EILEEN SPATZ, San Clemente
I live in a Talega condo complex where our HOA has gone rogue. Homeowners had been told for several years that any pipe failures were the sole responsibility of the owner. After seeing dozens of pipe failures springing up all around us, eight of us went ahead and had our condos repiped in 2018 at a personal cost of $5,200 to $7,000.
After a neighbor threatened legal action against the HOA last year, regarding their avoidance of the pipe issue, the board decided it would repipe the entire complex out of its reserves, and would reimburse the eight owners who had already repiped. All good.
However, this week I was served with a legal document stating it would only reimburse me for 75% of the costs I incurred, and that all units will be repiped, including the eight units that had already gone through that horrible process just 21 months ago.
The document threatened to impose a fine of up to $1,000 per day to force compliance.
I refuse to allow anyone into my home during a pandemic with a deadly invisible virus that could cause serious health risks, or death.
Six of the eight homeowners, including myself, are in the vulnerable class of individuals being over the age of 60 and having underlying health conditions. I have not even allowed my children or grandchildren into my home since mid-March.
Our HOA has used the cover of the pandemic, when executive session meetings were leveraged, to pursue this ridiculous plan, not allowing for any input or discussion from the homeowners impacted.
Instead, we are being forced to allow entry into our homes for unnecessary work to be done by various teams of contractors who could bring the virus into my living space, or else face fines of up to $30,000 per month forcing insolvency. This is just all kinds of wrong.
The reason for this action? To have all the condos under the same warranty, even though our own 25-year warranties would be transferred to the association. HOAs have an amazing amount of power. Buyer beware.
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