Olathe HOA files police report, calls meeting over shortfall | The Kansas City Star: "An Olathe HOA has filed a police report and called a special meeting to discuss concerns about its former property manager that it says in a related lawsuit could cause "irreparable harm" to the neighborhood.
Parkhill Manor Homes Association said in the lawsuit that Jonathan Young and his company, Haven Property Management, have "failed and refused to deliver plaintiff's corporate books and records and bank accounts."
The HOA notified homeowners of the problem in a letter sent last week."
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4 comments:
So the H.O.A. corporation is complaining about a refusal to produce documents and records? Oh, the irony. As regular readers of this blog are aware, refusal to produce documents and records is one of the most common complaints voiced by homeowners against H.O.A. corporations. *
But it gets better. According to the story:
"Last year, Parkhill Manor homeowner Scott Wircenske sued the HOA, saying the board repeatedly refused to let him see meeting minutes and financial records as required by state law. Wircenske told The Star he’d voiced concerns about Young — who lives in the subdivision and was a board member before becoming the property manager — but said the board ignored him." (emphasis added)
"The case was settled last fall, and the HOA turned over a batch of records. Wircenske said he then contacted investigators with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office."
"But Wircenske says the HOA still hasn’t provided all the documents he requested. The HOA says that is because Young has not turned them all over."
So the property manager in question was also a board member of the H.O.A. corporation. And the other board members ignored concerns about the property manager expressed by a board member. It seems that the other board members were very complicit -- either through malfeasance or negligence -- in what happened.
* based on personal experience, H.O.A. open records laws are, for all practical purposes, unenforceable, because judges will bend over backwards to not enforce them; at least for individual homeowners
from the story: "Similar concerns raised by a homeowner in the HOA prompted an Olathe lawmaker to propose legislation to make homes associations more accountable by putting their oversight under the Kansas Attorney General. The bill, endorsed by House Speaker Pro Tem Scott Schwab, died on the House floor last month after a brief debate."
According to an earlier story, "Lawmakers shot down House Bill 2629 after a 36-minute debate on the House floor, followed by an unrecorded voice vote."
Shocked, shocked I tell you, that state legislatures are unable and/or unwilling to provide any effective protections for homeowners and residents of H.O.A.-burdened communities.
Judy Thomas at the Kansas City Star has done some remarkable reporting on H.O.A. issues over the years. She appears to be one of the few journalists who understands that the problems with H.O.A. corporations goes way beyond the usual stories of petty authoritarianism over aesthetic issues such as landscaping and flags.
If you're trying to introduce somebody to this issue, her articles are probably the best place to start:
"HOAs From Hell: Homes Associations Torment Residents They're Supposed To Support" (08/03/2016)
"Next Housing Crisis? HOAs Aren’t Saving Enough To Make Major Repairs" (08/03/2016)
"HOAs From Hell: More Horror Stories, More Fraud — And Prospect Of Legislative Action" (12/23/2016)
I'm surprised she's appeared on Shu's radio program only once (08/13/2016).
Ha ha. Now the HOA corporation gets the same treatment homeowners received for years.
Not only do you have a control fraud exposure because the same entity is handling accounts receivable, accounts payable, all banking, all insurance, and all record-keeping - you have management companies that lobby for statutes depriving owners of access to the records. It's not a perfect storm - it's a man made storm designed to enable defalcation, fraud, and embezzlement with virtually no detection. You know which trade group lobbies for such laws. Don't people realize why the management companies lobby "on behalf of the HOAs" for statutes that create barriers to access for the records?
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