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Idiocy Personified
I recently attended a so-called Home Owners meeting that was so far out of the realm of reality that I had trouble believing
what I was hearing. This meeting was supposed to be "informational" and was not open to debate of the "facts" presented.
What I heard was a small group of people had a meeting with a new Park Owner. They did so without the knowledge
or support of the vast majority of residents. They held this meeting without legal representation relying, instead,
upon the "expertise" of their leader.
First, it was claimed that Rent Control could only be raised 3% each year. Fact: 3% is the gauranteed MINIMUM no
matter how bad the economy tanked the previous year. SEVEN percent increase is the maximum allowed under the rent control
ordinances which control that area. Thus, if say next year we have a huge boom in the economy, the rent increase could
possibly go as high as 7% - and who is going to raise Cain because they were led to believe that 3% was the maximum allowed
increase? When I tried to point this out, I was shouted down. In fact, one of the "Board" called the cops on me.
(Nothing came of it)
Next, came the "threat" of a request by the new owner that he would apply for a rent increase of over 200 dollars per
month and it was implied that he would receive it because he could show that he now had a huge mortgage to pay over and above
current operating costs. Fact: This particular ordinance has never been successfully challenged in 30 years, and
has been upheld by the Federal Supreme Court. (I think Zell was the plaintiff.) At any rate, a mortgage is not
pertinent because the purchaser should have done due diligence prior to purchasing the community and realized that the rent
income would not cover expenses. If you buy a new home and find out you can't afford the payments, the Bank forecloses.
I know it is more complex than that, but that's sort of the bottom line.
Next came something to do with "pass throughs" for Capitol Improvements. It was said that planting new flowers
would be a "capitol improvement". Not really, that would merely be routine maintenance. But a lot of the listeners
took this as gospel.
Street lighting was mentioned and it was "explained" that that would take a huge capitol outlay that would be paid for
by residents. Not so far as I am aware. You see, State Law and HCD requires that street lighting be maintained
for Health and Safety reasons, and that there is a minimum acceptable amount of light - something like continual .5 candlefoot
power at waist level throughout all common areas. If the community common areas cannot meet those standards, it is required
that the owner bring them up to Code and he cannot pass the costs on to residents.
Misinformation is dangerous when given to the uninformed and clueless.
The upshot of this meeting with a new owner was that the leader of the residents meeting with him gave away the farm.
They demanded, they cajoled, they told him what they expected, talked about pass throughs, rent increases, etc. and let him
know their game plan. Then they walked away expecting him to honor their requests.
Get real.
The next day they were given a new water bill and breakdown of the costs. Horror of horrors!! He broke his
word.
What word? Nothing was written down, nothing was legally binding upon either side. How stupid and naive did
they think this very rich businesman was?
Prime Example of a Community Divided
I am going to tell you a true story. The name of the community
won't be revealed, but the CMRAA members there will know I am telling their story.
Eight months or so ago a mobile home community suffered a massive power outage. From what we were
able to find out later, the Park Owner refused to allow her management team to bring in electricians to fix the problem.
When the Power Company came out, they could only look at their main supply junction boxes and nothing else. When they
threw the switches the resulting surge blew out appliances and just about everything else in the homes. It was several
DAYS before the power was finally restored. In the meantime food was spoiled, people were living in their darkened homes
with only candles and lanterns for light. I am told that one resident whose oxygen supply depended upon a source of
electricity, died.
No one called HCD or the local Housing Authority. No one called their local district councilman.
No one let any agency in authority know of their problem. No one!!! Absolutely nothing was done by the residents
to try and alleviate their problems.
Two months ago CMRAA was called in for a meeting. Less than 20 people showed up. In fact, the
clubhouse was locked up during the day of the meeting and the management team was convienently "off-site". The assistant
manager had to call the owner, even though we had been told the clubhouse had been reserved for a CMRAA meeting that day.
It took nearly an hour for "permission" to use the clubhouse was granted - and then only after I said I would hold the meeting
in the common area.
Not a whole lot was accomplished that day. As a matter of fact, some people showed up saying they
had not been informed of the meeting. So, we called another meeting for a few weeks later, made sure everyone was informed
and returned.
This time maybe 3 dozen people showed.
The CMRAA Board laid out an agenda for these people. They needed to get as many residents signed up
as possible - hopefully in excess of 50% of the community. Then we would hold a meeting with our attorney and discuss
the next steps - which hopefully would be filing a Failure to Maintain lawsuit. It was stated that they would discuss the
lawsuit and proceed with an agreement - probably allowing the attorney to work on a contingency basis. Oh, and CMRAA
would ask for 1 to 2% of the settlement to allow us to be able to do more of this work in the future for other communities.
We set it up so that there were people from the Vietnamese and Hispanic residents to translate flyers and
materials so they would know what was going on.
We discussed all kinds of things outside of the power failure. For instance, Management harassment
of a resident that included putting a large flood light on the side of the clubhouse and aiming it at the bedroom windows
of the resident. Failure to post hours of the clubhouse and keeping it locked 7 days a week was another problem, and
aribitrarily changing the rules and regulations by crossing out something and adding it without regard to MRL requirements.
Oh, and towing cars out of driveways because "there were more than allowed". This community was, and is a mess of contradictory
rules and regulations, what appears to be racial bias by management.
The CMRAA Board left that day satisfied with the knowledge that we had appeared to make some progress and
that this community was about to stand up and demand their rights.
Not so.
Within 24 hours they were fighting. One group favored management and/or didn't want to rock the
boat, another group didn't want to cooperate with some of the other residents, and so on and so forth. We got emails
saying they didn't like the idea of the attorney making money and they would have very little to split. The would hire
their own attorny. They felt CMRAA was greeding for asking for a small percentage of the settlement. Another group
felt the attorney should get 40% and CMRAA 10%. All this before anything was even really on the table.
So, we are sitting on the sidelines watching this comedy of errors played with amateur actors, most of whom
seem to prefer playing the part of the fool. The very real opportunity for these people to help themselves is fading
away. The opportunity to finally get the community back to a place of self respect and dignity is dying.
United We Stand, Divided We Fall.
They have Fallen and Can't Get Up.
And the really sad part? This community is the mirror image of so many others out there.
Moving ahead
We are
pleased to announce we have retained the services of Paul G. Minnoletti of the Law Firm of Greene, Chauvel, and Descaslo &
Minnoletti.
Paul
Minnoletti has a number of years experience in mobile home issues, and has pursued cases of Failure to Maintain successfully.
How it
will work.
Individual
members of CMRAA who have a problem can first inform CMRAA of their issue. If
it is determined that the member has a legitimate complaint complete with documentation and all the pertinent information,
CMRAA will refer the member to our attorney. We will allow a free consultation
of 30 minutes that should be sufficient enough to allow our attorney to determine whether or not you have a complaint and
can move forward. At that point the CMRAA member and the attorney will work out
an agreement for representation. The member will be given a substantial reduction
of the normal hourly rate. The member will be responsible from that point on
for payment of any services rendered.
While
in the past we have tried to offer our services and help where we could, including allowing non-members to talk to our attorney
for free, we find that is no longer a viable option. We will require anyone seeking
our legal help to join CMRAA. It is the membership dues that keep us afloat,
and allow us to pay the necessary retainer fees to our attorney.
For Community
wide issues, CMRAA will hold a meeting at your clubhouse or other facility that can hold a majority of residents. Depending upon the issues, CMRAA will require that a majority of residents (over 50%) become members and
the closer to 100% the better. The more residents that join your cause, the more
individual costs decrease. Pursing a lawsuit is costly but two hundred residents
contributing 50 dollars each, they raise 10,000 dollars.
I refer
you to the current newsletter that you can read on this web site, and particularly the part about Summerset Estates and the
manner in which they went about settling a rent increase of over 100 percent. That
gives you an idea of what CMRAA expects of you.
We will show you they way, teach you how and what to do. CMRAA will mentor
you but will not lead the way or do it for you.
What we
are Not
We are
not White Knights. We do not ride to the rescue of a Princess on a white charger
wielding a blazing sword. We are not a philanthropic organization with a deep
treasury to draw upon. Instead we are more along the lines of the Knights Squire,
cleaning his armor, taking care of his horse, and seeing that he is prepared to do battle.
When the Knight does battle, we keep his back covered and his rear guarded.
Starting
any sort of lawsuit against a Park Owner requires a commitment on the part of the residents. Problems are not solved overnight
and often are a long drawn out affair. Once begun, you must be prepared to go
all the way with it.
What we will do for non members
When you contact us, we will advise you to the best of
our ability about the MRL that covers your situation and how to go about taking care of the problem. Just remember that
the CMRAA staff and Board are not attornies. We cannot give you legal advice, merely point you in the direction you need to
take.
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