Orlando HOA Accused of Issuing $232,000 Check Before Public Vote
One community in Orlando is hopping mad over a roofing project that was suggested by the homeowners association (HOA). According to the Orange County Clerk of Courts, several people living in The Vistas at Phillips Commons have filed a lawsuit against the association and Beacon Community Management, Inc.
The website shows the case was originally filed on Sept. 22 and was initiated by Kenneth Yuret, Alicia Fredericks, Rami Alhenaid, Daniel Parker, and Nicolas Christiansen.
According to the complaint, the residents say that the HOA violated its Declaration of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions, Bylaws, Articles of Incorporation, and Chapter 720 of the Florida Statutes (Homeowners’ Association Act) when the organization moved forward with a plan to replace the roofs of all the homes located in the HOA, passing the cost onto the homeowners.
The lawsuit alleges that the HOA moved forward with the project without the required vote. Some homeowners questioned whether the roof replacements were necessary.
The HOA Was Going to Charge Homeowners to Fix the Roof
Homeowners were largely unhappy with the idea of replacing the roofs of 160 units. For example, Yuret, who shared his story with ClickOrlando, says that his roof didn’t need to be replaced and he believes that it still has years’ worth of life left on it. “Mine is in great condition,” he told the outlet.
But it wasn’t just the idea of replacing roofs that didn’t need the work that had homeowners riled up; it was the fact that the HOA planned to levy a $13,157.73 assessment per unit to fund the $2,105,237.34 project.
That’s something that many homeowners didn’t feel was necessary, and they headed to a June 22 public meeting to voice their concerns ahead of a vote on the measure. Only when they got there, they found that the work had already been authorized and payments had started going out to the contractor.
Homeowners Found a Check in the HOA’s Records
When the HOA voted to move forward with the project at the public meeting, homeowners began looking into the association. “I found this huge discrepancy in our financials,” Yuret said of a $232,000 deposit check that had been issued to the contractors on June 10, which was well ahead of the meeting.
“This is the smoking gun,” Yuret said of the check, calling the discovery “shocking.”
Now, the HOA and the management company are embroiled in a lawsuit, and Orlando police have confirmed to ClickOrlando that there is an active investigation into the groups.
As of Oct. 19, the case was still making its way through the courts, with the HOA and management company submitting a request to extend the time to file a response.
