PMC Mortgage Lender's Blog

The Texas state Senate passed a comprehensive bill to rein in home owners associations (HOA) on Tuesday of this week.

The bill, sponsored by Royce West, D-Dallas, includes a litany of regulations and would require associations to show greater transparency and broaden voting rights.

“Home owners associations are great quasigovernmental entities, but sometimes they go too far,” stated Representative West.

While the state of Texas is moving forward on HOA reform, across the nation HOAs operate under a wide range of state and local laws. Conflicts between owners and management can lead to amusing legal actions.

Officials in a Florida county have agreed to sue a condo association on behalf of a woman whose doctor prescribed a dog as an “emotional service animal.”

Phyllis Schleifer said she obtained her chihuahua, Sweetie, in 2008 on the advice of doctors to combat severe depression, but the Ventnor “H” Condo Association is a no-dogs-allowed complex.

Broward County commissioners agreed Tuesday the chihuahua is a legitimate service animal. Schleifer is seen as disabled in the eyes of the court.

County officials said the lawsuit is the first ever “prescription pet lawsuit.” Investigators determined the association’s actions violated the federal Fair Housing Act and the county’s Human Rights Act. Officials said the litigation will likely cost taxpayers between $15,000 and $50,000.

In another “pet” related HOA action, the Southall owners association in Raleigh, NC decided to make up new rules on the fly against a 16 year-old teenager, Kristen Sommerfeld, in her bid to raise four chickens in her back yard for a school project.

The city of Raleigh is “chicken friendly” but the HOA is not. Sommerfeld decided to petition the board to amend the homeowner rules.

She worked diligently to gather 220 of the 400 home owners’ signatures. The HOA board disqualified her petition, saying her proposed amendment wasn’t listed on each page, even though that requirement isn’t stated in the HOA manual.

In an attempt to further disqualify Sommerfeld’s signed petitions, the HOA board sent a letter to each signer asking them to confirm that they understood the petition they signed by returning a postage-paid postcard.

“If there are a sufficient number of confirmed signatures returned, the board will certify the petition … and will have the amendment recorded,” the letter says. None of these actions, however, are required in the home owner’s manual.

Sommerfeld is undeterred, “The way they’ve gone about it is annoying,” she said. “I am not ready to give up.”