According to a report by ABC Action News, homeowners accuse the HOA of exceeding its authority

TAMPA, Fla. – In early 2024, Shantashia Stevenson said she was close to buying her “dream home” in the Townhomes of Wexford community, but claimed the HOA stood in her way.

We met with her in May and she explained the reasons for the delay.

“Previously, the townhouse had an HOA ordinance violation because of the garage. The garage had been converted into a room. After that, it was brought to the seller’s attention, so the seller converted the garage again, and then I had the interview,” she said. “Even though there were no further violations, he requested a new forfeiture letter saying the garage had been converted. Even though it had been converted again.”

Stevenson further stated that neither she nor the seller could persuade the HOA president to commit to re-inspecting the home.

“The title company said I needed a letter of approval from the HOA to close the contract to purchase the house,” she said.

Instead, lawyers were called in, she said.

WFTS

Stevenson provided email exchanges from March 27 to April 2, including with the HOA president, her realtor’s office and the condominium management company.

As we previously reported, the group discussed missed inspection dates and some misunderstandings regarding the rescheduling.

At one point, Stevenson’s real estate agent calls the back and forth “nonsense” and says she will share her concerns about the process with “the city.”

The president of the homeowners association then accused the broker of threatening to “defame” the board.

By the time our report aired, Stevenson had already exited the business and eventually bought a house elsewhere.

But this report, as it turned out, was only the beginning.

Since the article aired, more than a dozen people who own or have owned property in this community have contacted ABC Action News.

They are people like Isoraida Lorenzo, who tried to sell her house to Stevenson.

She lives in South Carolina and said she had no idea that remodeling her garage violated homeowners association bylaws.

“The garage was rebuilt within days of the problem being reported. Again, I hired a lawyer, and for a month and a half, two months, I couldn’t convince them to do an inspection,” she said.

But after Stevenson withdrew her offer, she said things changed.

“I talked to my real estate agent and we tried to find a buyer who would pay cash and take on the violation. But that was unnecessary because when he interviewed the buyer within a few days, he was willing to inspect the house, fix the violation and issue a clear estoppel. And that left me with a $20,000 loss on the house,” she said.

Lorenzo is now weighing her legal options.

“I’ve talked to my lawyer and I actually have a claim. So that’s something I’m considering. I can sue (the HOA) for damages for the difference in price I sold my house for,” she said.

But the worries did not end there.

Rodney Scott also contacted ABC Action News.

Court documents accuse him of hosting a barbecue at the community pool last Labor Day, which violates HOA bylaws.

However, he claimed that he had only met with neighbors who had offered him food.

“Next thing I know, I see people coming to the pool area, and we’re just talking, mingling, talking about community, talking and life. And next thing I know, I get an email saying I broke some pool rules. I say, ‘I didn’t know we had them.’ (Because) I’ve seen people before that go out to eat, drink, have parties,” he said.

The HOA is asking a judge to prohibit Scott from hosting “parties with food and drinks” at the pool.

They also want him to pay the HOA’s legal fees in this case.

Scott is concerned that the community’s rules are being selectively enforced.

We also spoke to Ngozi Eze, who told us that she is involved in a lengthy legal dispute over tenants.

“Around 2023, we suddenly realized there was a problem with my tenants,” she said.

Emails show that the HOA president knew about Eze’s tenants as early as 2019.

But in mid-2023, she was asked to resubmit the lease to her tenants.

Email exchanges between Eze, the president of the homeowners association, and Associa, the community’s former management company, show that she resubmitted the lease.

But it was rejected.

The HOA president claimed she did not give them 30 days’ notice before their tenants moved in, as required by the community bylaws.

However, according to Eze, these were existing tenants who wanted to extend their lease.

Their tenants were ultimately forced to move out.

“I was told my tenants had to move out, which they did within two weeks of the HOA board’s eviction notice,” she said.

She said that the matter did not end there.

“And unfortunately, as a result, a lawsuit was filed against me, both because of my tenants and because of the barbecue,” she said.

Eze and her attorney told us that the HOA is suing them for “trespassing renters” and for attending the same barbecue that Rodney Scott allegedly hosted.

During the proceedings, the HOA also filed a “lis pendens” or “notice of action” on its property, which could affect the future sale of its home.

It has since requested that both the action and the notice be dismissed.

“It was shocking. It’s frustrating and even now really confusing. I just wonder how we got here?” she said.

In November 2023, Eze also filed a formal complaint against the HOA with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“We requested an investigation. We just weren’t sure what exactly was going on and what the reasoning was for evicting my tenants, but we felt an investigation was due,” she said.

We brought these homeowners’ concerns to local attorney Eric Appleton, who specializes in HOA law.

Ultimately, he said, if there is enough community dissatisfaction, there could be grounds for the entire HOA board to be removed.

“If they are truly dissatisfied and things do not improve after voicing their grievance in writing or in a meeting before the board, owners have the option to remove the board. Essentially, they can petition for a special meeting or even just submit a written petition to remove the board members from office and appoint replacement directors. They do not have to wait for an annual meeting or election to do this. This interim measure is available to them by law in both condominiums and HOAs,” he said.

ABC Action News called and texted the HOA president – and also called and emailed the HOA’s attorney during both investigations.

We haven’t heard anything from the HOA president.

And we are waiting for a call back from the homeowners association’s lawyer.