Families say HOA drove them out

[Music] literally drove us out of here families say they were forced to move from their North County homes or live in fear of retaliation from their homeowners association our investigator Adam or cruising spoke with two of the families who say anonymous neighbors constantly complained about their kids yeah and the complaints were where they were playing and just how loud these kids were we all know that kids make noise but instead of just asking the kids to keep it down these families say that they received warning letters tucked away east of the five freeway in Carlsbad a quiet private community with about 100 townhomes moved here because there's a park and near the complex and there's great schools Amy lass says she and her husband liked it so much when they had kids they bought a bigger unit in the complex just so they could stay that safe and seemingly family friendly environment also inspired melissa and made spear to rent in that community there's such a family community and neighborhood that this area you feel like would be the same thing but both families say that family-friendly appearance was just that in appearance in reality they say some neighbors and the HOA turned their lives into a nightmare you didn't have kids you could kind of do what you wanted but if you had kids it was like they were after you I was sad I was upset I remember coming to my husband and just crying and saying I can't do this anymore this is affecting my children they claimed they were repeatedly warned their children were not allowed to play in the common areas of the property if things got too loud they'd get written warning notices saying that kids were interfering with the quiet enjoyment of their neighbors if the noise didn't stop there would be fines the letter indicated you had to cure the problem which I anticipate meant getting rid of our children or we would be fined in one example Nate and Melissa say they had a group of kids over to watch the Women's World Cup when Team USA scored a goal the girls ran outside and cheered here's what he says happened next then they come back in probably not two minutes later all scared to death because the neighbors had screamed obscenities at them a day later Nate tells me they got a letter saying their children were not allowed to make excessive noise in the common areas that's just one example both families say they tried to take their concerns to the board but no one would listen so they moved out and filed this lawsuit that describes years of being harassed about their kids playing outside and save common areas threatening letters and ultimately finds the bylaws said that children couldn't play when I purchased the property I wouldn't have purchased it team ten tried to contact members of the board to get their assigned but the community is gated and there's no listed phone number for the board we did reach the HOA management company who said in a statement we take all Resident complaints including lawsuits very seriously unfortunately we cannot discuss details surrounding pending litigation it's not so much what the bylaw says but how you enforce the bylaws Craig Fagan is an attorney representing the families fair housing access communities cannot have rules that prohibit children from playing outside just being children a lawsuit might sound extreme here's what both families say thereafter we just hope that in the future that the bylaws get changed and that kids can and families can have a great experience here you heard from those two families but there is actually a third family that is also joining in in this lawsuit so a lot of us live in HOAs a lot of there's a lot of new communities that happen what do you do if you have a dispute with your age away so actually your nightmare here can be your best friend I want to make sure that I don't get this wrong but I spoke with an attorney who says the CCN ours by laws and rules and regulations that many new communities spell out it should tell you exactly how to handle your HOA because everything that you might not like that the board is doing there might be rules and regulations around that as well the relationship between the owner and your HOA board it'll tell you what to do you can also have some sort of alternative dispute resolution such as mediation to go along with this and a good reminder to read them before you move in yes you want to know because the language can be very vague in some of these so you really want to drill down on what the interpretation is everything is about the interpretation of what it says thank you Adam

Channel: ABC 10 News

Views: 209,970

Rating: 4.7964988 out of 5

Keywords: HOA, Carlsbad

Id: R-VXCjROXZc

Length: 4min 7sec (247 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 12 2018