SAN ANTONIO – Homeowners associations often get a bad rap for being too intrusive in the lives of homeowners who have signed a binding document agreeing to live under HOA rules.
Now a twist: two separate complaints have been made about HOAs that are accused of inaction in the communities where they exist.
In Sonoma Ranch, on the city's far Northwest side, the complaint is about an unapproved addition on the second floor of a house.
Michael Tavitas lives behind that house. "I don't want to look at it," Tavitas said.
He said he reported the construction to his HOA and the management company hired by the HOA, but there was no immediate response and construction continued.
"We really would have liked it to stop before there was a roof and walls and everything else installed," Tavitas said. "We really would have liked to have seen it stopped at the beginning."
His complaint is similar to one 30 miles away in southeast Bexar County. There, a neighbor is unhappy about a home next door with a weedy lawn, trashy driveway and debris in the backyard.
The Park is a gated subdivision and Rita Caldwell said the HOA has not responded to get this house cleaned up.
"They don't cut the grass, they have not had trash pickup for over a year," Caldwell said. "So the trash just sits there."
Neighbor Thomas Stinson agreed. "I've lived here about 10 years and it's been kind of bad," Stinson said. "It's about time for them to make a change or do something better."
In Sonoma Ranch, construction has been stopped until the project is approved. The HOA's management company, Hill Country Homeowners Association Management, sent an email explaining their side of the story.
"The board took immediate action," the email stated, "to issue a cease and desist notice... hand delivered in less than 24 hours. The board took proper action."
Bexar County Public Works Director Renee Green said there are fewer rules for homeowners who live in the county in terms of how properties must be kept up.
She said in gated communities there are even fewer ways the county can get involved.
"The county really can't do anything," Green said.
She said since The Park is gated everything is private.
"They still have access to emergency services, fire and EMS but the normal services that you would expect to receive from your county are just not going to be available to you," Green said.
Residents say if they had known that county services would be unavailable they might not have moved to such a gated community.
Lawyer Philip Neil represents Asset Property Management, which was hired by the HOA for "The Park" to run the neighborhood.
Neil left a phone message explaining that the messy house would have been cleaned up sooner but that the owners had filed bankruptcy.
He said it is a difficult and expensive task to go into a bankruptcy court and plead for funds to cleanup the house.
However, Neil said, the mortgage company used by the homeowners has now foreclosed on the home.
It is his hope, he said, that he can persuade the mortgage company in North Carolina to provide funds to have the house cleaned up.
Click here for the full statement from Hill Country Homeowners Association Management about the Sonoma Ranch Property.