). Meaning if you want to paint the house purple and the HOA doesnt allow it, you pay the $100 fine and move on. It is effectively going to completely neuter HOAs.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 child)

    Does that law prevent reoccurring fines too? Otherwise it's just going to be 100 dollars for each week your house is purple.

    I looked it up, it's here

    Relevant section on the fines:

    SEC. 3. Section 5850 of the Civil Code is amended to read:

    • (a) If an association adopts or has adopted a policy imposing any monetary penalty, including any fee, on any association member for a violation of the governing documents, including any monetary penalty relating to the activities of a guest or tenant of the member, the board shall adopt and distribute to each member, in the annual policy statement prepared pursuant to Section 5310, a schedule of the monetary penalties that may be assessed for those violations, which shall be in accordance with authorization for member discipline contained in the governing documents. Monetary penalties shall be reasonable.
    • (b) Any new or revised monetary penalty that is adopted after complying with subdivision (a) may be included in a supplement that is delivered to the members individually, pursuant to Section 4040.
    • (c) A monetary penalty for a violation of the governing documents shall not exceed the lesser of the following:
      -- (1) The monetary penalty stated in the schedule of monetary penalties or supplement that is in effect at the time of the violation.
      -- (2) One hundred dollars ($100) per violation.
    • (d)
      -- (1) Notwithstanding subdivision (c), the board may impose a penalty stated in the schedule of monetary penalties or supplement that is in effect at the time of the violation that is greater than one hundred dollars ($100) per violation, if the violation may result in an adverse health or safety impact on the common area or another association member’s property.
      -- (2) Before imposing a penalty on a violation pursuant to this subdivision, the board shall make a written finding specifying the adverse health or safety impact in a board meeting open to the members.
    • (e) A late charge or interest shall not be charged to a member for a monetary penalty.
    • (f) An association shall provide a copy of the most recently distributed schedule of monetary penalties, along with any applicable supplements to that schedule, to any member upon request.

    So... yeah I still don't know unfortunately.

    Edit: Formatting, (c) turns into (c) by default, lol

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    I found an FAQ by an Association Management Company (professional HOA support people maybe?) that proposes to ensure rewriting the HOA rules to clearly state that each daily occurrence is a separate violation as a "fix" for this new law (which they hate of course):

    Are daily fines permitted?
    The amendments to Section 5850 state that the $100 fine cap is per violation. Therefore, daily fines are not permitted. However, what constitutes a “violation” is not addressed in the law. Associations should consider revising their fine and enforcement policies to eliminate ambiguity and expressly state that each day a violation remains uncured constitutes a separate violation subject to a distinct fine. In using this approach, the notice of hearing should identify each day the noncompliance as a separate violation, with the date of each violation clearly stated. At the hearing, the board should consider each item and decide and issue a fine (if appropriate) for each violation. Keep in mind that if the violation is cured by the date of the hearing (including health or safety related violations), or if the violation is of a nature that could not be cured by the time of the hearing and the owner has entered into a financial commitment to cure the violation, the owner cannot be fined, and no disciplinary action may be taken.

    Of course they are not impartial here. And I don't know how it would go in a lawsuit. But it seems like a lot of HOAs might try this.

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  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Depends on your HOA. Some maintain pools and parks in the area. Some exist solely to 'keep property values up.'

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  • [–] 20 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Which is also funny to me because I would be willing to pay less if a house was In an HOA not more.

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  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    we had an oppressive hoa, but did a hostile takeover with the chill neighbors next door. first order of business, no more citations for unkempt lawns, no more loud noise citations, you get to treat your home like your property so long as you weren't piling up trash in the front yard. the old hoa board had a "legal" service run by an "attorney" downtown they contracted with to fine people for menial bullshit and we fired them. guess what? people started taking better care of their yards. kids are actually playing in the street (we have enough for a baseball team now). the neighborhood has never looked better.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    Where I live if you live somewhere that has rules about how the exterior of a place looks, it’s part of a strata

    Fuck stratas too. Mine refuses to let us install mini split air conditioners because the outdoor condensers are "ugly" and "makes this nice Canadian townhouse complex look like one of those shithole commieblocks from China" (they actually didn't say that but someone on Reddit once did in defense of stratas and that pisssd me off so much). They don't even let us change the windows from swing out style to the sliding type that can support window air conditioners, instead we're stuck using portable air conditioners which are the least energy efficient type. So in a place where AC was not necessary until very recently due to climate change, and there are worse heat waves every year that go beyond uncomfortable to putting people at risk of heat stroke, they're worried about the aesthetics of the complex over the health of the people in it.

    Our strata even got pissy at us for putting a blanket over the window to reflect the sunlight. Can't do passive cooling either.

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