North Carolina: Family wins suit over HOA Violation and FInes!

Published: July 24th, WSOCTV.com

Judge orders HOA insurance company to pay family $20,000

MINT HILL, N.C. — 

Brian and Lori Phelps are finally at peace in their Mint Hill home.

They didn't know a 2009 move from California to the St. Ives neighborhood would end in a big court battle.

Brian Phelps said the HOA started charging them with violations when they planned to build a patio. After 14 violations, fines and even a lien on their house, the Phelps got a lawyer.

“We felt we had no choice," said Brian Phelps. "The gun was to our head."

They sued St. Ives.

Earlier in July, a judge ordered the HOA insurance company to pay the Phelps $20,000 for attorney fees.

READ FULL STORY AND WATCH VIDEO HERE!

The Mentality

I just do not understand how anyone could think it is ok to dump their couch on the side of the road. This is what someone did yesturday. A couch was left on the side of the road yes in front of the dumpster area, they were close but not close enough.

Large items like this are to be taken by the homeowner to the York County Covienance Center.

We encourage anyone that sees a home owner or anyone for that matter leaving their garbage on the side of the road to call the York County Sheriff's Department at 803-329-1110 leaving unwanted items on the side of the road even in front of the dunpster area is illegal under state law and is an ARRESTABLE OFFENSE under the states illegal dumping laws.

Attention: AT&T U-Verse Customers

If you have AT&T U-Verse here in Harpers Mill, and were up last night around 12:30am you may have noticed the service went out for a few minutes and came back on, you may not have noticed since it came back on your internet speed is very slow.

According to AT&T managers, they have found a problem with the equipment serving our neighborhood, there is a fiber optic cable that feeds some hardware which than sends the TV, Internet and Phone signals for U-Verse to our homes.

They are still not sure if the hardware is failing or there is a fiber optic cable problem, however they are investigating it and they will dispatch a fiber repair crew tonight between 12:30am and 5:30am or a crew to replace the failing hardware, either way you may have slow internet speeds until this is resolved and you may also loose service overnight while they do repairs, the problems should be fully resolved within 24 to 48 hours. We will update you as soon as we get an update from AT&T.

The current problems do not affect you if you have regular DSL, or POTS phone service (Non-Uverse) or if you have fiber to the home, which is most houses in Phase 2.

Sad News!

Early Sunday morning, River Hills Rescue Squad received a call for a man unconscious at a residence on Shady Pond Dr, upon their arrival CPR was started Piedmont EMS arrived a few minutes later and helped River Hills, the patient was transported to a local hospital but unfortunately did not make it.

The victim lived in Harpers Mill since 2007 and was a well respected and liked resident here in the community. He leaves behind his wife and 3 kids, our prayers and sincerest condolences goes out to his family and friends.

Blog Update!

Well we just surpassed the 1 month mark of the blog, we also are about to hit 1000 Unique page views. We want people to know that this blog is here to keep homeowners up to date on the happenings in the neighborhood good or bad, we are not here to sugar coat things we tell it like it is.

We all pay HOA fees and we all have a vested interest in the prosperity of the neighborhood. We hope to spark some more participation from homeowners, the next annual meeting will be a big one for us, as it is the first where we the homeowners now control our own destiny.

We also hope by drawing attention to some of the problems and rule violations that it will make people think twice before they do something, keeping the dumpster neat and clean, picking up after the dogs, taking care of the common areas and generally abiding by the HOA Rules, local ordinances and state laws, this makes the neighborhood more enjoyable for everyone. But it takes a community effort and participation, and sometimes a willingness to help a neighbor who needs it.

We encourage everyone to particpate by commenting below, you can also email us with news tips and updates, comments, or feedback by clicking this link: Harpers Mill Blogger .

Police Blotter - July 1st & 2nd

At approx 9:30 pm on July 1st the York County Sheriff's Department responded to a call for a county ordinance violation - fireworks, in the area of Shady Pond Dr.

At approx. 1:30 am on July 2nd the York County Sheriff's Department responded to a disturbance in the area of Water Fall Way, they were advised of a female that was acting disorderly upon arrival the disturbance had moved to the pool area, where deputies made contact with the female and two males that were involved. The deputies gave the female a ride back to her residence in Clover.

2035 Shady Pond Dr & 2037 Shady Pond Dr

UPDATED: A couple who was renting 2035 Shady Pond Dr, was moving furniture yesterday July 1st, they moved out of 2035 and into 2037 Shady Pond Dr and they left several items in the dumpster area see below picture. As posted on the gate it is a $100 fine for leaving garbage in the dumpster area and not inside the dumpsters. This is because Waste Management only empties the dumpsters they do not pick up any trash left outside of the dumpsters, so now the HOA will have to pay a maintenance person to come and haul this garbage away to the County Connivence Center, or break it up and put it into the dumpster, costing all home owners extra and unnecessary fees.

Our suggestion is that Kuester Real Estate should send the owner the $100 fine right way so the owner can deduct it out of the tenants security deposit before it is returned to them.

If Kuester does not follow through on this than the cost of removing this furniture will have to come out of the HOA funds instead of the fine, and will just be another reason why our dues will never go down.

The sad part is this couple was driving a red pick up truck pulling a white trailer with "Arnold" bread logo on the back, another words they had plenty of room to load up the trailer and take all their excess garbage down to the county convenience center, instead of dumping their unwanted stuff on the rest of the home owners to have to deal with now.

The driver of the pickup truck was a cuban male about 6'4'' and the passenger was a white female about 5'2'' with short red hair. They both unloaded and dumped the items together in the dumpster area.

UPDATE 07/06/12: Kuester had Metrolina Maintenance come out and clean up all the times the couple left outside the dumpster. We believe the HOA was charged somewhere between $100 to $130 to clean up their mess but someone would need to get the exact number from Kuester. Also we do not know if the home owner was fined or not, but our guess is more than likely not. And home owners wonder why our monthly fees will never go down? this is why........

UPDATE 07/08/12: A source told us another home owner who saw them leaving the items offered to help them, properly dispose of their unwanted furniture, and their response was to simply walk away and drive off, they obviously just do not are about this neighborhood, but since they are renters we guess they feel they have nothing invested here, so why should they care?

Pool Chairs

For those who have been to the pool you surely have noticed that most of the pool chairs are broke in  some way. A home owner advised us that Kuester has ordered replacements that will be shipped to their office and than brought out here by their maintenance department. We should see the new chairs in the pool area in about 2 weeks from now so by about July 15th the new chairs should be out  at the pool ready for use.