Legal Expert Weighs in on HOA Dispute

AUSTELL, GA.. - Many homeowners in a Cobb County homeowners' association claim its president refuses to leave office. Tempers are flaring. Police have been called. Lawsuits filed. 

Most homeowners' associations work and work well, but when they don't they can pit neighbor against neighbor. In this situation, the HOA president said he's following the law. So, the Fox 5 I-Team went to an expert, a long-time HOA attorney who has helped to craft most of Georgia's legislation about these neighborhood associations. And this is what he sees.

"What I get from reviewing the documentation is a board president who allegedly has been running the board as a fiefdom," said George Nowack.

He's was talking about Blake Kenya the president of the Cobblestone Community's homeowners' association. This HOA represents a middle class, well-kept neighborhood where homeowners has said its leadership refuses to allow new board elections and is throwing up barriers to reviewing HOA finances. 

"This is not Russia. We want to have a voice," said homeowner Merinda Hutchings Donovan at a neighborhood gathering. "We asked for a special meeting. We asked that everything be laid out, for books to be put out there. Nothing was done."

Mr. Kenya told the Fox 5 I-Team they are wrong, that he has been rightfully re-elected. 

"We held elections," he said. 

The members at this meeting who got together to talk about how to regain control of their HOA said that Blake Kenya has held the job long past his original, three-year term. They started a petition to call for a special meeting. 

Something they can do, according to the law and their by laws, says attorney George Nowack. With 25 percent of the homeowners' signatures, they can call a special meeting. They need to send a notice to the board members. It needs the date, time and the place where it'll be held. And the purpose must be clearly stated. 

"Those homeowners have the right to elect the directors of that association," said Georgia Nowack a partner at Weissman, Nowack, Curry and Wilcom.

Mr. Nowack has 35 years' worth of experience in homeowner association issues. 

"I'm frustrated by this," he said. 

He added that these HOA members have good reason to be concerned. 

"What's the real reason for this failure or refusal or reluctance to cooperate with the members?"

One homeowner at the meeting said she has pushed to review Cobblestone's financial records. 

"We sent a letter out in writing requesting, again, to review the financial records," she said. 

She said she got some documents, but when she pushed for a more detailed look - like invoices -  she was billed $100 to receive copies of those records.   We asked our legal expert if that was a reasonable fee.

George Nowack said, "No, it's not a reasonable fee."

If you want to see your HOA's financial statements, he said the law is clear.

"Send a letter with five days notice stating what they want to see, why they want to see it and that it's a legitimate reason. They have a right to that."

After the neighborhood gathering, a flier went out to some, not all, of the HOA members. The board announced a special meeting with no mention of a date or time and asked for a vote,  "Should Blake Kenya be able to continue his duties as president?"   

"That piece of paper is really asking about a vote of confidence. It's not an election. It's not a removal," said Nowack who looked over it. 

So these Cobblestone neighbors are moving ahead with a petition to call for a special meeting asking for board elections and they plan to follow the letter of the law. 

Lisa Jones was one of the frustrated homeowners at the neighborhood get-together. 

"Allow us to have a vote. Allow us to have a voice on what's going on in the community and with our money."

Another quick piece of advice: One neighbor, a 15-year resident in protest did not pay this year's HOA fee, so the homeowners' association put a lien on his home. Our legal expert told us, please pay your annual fee. You can't win in court, he said. You have to treat your dues and your dissatisfaction with leadership as two separate issues. 

The petition to call a special meeting to push for a new HOA board election is circulating. A community member told the Fox 5 I-Team during our continuing investigation of this that he believed they may have 60 percent of the neighborhood's signatures, but "we have at least 25 percent," he said.