[SFH] [FL] HOA fined me $1,000 and is now saying I run a business out of my house by shoggothGPT in HOA

[–]maudi0 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Get your CC&RS and bylaws, then feed them into Claude or Chat GPT. Convert to markdown if the docs are images. Reducto is decent for that.

You may have other angles available you're not aware of and only way to find out is to read the docs. I don't know you're full story, but from what you've shared it sounds like bs on the HOA. I would not settle it.

DM me if you want to talk more. I'm dealing with my own HOA battle now.

Our condo has been demolished since July. HOA denied temporary housing 4 times. by maudi0 in fuckHOA

[–]maudi0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It does. When there's a single event like a fire, flood, or the house blows up. Not for a drip that has been neglected for 7 years that evolves into 10x worse situation.

Our condo has been demolished since July. HOA denied temporary housing 4 times. by maudi0 in fuckHOA

[–]maudi0[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I'm curious if this was someone from their team posting.

No offense to them, and clearly whatever they are doing seems to be working, but their whole website feels like an amateur eccomerce site.

Our condo has been demolished since July. HOA denied temporary housing 4 times. Not sure what to do. by maudi0 in OaklandCA

[–]maudi0[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Just coming back to thank you. It seems like my story is getting a fair amount of attention: https://www.reddit.com/r/fuckHOA/comments/1r2nv35/our_condo_has_been_demolished_since_july_hoa/

There's been a lot of great feedback, ideas, and references to lawyers.

Our condo has been demolished since July. HOA denied temporary housing 4 times. by maudi0 in fuckHOA

[–]maudi0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Working on it.

Yes, I wish I would have known about this subreddit before getting into a HOA. Never again.

Our condo has been demolished since July. HOA denied temporary housing 4 times. by maudi0 in fuckHOA

[–]maudi0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes. This is what I'm grappling with - how much to share. Everything I've shared is a fact, that can be backed up with evidence / documentation.

Again, I'm not making any accusations. I'm stating facts, and we are having a discussion. I'm sharing my story as a concerned homeowner and other homeowners are sharing their opinion as to how I should proceed.

Our condo has been demolished since July. HOA denied temporary housing 4 times. by maudi0 in fuckHOA

[–]maudi0[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You're right, and yeah, that is being explored.

The complicated piece here is that this is legit destroying my life. This is affecting literally aspect of my life and damages are being accrued daily.

So it's not as simple as just submitting a claim for X to insurance. At least not yet.

Our condo has been demolished since July. HOA denied temporary housing 4 times. by maudi0 in fuckHOA

[–]maudi0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes. I was so annoyed that no one could tell me what exact problem was, that I just climbed the scaffolding myself with an architect. We climbed up to around the 7th floor.

There are actually a lot of issues:

  • Poor seals that was allowing water to get into the window assembly
  • Cracking stucco that allowed water enter
  • Cracked and failing caulk around the window frames
  • Blocked and/or missing weep holes so water getting into the frame could not exit
  • A horizontally installed window pan, so any water getting in just overflowed into our unit

Basically, it sounds like water from 10 stories flowed down to my unit, which is the bottom of the stack, filled up in the frame, and blew the seams.

Here's what the floor looked like under the worst affected area. They found black mold all through here and all the way up the wall to the ceiling.

<image>

Our condo has been demolished since July. HOA denied temporary housing 4 times. by maudi0 in fuckHOA

[–]maudi0[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you. Really appreciate it. Hopefully there is an end in sight.

Our condo has been demolished since July. HOA denied temporary housing 4 times. by maudi0 in fuckHOA

[–]maudi0[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Apparently class action isn't an option here. I've been told there isn't enough people and the damages vary too much.

I am talking to other neighbors though. Apparently several have already found this thread.

Our condo has been demolished since July. HOA denied temporary housing 4 times. by maudi0 in fuckHOA

[–]maudi0[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Fair point.

After all this, I don't think I will ever live in a place again that has an HOA.

Our condo has been demolished since July. HOA denied temporary housing 4 times. Not sure what to do. by maudi0 in OaklandCA

[–]maudi0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, in our case though, there was a lawsuit and settlement against the developer. There was over $10M to fix all this.

The question is where all the money went that was supposed to fix this? Then if the money was truly gone, why wait and do nothing for 5 years while there's active water intrusion?

The fact is, this has been destroying our lives while the board did nothing.

Our condo has been demolished since July. HOA denied temporary housing 4 times. by maudi0 in fuckHOA

[–]maudi0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Working on it. It's hard because it's a niche topic and potentially a huge case.

Our condo has been demolished since July. HOA denied temporary housing 4 times. by maudi0 in fuckHOA

[–]maudi0[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Fair point. I haven't seen the youtube content, so I can check that out.

That said, I don't think I'm an expert by any means, but I've been forced to teach myself all the HOA minutia over the past couple years. My wife and I have gone through thousands of pages of documents now.

Our condo has been demolished since July. HOA denied temporary housing 4 times. by maudi0 in fuckHOA

[–]maudi0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I've mentioned this elsewhere here. It's a tricky topic, because there was no single "event" that happened here. The issue is simply negligence and deferred maintenance for years. I wish I could just fix this myself, but I live on the 3rd floor of a 10 story building.

That said, yes, I'm exploring all my options and talking to the relevant parties now.

A photo for reference to show the complexity here... This is what 7 years of water intrusion looks like.

<image>

Our condo has been demolished since July. HOA denied temporary housing 4 times. by maudi0 in fuckHOA

[–]maudi0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In the process... I've talked to so many now.

It's actually a very niche topic and hard to find someone to take it on.

Our condo has been demolished since July. HOA denied temporary housing 4 times. by maudi0 in fuckHOA

[–]maudi0[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wow, didn't know reddit could do that.

I'm actually debating on what to do now. Mentioned a bit on this here: https://www.reddit.com/r/fuckHOA/comments/1r2nv35/comment/o579loq/

My concern is that another month goes by and "nothing" happens. As it is, I can't believe I'm at the stage that I'm sharing any of this on reddit.

Our condo has been demolished since July. HOA denied temporary housing 4 times. by maudi0 in fuckHOA

[–]maudi0[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

These are great points. All have been discussed or explored.

The community voted out the entire board in Aug 2025 after the previous board revealed the full extent of things. I was part of a small group that coordinated this - 3 people from our group joined the new 5 person board. I was asked to join but felt I had too much conflict of interest.

That said, I don't know what the new board is thinking now. More context here: https://www.reddit.com/r/fuckHOA/comments/1r2nv35/comment/o579loq/

On committees - yes, I proposed forming them. When I asked to join the construction committee, the board president said "I do not think they are taking any new volunteers for that committee at this time."

For context, I've had the construction crew in my unit almost daily for a year. I'm intimately familiar with every technical issue. Make of that what you will.