September 2011

Being a member of your homeowner association's board of directors isn't always straightforward, serious business. Boards get thrown funny curveballs, too. Here, board owners and our HOA experts tell us the most unusual, crazy situations they've faced with owners and how they resolved them.

Toilet Training

"I'm president of a 13–unit condo building in Chicago," says Wendy Zdrodowski. "We have a unit owner's son whom we call 'unexpected toilet man.' Our building went up before the turn of the 20th century, and there's an old toilet in the basement bike room. Apparently, that was common back then for the use of maintenance workers or contractors. I saw it in passing, with the lid down, and just thought it was stored there. I didn't know it was even connected—until the day I walked into the basement and found this man, pants around his ankles, sitting on the toilet and reading a newspaper.

"There are five to six people regularly living in his second–floor unit, and the owner's son is in his 30s or thereabouts. When someone is in the shower, he thinks nothing of wandering down to use the basement toilet. This is in a common area, and there aren't any privacy screens around the toilet—it's in full view of the room. Anyone can just walk in!

"We've tried hinting that this isn't appropriate and we'd prefer he not do this, but he persists. A few weeks ago, I was making the rounds with the exterminator and his female trainee, and there was the owner's son on the toilet—31 flavors of awkward!

"Our association is strapped for cash already, yet we're looking at spending money to disconnect or remove this toilet because this dude doesn't see anything wrong with this. It's hilarious if you haven't been the one to walk in on him, and it always seems to be me who has that…opportunity."

Sure, You Can Rent That Parking Space

Diane Kinman, author of Condo Divas about the politics of condo living, rented a parking space from another condo owner for several years, but there was a slight problem.

"I found the space through her note on the bulletin board," says Kinman. "In truth, she was no longer the owner of a condo in our building and therefore didn't have any legitimate claim to the parking space except that when she had owned a unit, she had somehow been given the use of three spaces. Two went with the unit when it sold, but the one I rented, she felt she still owned. No one questioned it for at least two years. The board determined the space should be sold, which brought $10,000 into the coffers. The former owner repaid the rent to me, but I lost my parking spot!"

Let Me Speak!

"Another situation involved a lawyer who gave lengthy speeches at our board meetings, wandering on and off topic," says Kinman. "Meetings grew from a brief hour to a tedious three hours. After three such meetings, the board devised the three–minute, three–topics rule—any person could speak for three minutes and on only three topics. The board set a fine of $25.

The lawyer heard the vote and even raised his hand to vote it in. Then he launched into a talk about the roof repairs and was 'dinged' at three minutes by a loud egg timer. He sputtered and tried to ignore it, but the board cautioned him to sit down or it would levy the fine. His face turned red and spittle flew from his lips as he raged at the board, "I'm not done! You can't... I need to tell you...." After pleading with the audience and getting no pity, he sat down. There was a second incident within 20 minutes and a third soon after. He left the meeting owing $50."

Let's See The Exhibition!

"There was an owner who refused to close his blinds, and he liked to walk around au natural," recalls Matthew A. Drewes, a partner at Thomsen & Nybeck PA in Edina, Minn., who represents associations. "He was asked on more than one occasion to close his blinds and cover himself, and he chose to do neither. It was definitely as though the owner was doing it intentionally. It actually became a bit of an attraction. People would stop outside his unit to see if this was actually happening!

"The association finally stepped in and advised the owner that if he didn't close his blinds, he'd be subject to fines for nuisance and noxious activity. That behavior fit within the definition of something that could be objectively offensive to people, and ultimately the problem was brought under control."

Owners Acting Silly as Board Members

Drewes also had to advise owners serving on the board that the rules they were proposing didn't cut the mustard. "We had an association that was proposing some rules and wanted us to look at them," says Drewes. "Some were just silly. One rule stated that owners could have no cats that weighed more than 15 pounds. When we asked the reason for the rule, one person just said, 'Well, cats just shouldn't weigh that much.'

"They were also proposing a rule that no airplanes could land in the association. I asked, 'Do you have large open space or a runway of some kind?' The person just said, 'No, we just want to make sure nobody tries to land an airplane on our streets.' I think there might be an issue of the Federal Aviation Administration preempting the association on that rule, so we took that one out."

Dude, Your Weed's Gone

In a case in which Robert M. DeNichilo, an attorney at DeNichilo & Lindsley LLP in Irvine, Calif., who specializes in representing community associations, was representing an insurance company, he stumbled onto a medical marijuana issue. "The insured had a prescription for medical marijuana and had 15 marijuana plants in his backyard. The police raided his home and seized the plants. But they didn't take care of the plants, which died. The guy proved he was allowed to have the plants, and the judge let him off.

Then he submitted a claim to his home owners insurance carrier under a clause covering damage or vandalism to brush and shrubbery. The insurance company asked me, 'Do we have to pay for damage to this guy's marijuana plants?' I told the company that since he had them legally, I thought it had to pay for them."

The Lawyer's a Target

"We've had funny things happen with lawyers," says J. Roger Wood, an attorney with Carpenter, Hazlewood, Delgado & Wood PLC in Tucson, Ariz., who specializes in representing community associations. "I once had a FedEx box of human feces delivered to my office. Another homeowner mad at me went on eBay and paid to have someone send letters anonymously to my office so everyone could see them. They weren't threats but said things like, 'You've won a subscription to a gay men's magazine.' I also recently got called a 'low–life weasel' and a 'dirty gypsy.'

"Those things happen with frequency, and I shake my head and say, 'Really? This is how important that tiki hut in your backyard has gotten—that you send me hate mail and mail that makes our receptionist blush? You really think taking this out on your HOA's lawyer is going to get you where you want to go?'"

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