I Fought My Texas HOA And Won
Oak Creek Condos HOA – Arlington TX
First, thank you HOA board members and property managers who operate in your roles with INTEGRITY! This blog will share a personal experience of challenging corruption and unethical actions by board members of Oak Creek Owners Association, Inc in Arlington TX, its HOA property management company, Veracity, Inc of Plano TX, the Roberts, Markel, Weinberg, Butler, Hailey Law Office, and OTHERS.
Valuable information will also be shared empowering you to protect your homeowner rights against HOA abuse in Texas. Members of homeowners associations, from the following personal account please be inspired. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and absolutely reflect the foundation of ethics that Love Investors was established on. We are not Attorneys. Please always seek professional, legal advice. Then get a 2nd and 3rd opinion. 🙂
Catch up with how this all started, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, The Ultimate HOA Guide.
My name is Christy D. Starling and this is my personal experience with a corrupt HOA board and property management company. My inspiration for this blog and “THE ULTIMATE HOA GUIDE” are the countless homeowners who have suffered loss of homes and severe emotional stress due to unscrupulous HOA Boards and deceitful property management companies. My goal is for you to know your HOA rights and understand the true power we all have when that power is activated. I was born a Life Champion for people’s rights so falling into a role of “HOA Warrior” has been one of life’s natural designs and I’m thankful for the opportunity.
A few facts about me:
- former Air Force Reservist for 8 years, honorably discharged
- former employee of AT&T for 16 years
- proud union member for entire AT&T career who fought for the rights of myself and fellow co-workers
- I’m not a fighter by nature but one by circumstance
I’m sharing with you details of when Board Members of the Oak Creek HOA decided to file suit against me. And how their and Veracity Inc’s willful ignorance of the Texas Property Code led a civil court judge to agree with me. Make your voice heard! Sometimes that includes NAMING NAMES…
Board of Directors: Oak Creek Condos HOA of Arlington TX
Kennon Lee Armstrong aka Kennon Lee Howard – President
Lois Ann Burgess aka Lois Ann Stewart – Vice President
Dr. Bao Ngoc Tran aka Bao Tran – Board Member At Large
Gary Lee Foster aka Gary Lee Majors – Secretary
Tony Alagenchev aka Tihomir Georgiev Alagenchev – Treasurer
What led to being sued by an abusive Texas HOA & corrupt property management???
In brief, Veracity Inc HOA Property Management mailed a fine letter stating my tenant violated Oak Creek HOA rules by placing 2 boxes outside of a dumpster. The tenant denied any wrongdoing. My requests for a hearing and video record of the violation were unlawfully denied by the Board and/or Oak Creek Condos property manager. The property management company, Veracity Inc of Plano TX, for over 2 years sent fine and demand letters and threats of illegal foreclosure related to this offense until the Board of Oak Creek Association of Arlington, TX filed suit against me.
My attorney attempted to settle this case long before the court date. I agreed to pay all VALID charges but refused to pay the unlawful and bogus fees that Veracity was demanding. My offer was declined. 1 day before our court date, the board and/or Veracity attempted to settle but still demanded I pay their bogus fees. I knew, just as they did, that the law was on my side. I respectfully declined and let the justice system settle our case.
Oak Creek Owners Association, Inc. vs Christy D. Starling;
Presided by Arlington TX Justice of the Peace Judge Mary Tom Curnutt
Major argument made by Defense:
- Texas Uniform Condominium Act (TUCA) Sec 82.114 ASSOCIATION RECORDS. (a) “The association shall keep:” (b) “All financial and other records of the association shall be reasonably available at its registered office or its principal office in this state for examination by a unit owner and the owner’s agents.”
Major Take-Away:
- HOA Members have the right to receive VIDEO records with reasonable requests to their Association or Managing Agent. My request for a hearing and video used by the HOA Board to assess a fine for a tenant’s improper trash disposal should NOT have been DENIED by the Oak Creek Board. (Stand up for your rights. Keep reading to see real examples of unlawful and underhanded tactics used by Oak Creek HOA Board Members and Veracity Inc property management.)
$4440.46. The amount Oak Creek HOA and Veracity Inc demanded in full, including bogus fees, to avoid foreclosure.
$1734! The amount Arlington TX Justice of the Peace Judge Mary Tom Cornutt determined was owed by me after reviewing all evidence and taking into account the laws of the Texas Property Code, which no unscrupulous HOA Board or corrupt property management can override with unlawful acts. (MY WORDS, not the Judge’s 😀)
HOA members, DO NOT fall for such trickery by unethical HOA Board Members and “untruthful” property management. I fought my Texas HOA and won against HOA abuse and you can too! Know what your TX HOA rights are and fight for them! The Oak Creek Association, represented by Victor Bosnich of Veracity Inc, filed a lawsuit against me that was INTENTIONALLY based on denying due process. These are the strong-arm tactics used by corrupt HOA’s and corrupt property management to force people to forego their homeowner rights and give in to unlawful demands.
Are you willing to take a stand against HOA abuse in Texas??? For valuable info with CLEAR & PRECISE action steps to fight for your Texas HOA rights and win, go to THE ULTIMATE HOA GUIDE: How To Fight Your HOA In Texas.
Be inspired and consider being an advocate for HOA rights! From the National Homeowners Advocate Group here is another story of homeowners who beat their HOA in court… Share your experience in the comments below and get engaged! 🙂
P.S. Future chapters will share dishonorable mentions of background characters and the lessons learned from them along this journey. But other entire chapters, such as the NEXT CHAPTER, will be dedicated to exposing HOA corruption & abuse by unethical individuals and entities such as Oak Creek HOA Treasurer Tony Alagenchev, his company TM&F Lawns of Arlington TX and its landscaping scam.
We Recently moved in The Cascades Lake Towers in Tyler Texas managed by Worthross Management Co. and the most unscrupulous HOA Board I have ever had the displeasure of conducting business.
We have lived in our Condo for 6 months and have been harassed to no end. When we bring up the disputes they manipulate the words to make it seem as though we are in the wrong.
Seldom do they actually address the issues they pass over the requests for assistance. Please do not ask for the maintenance crew to conduct actual maintenance, that is not what they are there for, so we have been told.
Here’s the kicker “WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO SPEAK AT THE BOARD MEETINGS” we are told. The meeting is just for the Board to report how they are going to spend our money. We are suppose to sit, smile and look pretty.
Toni, it sounds like you’re dealing with MASTER MANIPULATORS which is typical with bully HOA boards. Make it a point to ask your neighbors if they’re experiencing the same harassment…more than likely you’re not the only one. Organize and replace the bad apples. Feel free to contact me anytime.
Wow, I wish I had found this information and law firm sooner! I’ve been harassed, targeted and discriminated against for last four years since I’ve bought & lived in this HOA neighborhood.
Hi Linda. Hopefully you’re pushing back against such treatment. Don’t give up.
Christy – I would love to know if you represented yourself in this dispute or hired an attorney. I have an ongoing issue with my HOA and the billing practice of post to rears and charging association handling fees twice the amount to the HOA assessment, making it extremely difficult for a homeowner to catch up if they have become behind on assessment payment. I’ve made an equitable settlement offer (covering all assessments, collection, filing and atty fees; excluding the late & handling fees) to the HOA’s Atty (the same law firm you were dealing with), but the HOA has denied the settlement. I’m at the point where I must decide to pay thousands of extra dollars in settlement or go to court to protect my home. Thanks.
Hi, TTelle. I hired an attorney to represent me. He filed necessary court docs, attended the pre-trial hearing and made initial arguments. He helped me tremendously at the start of retaining his services…guided me in the right direction and did all of the front leg work. But please know that I did most, if not all of the research (not to toot my horn) for the actual court date before JP Judge Mary Tom Curnutt of Arlington TX. My suggestion is even if you decide to have representation, do the research yourself so you and your representative are on the same page…and if not, you can pick up where they fall off.
By the way, have you written reviews or knocked on doors to see if your neighbors are going through the same???
We need an HOA/POA atty recommendation please?
http://www.loveinvestors.com/how-to-hire-an-hoa-attorney-in-texas
Please refer this case to one of your friends attorney firm if you are not interested!! Insurance company fraud and COA fraud I am looking to transfer this case DC-19-13360 to a new attorney. There are many more causes of actions (totaling around $5,000,000) arising out of the initial $500,000 water damage claim caused by condominium association leaking roof general common element causing water damage to penthouse. There have been several lawsuits against preston towers condominium association . The last case earned the attorneys $100,000 in fees. Estimated in fees on this case in the first round are $200,000-$400,000. There are several insurance companies with deep pockets with two more that can be pulled in – D & O insurance and E & O insurance) The COA has lost or settled every case! There is also a multimillion dollar class action suit arising out of this case for the insurance company setting up a fraudulent scheme with a shell third party adjuster firm whose sole purpose is to deny claims. Estimated attorney fees on this second round is $2,000,000 -$12,000,000.
I need help to fight back HOA for my right they’ve been abused me since the day one I bought my home.
Glad i found this. Hoa in houston telling me that for a townhome i need to cover it like a single family. i know this can not be true.
Where can i read about this? Which statute addresses this? ty
Hi Deb. I don’t know of any statute that applies. The type of insurance may depend on your type of ownership. Do you have divided interest in common elements? Do you own the land? What do your governing documents say? Your insurance provider may be able to give some insight also.
My community is Pine Harbor at Lake O’ The Pines in East Texas. What do you do when a HOA has given up on the community, won’t enforce Covenants Conditions and Restrictions (CC&Rs)? Rampant drugs, Litter on road side, litter in yards, house hold appliances and other discarded material and equipment in multiple yards, junky appearance of multiple properties, shoddy fencing to partially hide property owner junk, multiple shack/shanty/homeless development style out buildings on multiple properties, partially disassembled vehicles parked on right of way, multiple road going vehicles without license plates, primary dwellings resembling shacks (code enforcement should be called on these places), what looks to be more than one homeless camp in the woods, speeding/racing throughout the neighborhood, multiple loose dogs, multiple overgrown properties.
I try to organize and folks suspect ulterior motives and are apathetic. They have 20+ years of a steady decline to back up their apathy.
Meanwhile, the HOA gets dues from those who will pay. Currently there is an estimated $2M in back dues from years of not paying.
Hi Thomas. Sounds like there’s much room for improvement in your community and it needs owners who want to make a difference. Have you reported the “rampant drugs” to the police/sheriff or the dangerous dwellings to code enforcement?
Is Pine Harbor self-managed? Have you thought about running for a board position? Every owner should know what your ideas are for the community. Have you sent letters to the homeowners? Or had meetings with others that share the same concerns?
20 years of neglect? Inconsistent collection of dues? If the homeowners have no desire or vision to turn the HOA around, maybe consider dissolving it altogether.
My house in Bonterra of Woodforest has great propensity to flood due to construction failures / code violations at what was to be the house at the top of this challenge hill.
The Bonterra At Woodforest Community Association has issued a letter via an attorney dictating that I remove every flood Prevention required here – and return this front yard to original builder design. That design nearly caused flooding here during a fast and wind-driven 2 – 3” rain event due to every front roof moving water as if through a funnel – toward these front doors.
How can an HOA have any authority to force a person to ever flood.
I’m only a renter and therefore have zero control over anything. The HOA is constantly brought up on our neighborhood page where other tenants and owners complain. Of course board members are also on this page. I’ve constantly been harassed since living here. I put a bamboo shade on my balcony, it was a violation. I had a portable ac unit vent in one window of my garage so that my disabled daughter could do PT with her therapist in there without dying from texas heat. I even got a doctors note they denied. A car with expired tags parked on the street in-between my home and neighbors home, I get a notice. (Don’t know who it belonged to)
Now since posting a review with a photo of the neighborhood entrance and the high grass that we of course would get a notice about, they just sent a violation about a screen on my garage door that’s been there for 6 months. I know for a FACT they take money and put 0 of it into this neighborhood. There is no park, no pool, no trail nothing no neighborhood celebrations… I’m at a loss and I can’t deal with it anymore.
Hi Angele. I’m curious to know if your landlord is assisting to resolve these matters? Check this out…
Hi Christy,
I believe my HOA is not using our dues for long overdue property improvements such as a new roof. They (the Board) and our property management company, VeracityInc.com, have been telling about 15 -20 homeowners here that they would not be able to put in lawns in front of our townhomes for almost 4 years. I have lived in my townhome for 6 years and have had no grass or ground cover in front of my home for almost 4 of those years. Veracity’s excuse (I’m assuming on behalf of our Board) is that we have many other expenses coming up, such as a new roof, and that we (our HOA) are responsible for the soil erosion on the other side of the creek from our property (which backs up to a neighborhood of single family homes) etc., etc. While Veracity is quick to issue violations letters to residents, they are almost completely unresponsive to homeowners requests for legitimate maintenance or repairs. I had put up a new fence and got a violation letter for not having it uniformly painted or stained only about a week later. They gave me a week to complete the staining. I requested an extension since I was recovering from back and knee surgery and could only do a little section at a time. Same thing when I had new AT&T internet cable installed on the back of my home. It was barely a week and I received a violation letter for not having it painted the color of the building. Although I was not fined, Veracity has ridiculously quick turn around times expected of homeowners to correct these type of “transgressions” while at the same time they have ignored our requests for ground cover, replacing a large volume of dead shrubs, and a new roof for years. I have learned that all but one of our Board members are investors who own rental property but do not live on the property. Although I am not opposed to investor’s legitimate business of renting townhomes, our particular Board does not seem to care about keeping up repairs and improvements necessary to maintain property values for homeowners. Nicole Foley, our property manager seems to believe that it’s her job to protect the Board and keep homeowners from being able to contact them or bring our request for repairs or basic maintenance to their attention. Can you tell me, do I have any recourse for the fact that I have paid the same HOA dues as my neighbors with lawns, yet I have had no lawn for almost 4 years? I have had dirt with an exposed drip irrigation system (which BTW has been a safety hazard since it is raised and sticking out at least 2 inches above the ground) for close to 4 years. I have repeatedly requested installation of any type of ground cover for 3 and a half years. I have used the proper channels of putting in online maintenance requests with pictures and pointed out the safety hazard with the drip irrigation system. However, until just recently there has been nothing but delay and ongoing excuses. I don’t believe Nicole has every brought my requests to the Board.
I have attended HOA meetings twice during the Pandemic by Zoom and made my request for landscaping both times. There has never been a solid answer from the Board during those meetings. We were told that landscaping was approved by the Board last Fall (2021) however, there were no attempts to add landscaping in early Spring. As you know, we’ve had extreme heat all summer so I was certain that we would not have landscaping installed until this Fall. Yet when contacting Veracity at least 3 times early in the year they were unwilling to even give me an estimate of when ground cover or lawn would be installed. Just 5 days ago our landscape company finally put in zoysia sod. Now my drip irrigation system is not working and my neighbor’s is broken and leaking a lot of water into the street. The leak has been going on for over 2 months despite my neighbor and I bringing the problem to the attention of the landscape company, who is responsible for the irrigation system.
Veracity seems to have no interest in doing the job they are paid to do, especially for homeowners who live here on property. Can you tell me if I have recourse in recouping a portion of my HOA dues that I paid when I had no lawn? Especially since there has been an ongoing intentional delay in installing lawns for many homeowners here. Thank you.
Christy, the HOA is only following some bylaws and covenants but not others. We feel targeted. Basically we can’t park on the public street, but visitors can for 12 hours… or a stranger up to 48 hours if following local laws. The rules state that people can’t even park on the driveway… The board members park on their driveway. So basically they need to change the whole rules and not pick and choose. fair is fair. What can I do?
Hi Cris. Please check your email.
The EXACT same thing is happening in a Houston community but we have further discrimination and seems like conflict of interests between the board and the property mgr. The property mgr here is attempting to enforce the parking however, our security gate fails continuously and the community is left unsafe for hours, if not days at a time. Furthermore, the CC&R (if space allows) as it pertains to parking. If we are not impeding the flow of traffic, obstructing access to property why are we not allowed to park in our driveway? Several families park in their driveways…
I’ve asked the committee, treasurer, to provide proof of payment for 2 things… The so called replaced motherboard and a water bill and payment that increased our dues each qrt. She refused, stating that I should get the proof from the property mgr, as I have representation prepared for punitive damages against him for harassment and emotional distress. Please let me know your thoughts
My HOA board is selectively enforcing restrictions. And board and ACC members have & continue to violate restrictions with impunity. I recently played their game, submiitted an application which was denied but only after I removed some trees & leveled the site. Another owner built a garage and violated setback lines in June without receiving approval. Lawyer to help?
Hi James. Check out http://www.loveinvestors.com/how-to-hire-an-hoa-attorney-in-texas
Hello Christi,
I admire you telling your story and inspire people to fight back for unjust reasons and HOA abuse.
Hoa denied my house paint color because I don’t seek their permission.
ACC denied the color when I follow the process for approval. Last month, I went to a board hearing and told them : 1) I am sorry for not asking permission. 2) The HOA AC guidelines ( written in 95) is very basic for new constructions on the lot and has no mention about any paint color. 4) I show to them a 40 pages AC from 2 HOA in Irvine (CA) with detailed color palette. 3) I have signed petitions from 14 neighbors having no objection about my exteriors. 4) Color choice is subjective 5) All my rentals are painted with this color and young people like it. The board reject my pleas and gave me few weeks to resubmit a new paint color.
Many friends and a lawyer told me to repaint my house to avoid headache and it would cost me money if I fight them.
But as being landlord and property manager as you do, collecting rent, going court, dealing with pipe busting etc…, fighting is a way of daily life for me.
Like your case, HOA don’t like my house which is rental. It has harassed me for unreasonable demand due to a disgruntled neighbor’s complaints. It want me to seek permission for the shed which was build 32 years ago.
Your advise is appreciated.
PS: I told them you should not hate us by providing shelters to people.: new folk moving to town, single mother with kids after divorce.
Glad I saw this. We’re getting sued for $100,000 by our property owners association. In Lake Country Fort Worth.
No board member talked to us nor called us even after repeated requests for contact information. The board members are not public so no one knows who is on the board. We also asked for financials with no response.
We received an email approving our Seadoo was not visible from the road and the following week we were served lawsuit papers. Along with many other neighbors for boats partially being visible $200,000.
We went to court today. Judge knew the lawyer. He ruled in favor of the lawyer without even hearing our side. He said he didn’t care because he made up his mind already. He asked the lawyer if he only does HOA cases because that’s all he comes in his court for.
We now have to pay the lawyer fees of $5400 and the lawyer said he would ask the board if he can lower the fees and they denied it.
We can appeal but when judges are biased and won’t listen to evidence, we don’t stand a chance. We are a voluntary HOA but the LCPOA says they can enforce deed restrictions.
Their website never had dates of meetings nor the deed restrictions until our lawsuit. They started cleaning up their website after we pointed out their lack of information. They spend money without member approval. They still don’t have meeting minutes or board member names and contact information. And they won’t give out any financial information. They said they are not subject to any HOA laws because they are voluntary.
Lots of people having the same problems but any time someone brings it up on our neighbor fb and next door sites to bring awareness, they get deleted and we get blocked . They bully neighbors and there has to be something wrong with an organization that refuses to let people know board member names and contact info and won’t share financials. We made mistake of thinking of doing this ourselves because we have evidence that we were in compliance and now we have to figure out how to pay $5400.
Crazy how many of these are in East TX. We are in Tyler and having a major issue with our HOA board insisting that they must have a majority board vote on all variances. CC&Rs clearly state that variances are at the discretion of the ACC. All we are trying to do is sell a portion of our backyard to our neighbor, who will add it to his. The portion we are selling is slightly less than an acre and the CC&Rs require lot subdivisions to be at least an acre. However, after the sale both remaining lots will exceed 3 acres. They are also placing arbitrary conditions that we cannot possibly legally exercise (removal of an easement we have no control over). And they keep going back and forth on whether a variance is required. First they said it required one, then they said it didn’t and gave me permission, then they took that permission back and denied the variance twice (isn’t this exactly what capricious means?). Property management association is now completely ignoring me and my requests for a hearing. The only reason I can think of why they are doing this is all completely out of spite. They built a bridge and community nature trail on my property decades ago before we bought and built on it. We did the final survey we discovered this was all on our land last year. We made all kinds of offers to pay for a new bridge, move it, sell them the land, etx. They denied all of them but offered me $500 for half an acre. Finally, they reluctantly signed an easement agreement we granted them when they finally realized I could just cut off their access. I’ve given them so many options over the past 3 months to avoid litigation, but I’m out of options. Haven’t retained anyone yet, but all the lawyers I’ve talked to say this is textbook “arbitrary and capricious.”