The Myth of Mutual Benefit

Fri Jul 20, 2012 – Posted by: “Vicki”

This brings to mind an unfortunate incident: When I made a request of two board members to intervene and delay a lawsuit for assessments for a man who was terminal with renal disease….. the response was “why should we do that? and I responded “because of MERCY!” the response was “we are not in the business of “Mercy!”……The man died a few weeks after the HOA railroaded him in justice court…..The HOA collected over $6,000.00 from the widow. the HOA lost much more in the long run…..Do you suppose they will ask the courts for MERCY now?!  The HOA was Dreamland Villa ,the lawyer for the HOA was Maxwell, The property owner was MR. Espinosa……..And the Arizona appeals court decision made it clear that the Dreamland Club had no legal right to demand payment. Until the Myth of Mutual Benefit is debunked, these cases are going to continue….. unfortunately.

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 – Posted by KRC
This story represents one of the biggest myths and misunderstandings about HOAs. Even the courts don’t understand because they claim that CC&Rs are valid since they are of Mutual Benefit. Except when HOA declarations and CC&Rs are first created there was no “mutual” present. Only the developer and HOA industry attorneys are present at the creation table since the HOA is created and in force before the first buyer even exists. Then the HOA is imposed upon buyers as a condition of property purchase by design of the municipalities, developers and HOA industry servicers (Community Association Managers) to force them upon consumers because they most economically benefit them.

There can be no real mutual benefit if the owners had no place or vote at the creation table. Unfortunately in this age CC&Rs and others cause conflict which leads to expensive litigation that benefits guess who! I remember a few years ago a condo Board made a decision to restrict owners from renting out their condo’s in order to save it from foreclosure. The Board like the CC&R creators in this age dispute wanted no exceptions but to bad life is not so perfect. Then two years later the old condo Board president who supported the rental ban was faced with foreclosure himself but he could not rent his property out so he ended up homeless!