Active duty sailor loses home to unpaid HOA fees

Here we go again:

"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The home Mark Bryant purchased in 2006 is modest but he loves it. "I worked real hard for my house," he said. While stationed at Mayport, the gunner's mate purchased the house in the Creekside subdivision with hopes of returning to Jacksonville when he retires.  "Now it is being taken away from me due to a wrongful foreclosure," he said. Bryant is still active duty in the Navy, stationed in Virginia. He lost his home because of $750 in unpaid homeowners association fees. "It has been stressful," said Bryant. How did this happen? His documents show he was stationed in Bahrain during the two years the fees went unpaid -- 2012-2014. Bryant said he was never notified. Court records show an unnamed woman was served in Virginia at a previous address. Bryant said the unnamed woman in the record is not his ex-wife. "When I got back from deployment October 2014," said Bryant, "there was an eviction notice on the property, and that is the first time me actually knowing." The HOA fees went from $750, but when you add interests, late fees, court costs, attorneys fees, it jumped to $4,734.03. The property was foreclosed and sold for $10,300."


http://www.firstcoastnews.com/story/news/local/consumer/on-your-side/2015/10/16/i-was-in-bahrain-and-never-got-a-notice/74078256/

Concord (VA) homeowners struggle to get roads paved

"The Holiday Forest subdivision in Concord has been fighting a 40-year battle to get all of the neighborhood’s roads paved."

Yes--but the state doesn't want to do it because they are private roads.  The picture concerning who is responsible for the hefty price tag now is complicated:

"A 1975 letter from VDOT to the then county administrator stated “I was amazed to find a number of streets constructed in a rather haphazard manner with apparently no regard for proper drainage design.” To pay for maintenance of the unpaved roads, the homeowners’ association collects $100 per house or $90 from an undeveloped lot. Goldman said they have an annual budget of $15,000 to $17,000 to maintain the roads. If the association were to raise rates, homeowners can cancel their membership in the association, as stated in association’s by-laws. The by-laws also state the association will dissolve in 2025, he said. When the subdivision was created in the 1970s, the old subdivision ordinance stated if all new lots were five acres or more, all roads within the subdivision were privately maintained and not maintained by VDOT. The subdivision was developed by Holiday Forest Corporation. “Also over the years, the homeowners have complained about the roads and decided they would rather have state maintained (roads),” said Campbell County Community Development Director Paul Harvey. About half of the roads in Holiday Forest have been taken over by VDOT but five miles still remain unpaved and under the care of the property owners’ association."


http://www.newsadvance.com/news/local/concord-homeowners-struggle-to-get-roads-paved/article_0a4905df-0318-5aaa-8ce8-0ca284d65a6f.html