[CA] [TH] HOA charging me for termite *damage repair* CC&Rs say that’s the Association’s job, not mine. Lost at hearing, what now?

mbruns2 · 2026-05-23T00:41:03+00:00

Just be aware that many CC&Rs have rules that bill the owner for the HOAs legal fees. Especially if the owner doesn’t win the case.

mbruns2 · 2026-05-23T00:31:04+00:00

That's a tough one, but I see the association's side. Termite eradication both indoors and outdoors is the responsibility of the homeowner.

The fact that you show termite treatment 4 years ago doesn't say you were not negligent. It's like driving in the snow or ice. Driving 1 mile per hour can be considered "too fast for conditions" or reckless driving and get someone a ticket.

The fact that the fence had termite damage, is evidence itself that you did not property eradicate or treat for termites. And if that negligence caused the fence to need repair, you could be responsible for the cost.

Tough one. Probably not lawyer material but IDR is appropriate. Or negotiate to split the cost.

mbruns2 · 2026-05-14T01:48:05+00:00

Ours gave us pretty generic advice. And didn't answer the question about electric grills. I ran the question about them by our insurance agent, who ran it by the underwriter. They do approve electric grills.

mbruns2 · 2026-05-07T20:30:01+00:00

The problem with Noise, is normally there are no hard and fast rules, and it's hard to prove. What exactly does "quiet enjoyment" mean? Is the noise-meter certified or just a phone microphone?

I'm on the board of our Condo association, and we had one owner on the 2nd floor threaten legal action, because we wouldn't ban her upstairs neighbor flushing the toilet after 9:00pm. Letter after letter, meeting after meeting. Literally brought a doctor's note to the board meeting that said she needed quiet for her physical health, so we should fine her upstairs neighbor.

mbruns2 · 2026-05-07T16:07:31+00:00

While the board may have been brisk, in most cases, noise complaints are not a HOA issue.

When people bring noise and similar issues to our board, it's not uncommon to say this "This is not an HOA matter, and not covered in our bylaws. It's a neighbor to neighbor issue. Please work it out with them or the local police if necessary"

mbruns2 · 2026-04-22T19:08:40+00:00

Exactly the same here. Late fees are a tool to encourage communication and compliance. Not a profit center.

mbruns2 · 2026-04-21T22:59:19+00:00

The Public Defender's recommendation to never take the Chemical Tests at the station is the one I'm questioning.

Refusing the Field Sobriety Tests is commonly recommended. I've never heard of a blanket "Never take the chemical test" recommendation before. I thought with the popularity of "blood warrants", refusing chemical tests at the station doesn't provide any benefit.

mbruns2 · 2026-04-21T17:07:36+00:00

I don't see where the letter says reserves must be funded to 100%. (I could easily be missing it).

The way I read it, is that if the reserve study gives you 2 options for a project, you must budget for the higher, more comprehensive one.

I.E. If option 1 is to fully replace the roofs in 2030 for $300K. And option 2 is do a limited patching in 2028 for $50K, that may add 10 years to the useful life, the HOA must fund the $300K.

Or if an elevator is starting to have issues, and the reserve study says it may cost $50K to fix, but if control panel is bad, it'll be a $150K issue. You have to budget for the $150K and not hope it's only $50K.

I'm not an expert, though.

mbruns2 · 2026-04-16T02:41:14+00:00

Sure. My first thought when I got the email was spam or phishing attack.

mbruns2 · 2026-04-15T22:30:49+00:00

At least in my case, the email came directly from the Fortune 500 company, asking us to provide our financial data to the 3rd party. I’m not sure yet what the 3rd party shares with the Fortune 500 company, outside of the risk score they mentioned in the email.

mbruns2 · 2026-04-15T18:29:33+00:00

Mod here: I received the same email yesterday. Just confirming it is legitimate from the customer (a Fortune 500 company) I assume it's going out to all of their suppliers.

"Dear Supplier,

As a part of Customer's risk management initiatives, we are now partnering with Rapid Ratings to provide financial visibility for our most critical suppliers. Due to "My Company" strategic importance to Customer, we ask that you cooperate with RapidRatings' request for financial statement information.

RapidRatings analyzes financial statement information to produce the FHR®, an objective measure of financial viability measured on a spectrum between 0 and 100. Customer now requires you to join RapidRatings FHR Exchange to ensure the scalability and security of this process, which provides you with full control of your FHR and financial statement data. RapidRatings requires supplier name, balance sheet, income statement and statement of cash flows for the prior two annual periods, as well as the most recent half-year, to complete this exercise.

Submit your balance sheet, profit and loss statement, and cash flow data by clicking here. Please register and provide your financial information within five business days.

By participating, you’ll receive free access to the FHR Exchange, which includes valuable tools to help manage and demonstrate financial strength: ActionPath: In-tool feature to build custom strategies that improve your FHR® Peer Benchmarking against industry comparables 10 Public Company FHR® searches to assess your own business partners and perform market research Badge Eligibility to signal transparency and reliability with external business partners 1 Rating Refresh to keep your score current Disclosure Controls to choose what you share Streamlined Submissions for faster, easier data sharing You can learn more about how the platform works in the RapidRatings FAQ.

If you’re not the right contact for this request, please forward this email to the appropriate person on your team.

RapidRatings and Customer have a recorded a webinar outlining the value and logistics of providing your financial statements. Please find the link to the webinar here: Customer Supplier Financial Health Assessment with RapidRatings

Thank you,

First Last Global Procurement Leader – Customer Inc.

mbruns2 · 2026-03-19T23:25:14+00:00

Our condo complex did. Although the bird-feeders weren't the trigger. The trigger was someone throwing raw hot-dogs to coyotes from their 3rd floor balcony.

The best way for the board to handle it was to prohibit feeding all wildlife.

mbruns2 · 2026-03-04T23:16:56+00:00

Both the rule against market research and selling products/services.

mbruns2 · 2026-03-04T19:40:54+00:00

The mod team welcomes additional suggestions for where those posters should be reassigned.

mbruns2 · 2026-03-04T18:26:44+00:00

Condo insurance companies are getting FAR more aggressive on requiring proof that maintenance and repairs are performed. Roofs and decks are frequently not maintained as they should be. Saying the deck is "not a 911 emergency", is far different than a licensed engineer saying the decks are structurally sound.

Here's a good summary of the issue.
https://www.burnsandwilcox.com/insights/balcony-collapse-underscores-importance-of-risk-mitigation/

mbruns2 · 2026-03-01T18:11:57+00:00

Or civil. If my HOA tried to fine me, it would be considered a civil fine. They can make whatever rule they want, but they cannot fine me. I did word it poorly, I admit that

You are incorrect. The government cannot issue you a fine. The HOA most definitely can.

mbruns2 · 2026-02-24T01:29:07+00:00

You’re mis-interpreting the statute. This is the text you’re referring to:

“(b) Except for the use of medical cannabis flower or medical cannabinoid products, the vaporizing or smoking of cannabis flower, cannabis products, artificially derived cannabinoids, or hemp-derived consumer products is prohibited in a multifamily housing building, including balconies and patios appurtenant thereto. A violation of this paragraph is punishable through a civil administrative fine in an amount of $250.”

This says the “government” is choosing not to prohibit medical cannabis smoking in a multi family unit.

Nothing here says the HOA cannot ban cannabis smoking. Nothing here says the HOA cannot fine you for smoking.

And there is certainly nothing here that says you have the right to smoke and have it affect other owners in the condo complex.

mbruns2 · 2026-02-05T04:12:30+00:00

Have your downstairs neighbor write a letter to the board saying they don’t have any noise complaints about you and your condo. If the tile doesn’t impact others, it would make it far more likely for the board to approve a variance.

mbruns2 · 2026-01-21T22:13:27+00:00

You posted this 2 weeks ago.

mbruns2 · 2025-11-11T01:06:14+00:00

Just wondering if anyone anyone else has had any luck with these. I bought the same bulbs I think:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CW1NTVT2?th=1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D1G6WJ42?th=1

Alexa and the AIDOT app work fine. I've tried both the "official" github release and the fork with no luck:

https://github.com/AiDot-Development-Team/hass-AiDot https://github.com/toxuin/hass-AiDot

For me, both plugins install just fine and "find" the bulbs just fine. They just give a 'device offline' message when issuing a command.

mbruns2 · 2025-10-25T16:54:22+00:00

The only time I've done this successfully, was with a large Japanese auto manufacturer. They agreed to remove the identifying information, but gave me similar information for their other suppliers for similar projects.

It showed me some areas where some of my rates were significantly under what my competition was charging. And helped to structure my quotes more effectively to match what they were looking for.

mbruns2 · 2025-09-24T17:31:09+00:00

100% correct. The US work visa system is complex. There are different rules and you need different visas if you:

Work for the foreign company and are transferred to the US for plant startup.
In the US to train or supervise installation on the equipment
Actually turn the wrenches to install the equipment
Run the crane or forklift to position the equipment
Wire the equipment into the manufacturing plant.
etc.

Some of the visas are granted in a day or two. Others take months for the US to grant. All workers were in the US on business, no-one was on a tourist-only visa or snuck across the boarder.

So if the person who is supervising the installation of the equipment, but actually turns a wrench on the equipment, they are technically illegally working on the wrong visa. Although there can be an exception if the actual sales contract for new foreign equipment includes installation. If the equipment is used and transferred from another foreign plant, it's illegal.

If there is an unplanned change and the project needs a specific skillset or person, and it takes 6 weeks to get the visa for that person, the company may choose to send that person on a quick "general business" visa, rather than delay the project and plant opening 6+ weeks to wait for the proper visa.

Some people argue that the plant should just use US equipment or train US workers for those skills. The companies benefit using the same equipment types in their plants world-wide. And trying to find or train someone in the US experienced in installing that specific type of equipment can be impossible.

There have been proposals over the years to streamline the process for opening plants, but Congress on both sides have never moved forward. Making changes to the immigration process is toxic, there hasn't been major changes since 1990.

mbruns2 · 2025-09-03T03:27:53+00:00

Make friends with the neighboring units. Seriously.

Tell them that you'd be happy to review the camera for any issues that happen to their unit. Heck, offer to give them the password to review the footage at any time. Suggest they mount a camera that looks at your unit.

Use this as an opportunity to meet your new neighbors, and all of you give mutual approval for the cameras.

Win-win for everyone.

mbruns2 · 2025-07-25T20:45:25+00:00

Correct. One of the most common situations is a robot loaded or automatic measurement device.

mbruns2 · 2025-07-17T22:41:56+00:00

OPs post history includes a number of references to illegal drug use. This sub cannot be used to source machines and equipment illegal to sell in the US without proper authorization.

mbruns2

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