Woman Fined $6,000 by Homeowners' Association
By Jim Armstrong
Garden Police Fine Woman and Put Lien On Her House For Planting "Unauthorized" Garden
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (CBS) – Kimberly Bois’ tiny front yard garden isn’t much to look at right now. But in a few weeks, it’ll be in full bloom, and every blossom will cost her dearly.
Even though she says her builder gave her permission to do a little planting, the current condo board now says she’s in violation.
They’re charging the Portsmouth, New Hampshire homeowner $50 a day for being so petal pushy. That fine has reached close to $6,000, plus the board’s legal fees.
“It’s just not a happy place to live anymore for me,” says Bois, who planted the small flower bed with the help of her mother, who has since passed away.
She says, “It just feels like we’ve been bullied and really all we wanted to do was have a conversation to figure out how this can benefit all of us.”
A new certified letter arrives every month, ordering Bois to uproot her garden and keeping track of her fines.
It got so bad, she contacted a Realtor friend of hers to talk about just selling the place that she has owned since 2008.
That’s when she got the real shock: the board put a lien on her townhouse for their fines.
Bois says the whole situation has, “gotten out of control.”
She even offered to pull up the flowers and pay part of the board’s legal fees a couple of weeks ago – an offer she says was refused.
The association’s bylaws don’t expressly forbid planting flowers on your property, Bois explains, nor do they explicitly allow it.
Board members have told Bois they just want all the units to look the same.
“Now we’ve gone down a rabbit hole that I just can’t seem to get out of and it’s very sad, and it’s upsetting,” she says.
WBZ reached out to the attorney who represents the condo association, but he did not respond our request for comment.
Read sample comments from viewers:
225 COMMENTS
Rosie
And we wonder why there are wars?? When people cannot add a little beauty to a sometimes ugly world without being FINED, we have really disintegrated as human beings…..The people responsible for these so called RULES should be ASHAMED of themselves!!! I hope when they die, NOT ONE FLOWER IS LEFT ON THEIR GRAVE!!!
March 19, 2012 at 11:03 pm | Reply |
PATTY HENRY
BEWARE OF THIS: IT’S more DASTARDLY than you could believe. HOA’S and their trigger happy attorneys are doing this all over the country. Filing some bogus “fine/complaint” and letting the bill run up… then FORECLOSING ON THE UNIT!! This is a SCAM…but it’s being done everywhere. I’d love to see some champion of the people takes this HOA on and because there was NOTHING EXPLICIT about planting flowers – take them apart. AND HOA members? Do not be smug, you will be next. This has been going on since early 90′s and is epidemic.
March 20, 2012 at 12:35 am | Reply |
Spud
I think you are on to something. It sounds plausible. Look at the all the thieving lawyers in Washington
March 20, 2012 at 1:10 am
Kathy
Associations started out as a good thing for property values and they were a guarantee that your neighbor’s property would not look like a city dump. However they are now out of control crazy.
March 20, 2012 at 1:20 am
Another 6 Letter Word For Felony... BARACK!
The Biggest SCAM/FRAUD ever to hit the USA, happened 4 years ago and occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
http://www.BirtherReport.com
March 20, 2012 at 1:32 am
Ann
Yes, hire an attorney ASAP. They are after your house. This is happening all over the country. It’s a HUGE scam.
March 20, 2012 at 3:43 am
Ann
http://hoareformcoalition.org/2011/09/30/hoa-fraud-nevada. There are investigations into a massive scheme to stack homeowners association boards. HOA’s have an extraordinary amount of power and can take your house. This may or may not be your situation. Have an attorney look into it.
March 20, 2012 at 3:59 am
Zip
Stuff like this has been happening all the time. How did we ever get to this point of no common sense. Its flowers, not garbage, but flowers something that will probably even look nice.
http://www.dailyjobcuts.com
-
March 20, 2012 at 7:41 am
Tim
ATTORN-ey
Attorn – to turn over; to transfer money and goods; to assign to some particular use or pupose.
Black’s Law Dictionary 6th edition and so many here dare to trust [turnover to] an attorn-ey
The people must learn their language first in order to preserve/restore their rights.
Success will return to common law venue and repudiate all re-venue and usury schemes first.
If your on a jury do not follow the judges dictates you are a JUROR!
If you do not act as a juror. Why would you claim damages against a private person when they do not harm or damage property or person?
March 20, 2012 at 7:57 am
Alice
Our HOA in Alpharetta GA threatened the same thing because we painted the finial on our black wrought iron mailbox gold to match the gold numbers. We wrote them a scathing letter saying our paint job was an improvement and not “in poor repair” as their letter claimed. We also notified them of several other violations throughout the subdivision, including mailboxes that were literally being propped up. We did not hear back, so we’re assuming nothing further will come of it. Thanks for the heads up. Sounds like a land grab to me.
March 20, 2012 at 8:37 am
BradB
Well – sort of.
These people all signed on to these HOA rules. I don’t like them so I don’t buy into HOA neighborhoods. I’d rather be neighborly and if someone’s yard is getting out of hand go over and see if they need help rather than calling the HOA board and getting them to send a strongly worded letter.
To me the bigger picture is that these people all willingly gave up freedoms for a sense of security (security that everything looks the same and their property values stay high).
When you give up freedom for security, it won’t be long until you figure out that you have neither.
March 20, 2012 at 8:57 am
jawal
LIVE FREE OR DIE….What a joke. I think even the privledge of the 2nd amendment is a joke when we think that the only thugs and gangsters are the ones wearing hoodies and living in the ‘hood.’ Thug lawyers and policy makers are the one who terrorize and steal vis-a-via public policy. Would the men named gave the motto to this state LIVE FREE OR DIE would have tolerated such insidious behavior from white collar mosters? Hell no…..They would have broke out the Tar and Feathers in a New York minute. Liberals know we have become cowards. Stand up and start shoving back……
March 20, 2012 at 9:10 am
Steve
I got fined by my HOA for leaving trash cans out after the trash pick up day. The fine was never paid and they filed to foreclose on my house to recoup the fine. The problem was I was in Afghanistan and obviously the trash wasn’t being taken out by the trash gremlins.
Luckily I had someone checking on my house who was able to let the HOA know I was deployed. They stop the legal action but still claim I left my trash cans out!!!
March 20, 2012 at 9:21 am
Stan
They will stop when the shootings start and no sooner.
March 20, 2012 at 9:30 am
LiesDominateTheDailyNews
Another story that likely never happened. Unelected officials took over Washington and the media after the coup and cover up. Even most of the comments online are financed with your tax dollars. Big brother is trying to create the perception of public opinion while burying the truth. They think you can’t handle the truth. Fact of the matter is we have no democracy, president, and freedom of press is an illusion.
Our next election is shaping up to be as big of a sham as the last. Do you know why Sarah Palin’s bus tour was really canceled? Do you know why she stayed 30 miles away from the second debate and chose the death of Steve Jobs to announce that she’s not running? Know what leaked out? Sarah Palin and Cain aren’t in the race for the same reason, the truth leaked out.
Search PalinsDirtyLittleSecret for the biggest cover up in world history before it disappears forever.
March 20, 2012 at 9:54 am
Stuck
Yes, it is going on everywhere. I had monthly payment lost in mail. When I tried to pay it the HOA mgt company would not accept it as “we have to add late fees”. The delays were so long I was worried and tried to get them to take the money. They DID put a lein on my property and I had to go to court. It ended up costing me $8000 dollars for “late fee”. The attorneys they use are no better than robbers and they are doing this very frequently since it is working well for them. The HOA’s love these law firms.
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