I write on behalf of many of my neighbors in the Clear Lake Riviera, many of whom are elderly. I fight for them because they are old; some are not in good health and they are afraid of retaliation by the Clear Lake Riviera Association. In our covenants, conditions and restrictions (CC&Rs), owners are required and responsible for clearing any dead brush. The homeowners association (HOA) is not happy with that, instead they have gone outside of the CC&Rs, dictating to everyone that each of us must clear-cut the property. This raises the lot clearing costs of the members 10-fold. Sometimes the price is $3,000 to $4,000 and some owners/members have paid more. This is unacceptable!
Some owners purchased their properties 20 to 40 years ago and have been paying dues. Owners who live in places like Hawaii, Florida or Las Vegas have difficulty representing themselves; are hindered by distance to do a true evaluation of their lots. This is unacceptable!
If they do not have the contacts, the HOA will send unlicensed contractors onto their private property with dangerous heavy machinery to clear the property. I assume they have no workers compensation insurance, license, bond or liability insurance. This is unacceptable!
Next, they bill the owner for $3,000 or $4,000. If you don”t pay, the policy is to send you to collections. A property lien and eventual foreclosure can occur without going through the courts due to civil code 1367.4. This is not acceptable! It”s cruel, heavy-handed and very aggressive! This must be stopped now.
Clear Lake Riviera should have saved their swimming pools, park, barbecue and golf course; its boat ramps, marina, boat and trailer storage. We do not have one of these amenities. So for what reason should we pay dues of $96? Is this $269,000-plus annual revenue justifiable for two and a half office salaries, a PC, telephone, heating and air conditioning? We are paying them just to bill us! Again, this is not acceptable!
This looks like a fictitious jobs program for handpicked friends and relatives of the board or existing office staff. To make matters even worse, they have now authorized a church to hold their services in the HOA building. Guess who the church leader is? Shhh ? it”s a board member.
We have had a dysfunctional board for the past six or seven years. We have had two outside management companies that robbed the hell out of us for hundreds of thousands of dollars. We have had several appointments to the board itself, bypassing a legal process. We the people managed to apply enough pressure to expose fraudulent election efforts. Then we had another fraudulent election. Let”s stop this once and for all. Call the office and let them know you want to shut the HOA down. Let”s get these guys out!
John W. Stoddard
Kelseyville
