Welcome to The Home Equity Theft Reporter, a blog dedicated to informing the consumer public and the legal profession about Home Equity Theft issues. This blog will consist of information describing the various forms of Home Equity Theft and links to news reports & other informational sources from throughout the country about the victims of Home Equity Theft and what government authorities and others are doing about it.
Thursday, August 02, 2012
Homeowner's French Drain Installation To Ease Flooding Problem Leads To $589K In Invalid HOA Liens, Costing Her $50K+ In Legal Bills To Stop F'closure
In Mint Hill, North Carolina, WCNC-TV Channel 36 reports:
For Rosanna Wilfong, it started a decade ago. Her front yard was flooding. A pool of rainwater swelled until it was knee-deep. So she hired a company to install a French drain -- a kind of underground trench with a pipe to channel the water away from the foundation of her home.
She said she spent $6,500 to install the drainage system. Her homeowners’ association forced her to spend another $6,500 tearing it out.
It was only the beginning of a years-long legal battle with her HOA that ate up more than $50,000 in legal bills and almost cost her her home.
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Simply removing the French drain didn’t satisfy the HOA board in Mint Hill’s St. Ives neighborhood. Wilfong, a grandmother, has documents to show the HOA asked her to grade the land. She said grading the front of the property would have led to the same flooding she was trying to correct.
She said the conflict ultimately was not about flooding and grading and French drains. “It was about the money,” she said. “They wanted their money.”
She’s referring to fines, which racked up at the rate of $400 per day, according to court documents. “They got to be $589,000,” Ms. Wilfong said. “The house wasn’t worth that much….I knew I was going to lose my house. We were all packed up.”
Ms. Wilfong hired one attorney, then another, then a third. When her lawyer got documents from the HOA, she made a startling discovery. The HOA’s architecture review committee had approved the French drain. “I felt betrayed by the homeowners association,” she said.
In a ruling earlier this year, Judge Richard Boner waived all the fines and she got to keep her home. But she still had to pay for her attorneys.
“This is a cash cow for the lawyers and the management companies,” said Chris Zbodula, who served on the St. Ives HOA board before having his own dispute. “They’re making an absolute killing on this.”
The St. Ives HOA board kicked Zbodula off the board for missing meetings. He says the real reason is that he challenged the president for suing neighbors like Ms. Wilfong. “The only choice a homeowner has is to dig deep in their pocket with tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars for what could be bogus charges,” Zbodula said.
CBC News: Betrayal of Trust (A CBC investigation reveals how lawyers across Canada have misappropriated and mishandled clients money, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, or sometimes even charging vulnerable people top dollar for shoddy services)
Land Contract/Contract For Deed/Rent-To-Own Rackets
The New York Times: The Housing Trap (In the wake of the housing crisis, low-income families have turned to seller financing to buy homes but these deals can be a money trap)
Beware The Fine Print: Consumers Forced To Sign Away Their Rights To Use Court System
The NY Times: Arbitration Everywhere, Stacking the Deck of Justice(Part 1 in series examining how clauses buried in tens of millions of contracts have deprived Americans of one of their most fundamental constitutional rights: their day in court)
Foreclosure Mills' Abysmal Record In Complying With New NYS Foreclosure Requirements
Justice Deceived: How Large Foreclosure Firms Subvert State Regulations Protecting Homeowners
MFY Legal Services Report On Questionable Practices By Process Servers In Debt Collection Cases
Justice Disserved: A Preliminary Analysis of the Exceptionally
Low Appearance Rate by Defendants in Lawsuits Filed in the Civil Court of the City of New York
Mortgage Mess Redux: Robo-Signers Return (A Reuters investigation finds that many banks are still employing the controversial foreclosure practices that sparked a major outcry last year)
CNN Video: As Foreclosures Mount, Florida Court Turns To 'Rocket Docket'
The Wall Street Journal: A Florida Court's 'Rocket Docket' Blasts Through Foreclosure Cases (2 Questions, 15 Seconds, 45 Days to Get Out; 'What's to Talk About?' Says a Judge)
"Produce The Note" Strategy When Dealing With Missing Promissory Notes In Foreclosure Actions
ABC Video: Fighting Against Foreclosure (Some homeowners have found a new tactic to keep the banks at bay)
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