homeowners rights

You may have read or heard about a Henrico County citizen facing a court battle with his community's homeowners association (HOA) over a flag pole.

Col. Van T. Barfoot, a 90 year old veteran and Medal of Honor recipient, has been ordered by his community's HOA to remove the flag pole or face legal action. According to Barfoot's daughter, the covenants do not expressly prohibit flag poles. The covenants require the association's architectural approval of any structures built on lots. The Sussex Square Homeowners Association in Henrico County maintains that the pole doesn't meet the community's aesthetic standards.

Virginia law requires HOAs to alert prospective purchasers as to any limitations on the owner's right to display an American flag. Therefore, Virginians should exercise due diligence before purchasing a home in a community that has a HOA covenant and should review the convenants carefully. Subject to certain limitations, HOAs are permitted to adopt rules about the appearance of homes within their boundaries and some HOAs can be quite strident in enforcing them. In this case, a home's feature is considered to be in violation of the covenant, even though it isn't expressly prohibited.

Virginia law entitles you to review HOA and condominium documents prior to closing on a property in associations subject to the Virginia Property Owners' Association and Condominium Acts. Consult your Realtor or legal adviser for details as to your rights and obligations.

Read the Richmond Times-Dispatch cover story about Col. Van T. Barfoot.

We've recently reported on the problems that homeowners at Harbor Walk are having due to tainted, Chinese-made being used in their new condos. Some of the homeowners have filed a lawsuit against the developer, and recently a professional builder was hired to inspect the drywall.

According to The Virginian-Pilot, recent inspects have shown that its going to take millions to repair the condos that have been made with the product which has caused many problems.

Homeowners have said that the drywall corrodes electrical systems, like AC units which have been replaced numerous times, and that the drywall makes people sick.

This is a good story for any homeowner who has difficulty with developers, builders or contractors to follow because the key to resolution is education.

"Sen. Mark Warner and the nation's top consumer safety official toured homes built with Chinese-made drywall Monday and learned at least one thing about residences that have had problems: It's going to be expensive to fix.

One local home builder told the visitors that her company will spend more than $5 million to repair condos made with the product.

Helen Dragas, president and chief executive of The Dragas Cos., told the lawmakers her company is spending about $70,000 on each of its 73 condos in Chesapeake and Virginia Beach built with tainted drywall.

Homeowners have complained that the drywall corrodes electrical systems and makes people ill. The Consumer Product Safety Commission is investigating the complaints and air-quality issues related to the drywall and hopes to release its findings in coming weeks, said Inez Tenenbaum, the commission's head."

Read the full story.

And, read our most recent post on the issue.

Many residents in the new Richneck neighborhood have complained the possibility that their homes were built with a tainted Chinese-made drywall, and now the homes will be inspected according to The Virginian-Pilot.

Residents have experienced problems with electrical appliances, such has replacing an air conditioner three times in two years. The tainted Chinese-made drywall has been known to cause corrison in other homes with electical appliances and to cause respiratory illness.

Residents are hopeful that the builder will resolve the problem if the inspection proves that the tainted drywall was used. In situations like this it is important for homeowners to document all complaints and communication with the builder.

"A Newport News builder plans to investigate complaints that some homes in a 68-unit subdivision in the Richneck neighborhood might have been constructed using tainted Chinese-made drywall.

Atlantic Homes LLC, which began work on Hollymeade Village in 2004, sent letters to home-owners recently acknowledging that some of the homes built there might have drywall imported from China, said Ken Allen, president of the company.

The company plans to inspect homes in the community to determine which, if any, have the wallboard. Home-owners across the region have blamed the drywall for corroding household electrical systems and possibly causing respiratory illness.

'At this point, we're just in the fact-finding stage,' Allen said.

In its letter to home-owners, Atlantic Homes said the company had hired installation firm Porter-Blaine Corp. to hang drywall. That firm is an affiliate of Norfolk-based construction materials supplier Venture Supply Inc., which imported 150,000 sheets of Chinese-made drywall and two months ago shut its doors.

Allen said several home-owners in the community near Denbigh Boulevard and Woodside Lane recently contacted the builder, expressing fears that their homes contained the drywall."

Read the full story.

VDOT says long-awaited paving of road in Colonial Beach subdivision won't start until Spring 2010, according to a recent article from The Free-Lance Start.

Residents of Riverside Meadows have been complaining some time about issues within their new sudivision including paving a road and drainage issues. This is an example of how homeowners can protect the value of their home and press their county officials to fix such problems, even though it is a long, hard battle.

"Only three-tenths of a mile of help is on the horizon next year for residents seeking paved streets in Riverside Meadows in Colonial Beach.

VDOT officials told Westmoreland County supervisors that the paving of .32 mile of Santa Maria Avenue has been postponed until next spring, not this fall as originally scheduled.

That will still leave 3.3 miles of dusty, muddy dirt roads in the subdivision for residents to endure until state and local money becomes available to pave them. If it ever becomes available at all.

Matching funds for the first piece of paving were appropriated in 2008-- $50,000 from Westmoreland County and $50,000 from Colonial Beach. Facing tight budgets, the jurisdictions approved no additional funds this year for any subsequent asphalt.

VDOT agreed to match the $100,000 local contribution with funds from its shrinking revenue-sharing program. Town officials, however, encountered problems establishing right-of-way lines for some lots in the subdivision.

'We didn't get the plans until last month,' said Sean P. Trepani, VDOT administrator for the Northern Neck. The surveys were necessary to transfer ownership of the Santa Maria right-of-way to the state.

The right-of-way will probably be accepted by the Commonwealth Transportation Board next month, he said. Only then can VDOT begin to obtain permits to pave the road. Winter weather will probably arrive before the permits, he said."

Read full story.

Homeowners at Harbor Walk condominums are facing a number of problems with their newly built condos, and have filed suit against the developer, according to the Virginian Pilot.

Harbor Walk grew out of Norfolk's push to redevelop East Ocean View into an upscale waterfront community. The site is a former mobile-home park and long a target of the city's redevelopment efforts.

Sadly for these homeowners receiving the truth about the construction of their homes and a resolution to make them safe likely won't happen until after going to court.

"One week after three homeowners at Harbor Walk condominiums filed suit over the use of Chinese-made drywall, the Ocean View community's developer wrote a letter to City Councilman W. Randy Wright with a simple message: It was abandoning the project.

'The Henin Group... will no longer be your point of contact for any matters relating to Harbor Walk Development LLC,' Jerome Henin wrote on May 8.

Henin's company had taken over the development a year and a half earlier.

In April, several homeowners discovered that their condos were built with Chinese-made drywall that is said to emit a corrosive gas that damages household electrical systems and may cause respiratory problems. They joined a long list of residents already dealing with damage done to their units by water intrusion that could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix.

Since the suit was filed in May, seemingly everyone involved in Harbor Walk Development LLC has sent letters denying responsibility for the problems and pointing fingers elsewhere."

Read full story.