'The HOA president put a lien on my neighbors, so I put a lien on their $20m mansion.' UPDATED 2X

"Put a lien on my neighbors for not being able to pay an illegal special assessment? I'll put a lien on your $20m mansion!"

This may be the most petty thing I have ever done in my life. I'm a pretty petty person, and I also believe in malicious compliance, but this takes the cake. So I bought a condo in a building in a large city in the US about 2.5 years ago. The building has an HOA that we all pay into monthly.

Since I've lived here, the building has rapidly deteriorated and we have all hired an attorney for a class-action style lawsuit. I'm talking broken elevators, broken rooftop AC units, the pool was empty for four months during the summer, etc. The people in the building are great though, and we are a friendly bunch.

Last year, I took the HOA to Small Claims court because they failed to provide financial documents that show us how our fees are being spent. As this is a legal requirement for all HOAs in my state, I won the case and was awarded the $30 filing fee plus $1, symbolic (I sued for documents, not money).

The fact that they can't provide the docs as they are legally required to do is a separate issue among others including possible criming that we've hired the attorneys for.

I have asked the HOA to pay the $31 to me, and the president of the HOA wants to either meet me somewhere private to give it to me, or he wants to mail me a Satisfaction of Judgement form, have me sign it, and mail it back to him and then he will mail me a check. No to both!

Three days after I won the case, the HOA announced that they were going to charge us all a special assessment of about $1000 each and an increase in our monthly dues of 10%. In my state, a membership vote gets triggered if you charge a special assessment that brings the building more than 5% its yearly income, which means 51% of the owners must approve of the assessment for it to take effect.

As this $$$$ is about 20% of our yearly income, a vote should have taken place. When we asked about this vote, the HOA said that it was being made under an emergency clause, which means that the membership vote doesn't have to take place. The emergency? Fixing the elevator that broke on Dec 24, 2021.

The spirit of the emergency clause is for things like fire, earthquake, flood, etc, not a broken elevator that has been broken for a year already. When there was understandable pushback, the HOA sent out a little email stating that anyone who didn't pay the assessment would have a lien put on their unit.

The liens came down yesterday to those that couldn't pay $1000 on short notice (our attorneys told us that even though the money is in dispute, we still have to pay it, and I did pay mine, but we also have a lot of retirees/lower income people in the building).

The HOA president's house is currently on the market for $20m. I just got back from the courthouse where I filed a $31 lien against it for $140, clouding its title. It's a matter of principle, not money. Now the title can't change hands until he pays me my $31 and I am perfectly within my rights to collect on a judgement owed :)

Not long after posting, OP shared two small edits:

EDIT: Some confusion here. I initially filed the small claim with the HOA as defendant. The small claim judge determined that was incorrect and said I should sue the individual as the president of the HOA and made me amend the case.

Therefore, the defendant in the whole case was the one individual person, and therefore he is responsible for the $31 and I can exercise my right to put a lien on his home in my effort to collect.

I CAN ONLY PUT A LIEN AGAINST THE DEFENDANT, AND THE DEFENDANT IS A PERSON. I CANNOT PUT A LIEN AGAINST THE HOA BECAUSE THEY WERE NOT THE DEFENDANT IN THE CASE. THE COURTS ALREADY DETERMINED THAT THE PERSON OWES ME MONEY. I DON'T NEED TO CONTINUE TO ARGUE A CASE I'VE ALREADY WON.

EDIT 2: So many ppl accusing me of lying because they don’t understand our legal system. Thank you to all who are supporting my efforts, we hope to have these ppl overthrown and in prison hopefully by the end of the year.

We’ve turned over all we have to our attorneys who are the best HOA attorneys in LA. We will get these people! Further reading on what else these slumlords are dealing with: https://globalpropertyinc.com/2022/08/10/lawsuit-barry-shy-didnt-disclose-defects-in-400m-deal/

If you live in Los Angeles county and have a money judgement against someone, learn how to collect here: https://selfhelp.courts.ca.gov/small-claims/after-trial/collect-money. If you scroll down and choose FROM THEIR PROPERTY, all you have to do is fill out the Abstract of Judgement, get it filed at the courthouse ($40), then get it recorded ($100) for a lien against a property to take effect.

Here's what people had to say to OP:

Slackingatmyjob wrote:

Isn't it usual for one of the bylaws in an HOA to be that the members of the board have to actually be owners *and residents* of the area the HOA covers?

OP responded:

The HOA is controlled by one family. There are 5 seats and they hold 4 because they own slightly less than half of the units and none of them live in the building. They rent out their units. I hold the other seat. We have a recall election coming up and we hope to take 3 of the seats.

LookAwayPlease510 wrote:

Wow, as an HOA president myself, that’s insane. They absolutely have to show you their financials. Can you sue regarding the super illegal $1000 special assessment? I’ve never been sued, but I know if I told the owners in my building I needed $1000, I better have at least 3 quotes for the work I’m supposedly having done.

OP responded:

Yup we’ve hired attorneys.

redorangeblue wrote:

I would reach out and ask for copies of the insurance. Most condos have to carry a policy against theft/ embezzlement etc. If they have this policy, reach out to the insurance company and tell them what's going on and you want to make a claim.

If they won't send you copies of that policy (which again they are legally required to provide) find a copy of the master (which they must have provided to anyone who has a loan) and reach to the agent to see what policies they have.

OP responded:

So we do have insurance, oddly enough, and one of the owners on the top floor tried to make a claim because his roof leaked and damaged his property. He was assigned an adjuster and never heard anything after that. Then yesterday he called them again to check the status and he was told his claim was closed by the HOA secretary? Reported this to our attorneys.

picwil wrote:

Please remember that you are likely entitled to interest on your lien. If/when he pays the $35, ask for your interest.

A few weeks later, OP shared an update:

So a couple weeks ago we were all informed that there is going to be a second special assessment this year. Our last one was about $1/square foot, this one is $1.25/square foot. I'm getting a rhinoplasty next month and just can't afford to plop another $1250 to these people, and therefore I'm not paying.

This combined with the SA from a few months ago equals about 45% of our building's income, well over the 5% limit in the state of CA. Several other people are not paying because they either can't afford it or simply think it's too much. Both are valid. He can lien my unit all day every day, I will go to the court hearing about it and get it thrown out.

Our HOA recall election was tonight. 5 seats on the board, us individual homeowners put forth 3 candidates. The 3 of us spent many Sundays going door-to-door campaigning, and we did get a lot of neutral owners on board. With the ballots, you can either mail them in or fill them out in person. Most of us elect to mail them in and there were two questions on them:

Do you approve of the recall election?

Place your votes for candidates in this grid.

Unfortunately, several people skipped question 1 and approval for the recall was therefore less than 51%. The family of crooks that run our building now own 119 units out of the 180, and we just didn't get it. After the election, there was an HOA meeting.

I find these things an absolute waste of time, a stupid meeting ran by stupid people, but I did show up about 20 mins late for about 10 minutes, and a literal fistfight almost broke out, and the family announced that even though I have a seat on the board, they are no longer including me in meetings because I am "disrespectful". People literally started SCREAMING.

Another owner made an audio recording of the whole thing and I sent it along to our attorney. Our HOA bylaws require mediation before litigation, and so we have that coming up in which we are asking for a large sum of money, our attorney fees, and this family to give up their positions of power and have their voting rights stripped permanently.

If they refuse, we go to litigation, and a judge will subpoena their financial records, which will show laundering, embezzlement, theft, and god knows what else, so I have a pretty good feeling they will accept to avoid the alternative, potential prison. Also, the house I put the lien on still hasn't sold so I still haven't gotten my $31 :( And our elevators still don’t work.

Here's what people had to say to OP's update:

HMS_slartibartfest wrote:

Have they turned over the financials yet? If not, talk to your attorney to see if they judge can do something. That may be contempt of court.

OP responded:

They sure haven’t and they aren’t going to.

roostertree wrote:

I read your original first. So that cheque that was in the mail (one of your last edits IIRC) wasn't? *sigh* Sometimes I wonder why I even try to figure out how people tick.

OP responded:

Nope. All they do is lie.

naranghim wrote:

With the elevators not working, that's an accessibility issue and HUD would love to have a chat with the family of crooks.

"But we can't afford to fix the elevators!"

"Show us your financial records. ALL of them."

Possible outcome: Hello federal criminal charges for laundering, embezzlement, theft and whatever else they want.

secondphase wrote:

I mean...it sounds like your HOA is broke. You need to redirect your efforts into the Financials. You'll never be able to sell if it's insolvent, and the building will slowly fall apart (elevators). If these ppl are leveling SA's, and they own most of the building? They are hurting in a major way. Need to get the Financials and consult a lawyer. You're in pretty deep.

A few weeks later, OP shared another update:

I haven't posted an update recently because there hasn't been a whole lot going on. I was going to wait another few weeks when I knew more. I took the advice of some commenters and reported this family to the IRS.

I sent an email to our internal email Google group that I manage that has all the other owners on it with a link to print out the form and an invitation to do the same. Three days later, I was served with a cease and desist regarding defamation. I found out later that B**chboy threatened another tenant into forwarding the email to him. I have informed our attorneys of this.

I regarded the C&D as a type of SLAPP and promptly disregarded, as there is never anything wrong with cooperating with a government agency. I have not heard anything else regarding this. Our CC&R's require Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) before jumping to litigation.

We decided to go that route, and our attorneys, angels really, put together a ~130 page document outlining each and every fart these people have made within their collective lifetimes complete with numerous pages of exhibits, etc.

In our demand, we ask for either complete building refurbishment OR $5m in cash, to be stripped of their positions of power, and our attorney fees, which so far are about $22k at this point, raised through crowdsourcing within our building. This was served to them last week and they have 30 days to respond. If they don't respond, we go directly to litigation.

As a judge will subpoena every bank record for the last 20 years or so which may uncover evidence of crimes, we feel that Bitchboy and Co. should feel very inclined to accept our offer. In the meantime, I got my rhinoplasty a few weeks ago (Guess which major US city I live in) and it is absolutely scorching here.

Our water went out for 7 hours on Sunday, and with it went our AC as our HVAC units are liquid-cooled, got fixed Sunday night, and now the water just stopped working again. Nobody knows why and as its the middle of the night here, nothing can be done. My monthly HOA dues are due today so I'm going to fork over $400 for what.

Additionally, I made it clear I wasn't paying the second special assessment, but I've continued paying my regular $400 monthly dues, however, they've been putting that money towards the special assessment and charging me a late fee for the remaining SA balance as well as a late fee each month for each unpaid monthly dues.

Double compound late fees are illegal here, and when I reached out to B**chboys secretary, she told me that it was just how "our billpay system works". They are trying to get my balance up to $1800 so they can foreclose, which is the minimum amount required in my state. The attorneys are aware so we shall see.

He has less than 3 weeks remaining to reply to our ADR.

And the $20m house still hasn't sold, so I still haven't received my $31 WHICH IS CLEARLY THE REAL ISSUE HERE.

Here's what people had to say to OP's update:

CaptainBaobao wrote:

These crooks will get busted for $31.

They are not even good at scamming.

OP responded:

Every day feels like I’m on an episode of Dumb Criminals.

Papa_huggies wrote:

Just letting you know if legal fees start piling up I'm happy to donate a buck, I'm sure some of us here are happy to throw something your way too. Fight The Man!

OP responded:

Lol. We all fully expect to be given our attorney fees back as the prevailing party gets their attorney fees reimbursed by the loser. I’ve kept a detailed ledger of everyone who has given so far and how much to make the refund process easy when the time comes. I’m not sure if this is Gofundme worthy tho.

generally-speaking wrote:

Seems like you're doing pretty well in all of this.

But legal fees are sure to rack up quickly.

OP responded:

For sure. Luckily, we are a large building with a big pool of motivated residents and my Mastercard has a 46k limit. The prevailing party gets their attorney fees reimbursed by the losers.

dragonsoulights wrote:

Will you be having a party with your neighbours when those doofuses finally get their just desserts?

OP responded:

Rooftop potluck by the pool if it’s working lol.