HOA Enforcer Screamed "We'll Evict You!" The State Registry Said the HOA Was Dissolved in 2013 — Transcript

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1. 0:003 weeks after I bought my dream house. A
2. 0:02woman in a navy HOA uniform pointed my
3. 0:05front lawn and screamed, "Join the HOA
4. 0:08or we'll evict you." A neighbor froze
5. 0:11with garden hose. My six-year-old stared
6. 0:14from the window. I looked at the red and
7. 0:16white sign in my yard and said, "Please
8. 0:19put it in writing." "Every owner in
9. 0:21Palmetto Grove pays $2,400 a year."
10. 0:24Colleen snapped. "It's mandatory." I
11. 0:27stayed on my front step with my coffee.
12. 0:30I'd be happy to pay, I said. As soon as
13. 0:33you show me the recorded declaration
14. 0:34that says so. Her mouth opened. Nothing
15. 0:38came out. She had never been asked. I'm
16. 0:40Theo Nakamura, a middle school science
17. 0:43teacher. My wife Hannah and I saved for
18. 0:469 years. And in June, we closed on a
19. 0:48four-bedroom house in Palmetto Grove,
20. 0:50Florida. Stuckle walls, a palm tree out
21. 0:53front, and a driveway big enough for my
22. 0:55daughter's chalk art. We signed 40
23. 0:57documents that day and none of them
24. 0:59mentioned an HOA. Our first week, a
25. 1:03glossy envelope arrived with a welcome
26. 1:05to Palmetto Grove card. Inside was an
27. 1:08invoice, $2,400 in annual dues plus a
28. 1:12$500 transfer fee due in 10 days. It was
29. 1:15signed Palmetto Grove Community
30. 1:17Services. Hannah read it twice. Theo,
31. 1:20she said, nobody told us this when we
32. 1:23bought. Colleen Voit walked Palmetto
33. 1:25Grove six days a week in a Navy uniform
34. 1:27with an HOA patch and a lanyard that
35. 1:30said compliance. She measured grass,
36. 1:33photographed trash cans, and wrote fines
37. 1:35for reads. Neighbors cross the street
38. 1:38when she appeared. I thought either this
39. 1:41place has very strict rules or someone
40. 1:43has been pretending for a very long
41. 1:45time. I emailed the so-called board
42. 1:48politely asking for the recorded
43. 1:50declaration of covenants. The reply took
44. 1:5310 minutes. Everyone pays. No
45. 1:56exceptions. Please remit within 7 days.
46. 2:00I asked again and again. I got the same
47. 2:02answer three times which told me
48. 2:05something. When people have the paper,
49. 2:07they send the paper. When they don't,
50. 2:09they send threats. A certified letter
51. 2:12arrived. Final notice. Delinquent
52. 2:15assessments. Lean and eviction
53. 2:17proceedings will begin in 30 days. My
54. 2:19stomach dropped. I'd read enough to know
55. 2:22that you can't evict a homeowner from
56. 2:24missing dues. But the letter looked
57. 2:26official. It was stamped and read and it
58. 2:28was signed by Raymond Sterling. That
59. 2:31night, I read my deed and the title
60. 2:34papers line by line. There was no
61. 2:36declaration, no covenant, no mention of
62. 2:39any association at all. So, Saturday
63. 2:41morning, I bought a yard sign, N HOA
64. 2:45member. I pushed it into the grass
65. 2:47facing the street and two neighbors
66. 2:49stopped their cars and one of them gave
67. 2:51me a quiet thumbs up. Colleen came every
68. 2:54morning with a clipboard and a camera.
69. 2:56Day one, grass too tall by 3/4 of an
70. 2:59inch. Day two, a basketball hoop. Day
71. 3:03three, my daughter's chalk flowers,
72. 3:05which she called unapproved driveway
73. 3:07art. Each note carried a $150 fine. I
74. 3:12kept every notice in a folder labeled
75. 3:14evidence. Mr. Alvarez waited until
76. 3:18Colleen's cart was out of sight, then
77. 3:20joged my fence. "I've paid every year
78. 3:23for 11 years," he whispered. "They told
79. 3:25me they'd put a lean on my house. I
80. 3:27never saw a single paper." He looked at
81. 3:30my sign, then at his feet. Be careful,
82. 3:32Theo. Nobody has ever said no. Raymond
83. 3:36Sterling showed up in a white linen
84. 3:38blazer and a gold watch. Theo, let's end
85. 3:42this friendly, he said, sliding a paper
86. 3:44across my patio table. Pay4,100 in back
87. 3:47dues and fees. Sign this membership
88. 3:50acknowledgement and every fine
89. 3:52disappears. I read the last line. Owner
90. 3:56voluntarily agrees to be bound by the
91. 3:58declaration. It was a trap in neat font.
92. 4:01Hannah took the paper out of my hand.
93. 4:03Don't sign it, she said. Call someone
94. 4:06who does this for a living. The next
95. 4:08morning, I sat across from attorney
96. 4:10Marisol Vega. She read the letter, the
97. 4:12invoice, and the acknowledgement in 4
98. 4:14minutes. Three things, Theo, she said.
99. 4:18Don't sign, don't pay, and let's see if
100. 4:21this HO even exists. Marisol pulled up
101. 4:24the state's corporate registry on her
102. 4:26laptop. Palmetto Grove Homeowners
103. 4:28Association Incorporated, she read.
104. 4:31Administratively dissolved, 2013.
105. 4:34I stare at the screen. dissolved. Then
106. 4:37who's been sending the invoices? Marisol
107. 4:40turned the laptop toward me. Good
108. 4:42question, she said. Let's find out.
109. 4:46Next, Marisol found the original 1989
110. 4:49declaration of covenants. 30-year term,
111. 4:52she said, tapping a clause. Under
112. 4:55Florida's marketable title law,
113. 4:57covenants like these fade unless the
114. 4:59owners vote to preserve them and file
115. 5:01the paperwork. She searched the county
116. 5:04records. Nobody filed. Your covenants
117. 5:06expired in 2019. You were never bound to
118. 5:10any HOA. Marisol found one more filing
119. 5:13from 2019. Palmetto Grove Community
120. 5:16Services LLC. Registered agent Raymond
121. 5:20Sterling formed the same month the
122. 5:22covenants expired. It isn't an HOA, she
123. 5:25said. It's a private company sending HOA
124. 5:28invoices.
125. 5:3096 homes, $2,400 each. Every single
126. 5:34year, Mrs. Glattis Odum, a retired
127. 5:37bookkeeper on our street, heard I've
128. 5:39been asking questions. She arrived with
129. 5:42a binder as thick as a phone book. Every
130. 5:44check I've written since 2015, she said,
131. 5:47until 2018, the checks went to the HOA.
132. 5:50In 2019, we were told to change the pay
133. 5:54to the new company. I never thought to
134. 5:56ask why. Marisol and Mrs. ODM ran the
135. 6:00numbers on a legal pad. 96 homes, $2,400
136. 6:04a year. 7 years since the covenants
137. 6:07expired. 1 million $612,800.
138. 6:12Marisol said quietly. My coffee went
139. 6:15cold. Mrs. Odum took off her glasses.
140. 6:18That's a lot of trash can finds, she
141. 6:20said. Marisol laid out the plan. No
142. 6:23company can evict an owner for not
143. 6:25joining an association that does exist.
144. 6:27She said, "We file a complaint with the
145. 6:29attorney general's office. Send a
146. 6:32preservation letter and bring the
147. 6:34neighbors together." She slid me a
148. 6:36folder. Neighbors won't believe a
149. 6:38stranger, Theo, but they'll believe
150. 6:40their own receipts. Thursday evening, 64
151. 6:44neighbors filled the library meeting
152. 6:46room. Marisol laid out the registry, the
153. 6:48expired covenants, and the LLC. Mrs.
154. 6:51Odum Reder checks out loud. Year by
155. 6:54year, the room went from murmurss to
156. 6:56silence. Mr. Alvarez stood, cap in his
157. 7:00hands. We've been paying for nothing, he
158. 7:02said, and we were afraid to ask. Friday
159. 7:05at dusk, my doorbell rang. Colleen stood
160. 7:08on my porch with Raymond Sterling and
161. 7:10two men in matching polos. "Mr.
162. 7:13Nakamura," she announced, holding a
163. 7:16paper stamped notice to vacate. "You
164. 7:18have 24 hours to leave this property.
165. 7:20We'll evict you." Hannah pulled Ma
166. 7:23behind her. I held up my phone and
167. 7:25pressed record. "Say that again," I
168. 7:28said. Before Colleen could say another
169. 7:31word, I heard footsteps. Mrs. Odum came
170. 7:34first, bind her under her arm, then Mr.
171. 7:36Alvarez, then 40, 50, 60 neighbors
172. 7:41walking down the street with folding
173. 7:42chairs, receipts, and phones held high.
174. 7:45They lined up across my lawn like a
175. 7:47wall. "Evict all of us, Colleen," Mrs.
176. 7:50ODM said, "We're not paying anymore." A
177. 7:53calm voice said, "Mr. Sterling, you've
178. 7:56been served." Maris saw Vega step to the
179. 7:59crowd and place a summon and a notice
180. 8:01from the attorney general's office in
181. 8:03his hand. "A notice to vacate against an
182. 8:05owner is a thing in Florida," she said.
183. 8:08"It's called attempted fraud."
184. 8:10Sterling's tan went two shades lighter.
185. 8:13"This is a misunderstanding," he said.
186. 8:15Deputy Brienne Cole pulled up with her
187. 8:17lights off. Who called us? Colleen
188. 8:20jabbed a finger at me. That man refuses
189. 8:23to comply with the HOA. The deputy
190. 8:26looked at Colleen's lanyard. Ma'am, is
191. 8:28that a county badge? Colleen hesitated.
192. 8:32It's um a compliance badge I ordered
193. 8:34online. The deputy's eyebrow rose.
194. 8:38Impersonating an official is a crime.
195. 8:40Let's talk. Marisol opened a folder. We
196. 8:44obtained the company's bank records, she
197. 8:46told the crowd. In seven years, PGCS
198. 8:49collected $1,612,800.
199. 8:539% went to landscaping. The rest went to
200. 8:56boat payments, a condo in Naples, and a
201. 8:59salary from Ms. Voit. Colleen turned to
202. 9:01Sterling. You said it was for the
203. 9:03community, she whispered. A gray sedan
204. 9:06pulled up. Investigator Dana Whitfield
205. 9:08of the Attorney General's Economic
206. 9:10Crimes Division stepped out with a badge
207. 9:13and a thin folder. Mr. Sterling. She
208. 9:15said, "We have a few questions about
209. 9:18Palmetto Gro Community Services." "I
210. 9:20want my lawyer," he said. Colleen raised
211. 9:23her hand. "I just followed orders." Dana
212. 9:26smiled. "Then you on talked first," Miss
213. 9:29Voit. 6 months later, Sterling Property
214. 9:33Management settled. Sterling pleaded
215. 9:35guilty to fraud, agreed to refund $1.4
216. 9:38million, and was barred from managing
217. 9:41any community in Florida. Colleen
218. 9:43cooperated with prosecutors and avoided
219. 9:45jail. The state closed Palmetto Grove
220. 9:48Community Services and the Old Covenants
221. 9:50were recorded as expired for good.
222. 9:53Refund checks arrived in March in cream
223. 9:56colored envelopes. Mrs. ODM opened hers
224. 9:59on her porch. $16,800.
225. 10:03She sat down on the step and cried. Mr.
226. 10:06Alvarez took us from the mailbox, stared
227. 10:08at it, and hubbed the nearest palm tree.
228. 10:11All up and down the street, neighbors
229. 10:13held envelopes like winning tickets and
230. 10:15laughed until they cried. We didn't need
231. 10:18an HOA. We started the Palmetto Grove
232. 10:21Neighbors Club. Free, voluntary, no
233. 10:24uniforms, monthly cookouts, a tool
234. 10:27library, and a pool cleaning day. At the
235. 10:29first meeting, I swapped my yard sign
236. 10:32for new one. No HOA member. Yes,
237. 10:35neighbor. Mika drew a chalk sunflower
238. 10:38underneath and nobody find her. At the
239. 10:41first cookout, Colleen showed up in a
240. 10:43plain gray t-shirt and no lanyard. She
241. 10:45stood at the edge of the lawn holding a
242. 10:48tray of brownies. "I thought I was
243. 10:50protecting the neighborhood," she said
244. 10:52quietly. "I'm sorry. I thought about it.
245. 10:55Then I took the tray, handed her a paper
246. 10:57plate, and said, "The burgers are almost
247. 11:00ready." They called it mandatory. They
248. 11:03called it the law. and a navy shirt
249. 11:05called itself authority. But paper beats
250. 11:07pressure, receipts beat rumors, and
251. 11:09neighbors beat fear. If you enjoyed this
252. 11:12story, don't forget to like, subscribe,
253. 11:14and tell us where you're watching from
254. 11:16in the comments below.