South Carolina legislators beholden to HOAs

"What the Homeowners Association system does is allow your county to abdicate their responsibility for taking care of you, while they continue to collect taxes. Once in your HOA, you get to pay the county AND the HOA for services you enjoy." - HOA Warrior 

Corrupt government and the good ol' boy network is alive and well in South Carolina. And one of the issues making that clear is abusive shenanigans by Homeowner's Associations (HOAs) all across the state. Three years ago was when public uproar first forced elected stooges to pay lip service to the problem, and this year, as HOA abuse festered and grew, irate homeowners along Horry County's Grand Strand forced their do-nothing "representatives" into the spotlight again, when a whopping 1,000 folks showed up at a meeting in October to protest abuses that never should have come about in the first place. As these corrupt, mini-government extensions of corrupt state and county governments kick homeowners around from coast to coast, it's obvious that the need isn't to reform - the need is to abolish.

It wuzza real hoot watchin' elected stooges for HOAs put on a grand performance at the meeting in Horry County. Ya gotta do something to pacify people when they start coming together, outraged over the unconscionable antics dished out by mafia-style gangs under color of law. Things can get downright embarrassing, especially when such events get publicized. And in this age of the Internet, it's gotten kinda hard for corrupt governments to keep things quiet.

And corruption it is. As I addressed in a previous post, state and county governments have a vested interest in allowing HOA gangs to rip people off. Sure beats raising those taxes, which, make no mistake, is what HOAs are all about. Play the HOA game right, and governments get to continue their wasteful misuse of taxpayer money that would otherwise have to be spent on legitimate improvements for neighborhoods. Such waste was recently epitomized by the unnecessary and unworkable installation of two traffic circles (roundabouts) in my neighborhood, Quail Hollow, in W. Columbia, South Carolina, promoted by the Quail Hollow Community Association as the gang demonstrated its camaraderie with the bloodsucking power structure of Lexington County. Next thing ya knew, the gang suckered a sufficient number of residents into relieving Lexington County of the burden of maintaining stop signs and street markers. I was one of many residents who declined to participate in the voluntary effort. It's a howling thigh-slapper when folks start paying for things they've already paid for. Of course, the gang is looking forward to strong-arming residents out of dues sufficient to pay for stop sign and street sign maintenance, and no telling what else as the gang bullies residents to pay dues, based on a ridiculous "neighborhood voting" shenanigan offered up as justification for suddenly making dues mandatory after said dues had been voluntary for close to half a century. HOA dues are de facto taxes, so bear in mind that the more these gangs bully folks, the better corrupt governments like it. Will HOAs stoop to fraud in an effort to fleece folks outta moolah? You bet they will. Check out this lawsuit filed against an HOA in Nevada. Talk about obnoxious, money-wastin' gangs...  

No informed citizen in South Carolina should be surprised at the blabber coming from paid-off stooges - er I mean state legislators - as they "respond" - once again - to growing public outrage over out-of-control HOAs. The very idea, for example, of suggesting - with a straight face - that citizens be "given" the right to sue HOAs in magistrates court instead of being forced to engage in expensive, time-consuming, and emotionally draining "regular" lawsuits. Such an inane "response" to the HOA problem only exemplifies the need to abolish rather than reform. And be extra careful about laws requiring that home buyers be given copies of pertinent information about HOAs. Such laws can increase HOA dues to cover the expense of making copies, keeping information updated, etc. ad nauseum. Here again, the answer isn't to reform HOAs, the answer is to abolish 'em.

A thousand irate homeowners coming together is a good start. Looks like the next protest will need to take place in front of the capitol building in Columbia.

Update 1/2/2015 - Complaints against Homeowners Associations have been pouring in from all across South Carolina since 2005. As this article makes clear, state legislators are no more than paid-off stooges for these terrorist gangs known as HOAs. These gangs are unjustifiably foreclosing on peoples' homes while crooked legislators pander to special interest groups, ignoring the plight of homeowners. 

Update 4/13/2016 - Sometimes the "special interests" turn out to be their own, evidenced by South Carolina's lawyer-generated probate racket. 

Quail Hollow Community Association shows favortism

As I mentioned in a previous post, the Quail Hollow Community Association is now requiring homeowners who have cyclone fences in their back yards (just for the record, I don't have one, and fences of any kind have never been allowed in front yards) to remove that portion of the fence that extends from the sides of their houses. This late-breaking requirement came about over the past year for a neighborhood that got started over 40 years ago.

Not only is the timing bad - especially for a matter that bothered nobody for almost half a century - but I know of only one resident that received formal notification - a letter from the Association gang - about a cyclone fence. I've confirmed that at least one other resident with a cyclone fence never got such a letter, so it's anyone's guess as to which residents have been singled out for harassment.

No wonder the issue of favortism (scroll down to "Common themes" in this article) was spotlighted this year when those 1,000 homeowners protested the way Homeowners Associations (HOAs) are being run in Horry County, South Carolina. In fact, the issue of selective enforcement of regulations is a problem with HOA gangs all across the country.

As I discussed previously, HOAs are state-sanctioned racketeering. Lately, I've been pondering the notion that if people are intrinsically good, we need not have government, and if people are intrinsically bad (which I believe to be the case), we dare not have government. Meanwhile, just how well-organized and powerful these HOA gangs are is unbeknownst to most folks.

It's time to abolish HOAs. They've proven to be far more trouble than they're worth, including physical altercations at meetings expensive, time-consuming small claims actions over the imposition of ridiculous fees. It's a real hoot when South Carolina's corporate-controlled puppets - er I mean elected officials - wring their hands and suggest that homeowner discontent with HOAs might be addressed by "allowing" homeowners to sue HOAs in small claims court. Thanks, but no thanks.

The fox is guarding the hen house.