Homeowners Associations: Many Consider Them Fighting Words

When police found 78-year-old Lucy DeAbreu in her Dana Point condominium, her face had been pummeled so badly that she couldn’t speak clearly. The petite widow had to slowly spell the name of her attacker: M-I-N-E-O.

Charles Mineo and DeAbreu were neighbors in a tidy ocean-view complex favored by retirees and weekend sojourners. Mineo, a 47-year-old accountant, was angry at his homeowners association because it had penalized him for an unauthorized addition to his unit. One afternoon two years ago, he lashed out at DeAbreu, an association board member.

For as long as there have been condominiums and private subdivisions, residents and their homeowners associations have quarreled over parking issues, lawn ornaments, untidy backyards and how much to pay the pool cleaner.

The violence in DeAbreu’s case was exceptional, but increasingly residents are lashing out at their homeowners associations with threatening letters, vandalism and in some cases guns, residents and property managers say.

Each year, an estimated 175,000 homeowners association disputes end up in lawsuits or complaints to government agencies, according to the California Law Revision Commission. The commission last year recommended the state form an agency to serve as a clearinghouse for residents’ complaints and dispense advice to homeowners and board members. The Legislature is considering the proposal.

“There is a lot of pent-up frustration,” said Brian Hebert, an attorney with the commission.

City and county zoning laws and noise ordinances limit what homeowners can do with their property. But in private communities, the rules can be much more restricting. Associations can cite a resident for painting her house the wrong color, leaving the trash can out for too long or not mowing the front lawn.

In San Jose last year, a family was cited by the homeowners association for leaving a discarded freezer in the backyard, which was visible from common areas. The resident wrote a letter, accusing board members of “Nazi Gestapo Communist KGB tactics” and vowing, “If you don’t crawl back into your little corners and leave us alone ... you will pay ... just try me!”

The California Assn. of Community Managers last year gathered several examples, including the San Jose incident, to drive home the point that conflicts in homeowners associations can quickly become dangerous.

“People in homeowners associations have slashed tires, they’ve broken windows ... residents have brought guns and knives to board meetings,” said Karen Conlon, the state association’s president. “We have looked at and will probably pursue courses in mediation skills for our members, in people skills. At the same time we want to give things that may help our managers recognize some dangerous situations.”

Konlon and others say part of the problem is that such homeowner conflicts often become very personal. Unlike laws, which are enforced by nameless, faceless government bureaucrats, homeowners association rules are enforced by neighbors.

“After family, the two most important things to people are probably home and money, and often your home is your most valuable asset,” said David F. Feingold, a San Rafael attorney who has represented homeowners associations for nearly two decades. “Now you’ve got a neighbor, who is an untrained volunteer, in charge. Conflicts are almost inevitable.”

Feingold once represented a Napa County homeowners association that sought a restraining order against a resident. The man, who had a long-running dispute with his community board, confronted the property manager one afternoon demanding to see a list of residents.

“At the time,” Feingold said of the 2001 incident, “the law said you have to state the reason in writing, and the manager told him so. The man pulled a loaded gun and said, ‘Is this reason enough?’ ”

The manager did not budge, and the man left without the list. But the police were called, and the homeowner was arrested, Feingold said. His guns were later confiscated by authorities and the resident prohibited from going into the management office, although he continued to live in the neighborhood.

“When these disputes escalate, there has been a buildup of resentment,” Feingold said. “I’ve been to numerous [homeowners board meetings] where I felt that people were about to come to blows.”

That’s exactly what happened in a Marin County homeowners association five years ago. “A homeowner and the board president shared a common wall and had a dispute about their back patios,” Feingold said. “They ended up in a fistfight rolling down a hill. The board president, who was an older gentleman, had a minor heart attack. Litigation ensued.”

Some homeowners turn to lawyers, but quickly find they’re costly. They also find that most attorneys with expertise in the field represent associations.

Under legislation being considered in Sacramento, an ombudsman office for homeowners associations would be created within the state’s Department of Consumer Affairs. Two similar bills, AB 770 and SB 551, call for the new agency to provide training materials to board members about laws governing homeowners associations and answer resident questions through a website and a toll-free number.

The agency would be funded with a $10 fee paid every two years by the estimated 3.5 million homeowners who live in associations. Florida, Hawaii and Nevada have similar programs.

“A big source of the problem is that people just don’t understand what the law requires,” Hebert said of the law revision commission. Most associations are small complexes with 25 or fewer units that don’t employ professional community managers or attorneys, he said.

Critics of the proposed agency say it wouldn’t go far enough to rein in boards. They say the new agency should have powers to sanction board members who violate residents’ rights.

Others fear that such a move would discourage residents from serving on their association boards for fear of criminal liability. Many communities already struggle to find volunteers.

That was the case in the 15-unit La Cresta Gardens, where DeAbreu moved seven years ago, her daughter Karen Nelson said. DeAbreu, still traumatized by the attack, declined to be interviewed.

Nelson, 48, said her mother volunteered to the board to help her neighbors because “nobody else wanted to do it.”

When she joined the board, she quickly became aware of Mineo. According to court records, he had clashed with the five-member board for months, first over water damage in his basement and later over an addition to his bedroom that board members told him was not properly approved by them or the city. The board refused to help Mineo resolve the first issue unless he cleared up the second.

DeAbreu told police that Mineo, who didn’t respond to a letter seeking an interview, appeared unannounced in her bedroom, grabbed her by the neck and banged her head against a bedpost, yelling, “Die, die, die!”

Mineo pleaded guilty to attempted murder and is serving a seven-year prison term.

Now 80, DeAbreu has lost some hearing and night vision from the attack, Nelson said. And she never returned to her position on the board.

“It is a thankless job,” Nelson said. “No matter what you do, somebody will be unhappy.”