Note: This week’s column was written by Bob Freitag of AmeriClaims, Inc., a firm of public insurance adjusters in Indian Trail that represents individuals, organizations, and businesses after a property disaster. No one likes to think about disasters. The truth is that fires, floods, water damage and storms are a frequent occurrence in our state. […]

Q:   The developer of our community has turned over control of our homeowners association (HOA) to the homeowners, and we have now elected our first board of directors. We are fielding lots of complaints of CCR (covenants, conditions, and restrictions) violations with sheds, fences, etc. that are violations of our CCRs but were ignored […]

From WFAE’s website, which can be found here:  http://events.publicbroadcasting.net/wfae/events.eventsmain?action=showEvent&eventID=1471554 “Thousands of Charlotte-area residents live in neighborhoods that have a local Homeowner Association. HOAs are often praised for keeping communities cleaner, safer and more livable. But some homeowners complain that HOA boards can be too rigid and arbitrary in enforcing covenants and restrictions, infringing on homeowners’ […]

Q:  Can a homeowners’ association (HOA) develop a “policy” to levy fines against homeowners for various violations of rules that are not a part of the covenants? If such a policy is developed and implemented, don’t the homeowners have to vote to amend the covenants? A: Your question has two parts: (1) Does the HOA board […]

Q: We recently held our annual homeowners’ association (HOA) meeting, and two homeowners sent relatives to the meeting who were not residents and were not listed as owners on the deed to any property in our community. One of the individuals had a temporary power of attorney for the meeting. Is it legal for these individuals […]

Q: I am a recently-elected member of our HOA board of directors. Our community has about 1,500 homes and a staff of approximately 50 full-time and seasonal employees. I recently requested a copy of the HOA’s employee handbook so that I might be conversant with its contents, but I was rebuffed by the general manager who […]