Small claims court is over-rated. Who's going to "take" the money from the HOA if he wins ? The court -- for reasons that escape me ! -- does not. It's up to him to MAKE them pay.
My HOA is forcing me to say goodbye to DISH
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If given a default judgment from small claims, I would simply deduct that from any future dues.
That's certainly an option. For most people, they don't normally pay the same person/company/group that they're suing, so he has that option ! Of course, watch them put a lein against him for not paying dues (regardless of his reason why).
The HOA would probably attempt to lien for non-payment. However, the judgment holder could also attempt to garnish the bank account of the HOA or even lien the assets of the HOA.
That is EXACTLY what I would expect them to do. Whether valid or not, it will "give pause" to any future buyer and their mortgage company.
Good luck with that.
Sad to say, you can be right, and you can "win." And still lose by paying more out of pocket.
I was on the board of an HOA, to protect my own interests. When I moved, I made sure there was no HOA there. Bliss.
Its crap like this that makes me glad I chose to never move to a place with a HoA, or board, restrictive covenents, whatever.
In no way is this a financial hardship to me. I just don't like throwing money away for stupid reasons.
Based on the info you've given, as you have already determined, it appears you don't. You're doing what's "best" for you and some people can't respect that. Apparently, you're supposed to drop everything and FIGHT for satellite TV service !
Exactly. Some people think they know your situation better than you do yourself.
A lot of these people are retired, or renters. The renters have no say in the matter, and the retired people simply don't care. They'd rather complain about other issues than this.
I have already spoken to Dish and told them exactly what's going on. It doesn't matter to them. They're charging me the ETF. They also want to charge me to have someone come out and remove the dish. I told them to stick it. I'm having a friend with a ladder come and take it down. If I were to do it myself, it would be another HOA violation. Residents are not allowed to climb the buildings. I can't wait to move and never have to deal with an HOA again.
Not exactly the point. They made an arbitrary rule change which is going to cost you and other residents money, and they have no intention of compensating you. They get a few dozen people suing them for ETF fees, and they might think twice.
Not necessarly, just having an attorney write a letter would probably be enough to prevent them from forcing you to remove it.
All your attorney would have to say is that you had the Dish there since 1997, and your now in a 2 year contract with Dish due to an upgrade. If your forced to cancel, then you would therefore have to pay a $480 cancellation fee, at which point you would be asking for re-imbursement since the Dish has been allowed to be installed for such a long time.
Your assumption is exactly why we have HOA's and apartments bullying people into removing the Dishes. You might not want to spend any money on an attorney, but at the same time the association is not going to want to spend any money either to fight you, so there is a very good chance they will drop it.
If anything, it will buy you some time to keep your Dish for another several months while you look for another place to live.
If you want, I'll print you a sample Dish contract your lawyer can use in his letter
My thoughts exactly!
definitely! Some HOA's are horrible. There was a story not too long ago about one wanting to enforce a dress code on their residents. Claude is spot on about getting sending a letter. You can probably find an online attorney and have it done real cheap.
It is at heart a political issue for the HOA. If enough members are affected and petition the board you might find that the rule could be amended peacefully. In the meantime Claude's advice is worth taking.
Bruin95, this issue has been thoroughly discussed in the FTA area by Staelliteguys' own Iceberg who is a HOA president and also an FTA guru here. The law is on your side. Read through this thread started by Iceberg a year ago, and you will find all your answers. Send Iceberg, a PM. He will be able to point you to where to get the documentation that you need.Got a pretty threatening letter in the mail from my HOA today. Basically, all units in my complex who do not have a dish in a "private use" area, will be forced to remove the dishes and repair any damage the install may have caused by August 15th, or face pretty hefty fines. They say, in the letter, that the dishes are "eyesores", and diminish the value of the properties. What a joke! While I realized that I really don't have a legal leg to stand on, the problem I have with this decision is that the dish has been in the same location since 1997. Now, all of a sudden, the dishes are eyesores. Unfortunately, I will not be able to get a signal from my "private use" area, so I stuck with getting cable. The problem with that is my local cable co. sucks. They haven't added any new channels in over 2 years. I also have an FTA system and, of course, that goes bye bye also. I was planning on moving in about 2-3 years, but now I'll probably start looking for a new home within a year. The new place will certainly NOT have an HOA. I'm done with these Nazi's.
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