HOA Hires Taser Wielding Guards for 3AM Eviction

HOAs and Condominium corporations when dealing with delinquent fees, and after following the correct steps, can foreclose on the property to recoup outstanding amounts. In foreclosing, sometimes you need to evict the owners or tenants.

Apparently, for the Jasime  Homeowners Association, California, simply knocking on the front door during daylight hours, and communicating the need for eviction isn’t their chosen approach. Instead they hired a security company to perform a 3am raid on the tenants.

After the guards entered the premises, awoke everyone, forced them into the street in underwear and then ransacked their stuff, the tenants had an opportunity to show lease and utility payments. This proved that the tenants were actually renters (with rights) vs. what the HOA claimed – squatters. With the new information, the guards allowed the tenants back into their homes.

The tenants are suing the HOA (and it seems rightly from the report) for a variety of charges. I would have to say that all this could have been avoided if the HOA had made sure that clear, and proper, notification of eviction had been given. Say, during daylight hours.

The best part, one of the security guards hired is quoted as saying:

between you, me and the lamppost, the homeowners’ association is over-zealous.

Really? Over-Zealous. Say it isn’t so!

Canada Is Advanced When It Comes To HOA and Condo Fee Collection

It is always easy to assume that what you experience is universal. With condominium legislation, that is most definitely not the case. Canada is dramatically different than the US as a whole, and we are well in advance with legislation that protects the viability of the corporation.

In Alberta (and most provinces has similar rules) we require a managed and adequate reserve fund for the replacement and upkeep of common property and the building envelope. The number of states that require such a reserve (I believe) can be counted on two hands.

In Alberta, condominiums can get orders to direct rental tenants to pay their rent to the corporation to pay off owners who are deadbeats on their monthly condominium contributions and any special assessments.

So it comes as a surprise (but an interesting point that the best way to grant condominiums the protection they need in the US is a massive economic collapse and the creation of what seems to be an unlimited number of deadbeat owners) that Florida is only now legislating the rights for corporations to collect from renters the debts of the owners (through the collection of the rent).

As well, most bylaws I know of disallow a delinquent owner to vote at annual general meetings. This also is only now being legislatively supported in Florida.

While all this seems a little late (and I would hope it spreads to other states), I’m glad it is happening. A corporation needs the ability to ensure the funds required to maintain their ongoing viability.