HOA sues retired Texas City couple for up to $100,000 for flower beds that don’t meet guidelines

KHOU7 ^ | Dec. 7, 2019 | Chris Costa

[bgill]

A property owner’s association is suing a retired Texas City couple for thousands of dollars over a dispute about flower beds that did not meet the HOA’s guidelines.

Klaas and Dorothy Tadema moved into the Lago Mar neighborhood after their Dickinson home flooded during Hurricane Harvey.

The Tademas said they installed flower beds on the property in November 2018. They said they were notified by the HOA in March 2019 that their home improvements did not meet the association’s guidelines, which the HOA calls “covenants.”

The retired couple filed an application along with the $25 fee to get the improvements approved. That application was rejected.

[Larry Lucido]

Way I see it, and it's a long shot, he's got to buy everybody a Wizard Organizer or an astronaut pen. I wonder if he's got a "guy."

[CurlyDave]

...I can understand this on wood. However, based on the picture it is brick on top of concrete. If you have pine straw next to concrete or brick what is the difference?..

The brick is just a layer on the outside of an ordinary stud wall, it is not structural at all. If you look at the inside of that wall you will find that it is ordinary sheet rock on wooden studs. This has been the most common construction technique for many, many decades.

Now you might think that brick, mortar and concrete are all impervious to termites, and that is correct, but the problem is that they are all different materials, and cracks in the mortar develop over time, giving termites a path to the delicious wood behind the bricks.

[Clay Moore]

Typical brick veneer wall has a weep hole every 6 feet or so. The bottom course of brick will be missing the vertical grout between adjoining brick so that moisture does not build up in the wall. This can allow all sorts of vermin to go through the gap if it is too wide or can let water flow in if bedding or soil is piled up even or above it.

Some years ago there were all sorts of buildings locally being condemned for black mold due to water infiltration. One I know of personally had so much that when I lifted ceiling tiles to pull cable, the initial reaction from the mold hit made it feel like some kid punched me in the head. For some period after, my nose would just randomly start bleeding.

The soil had been graded higher than the weep holes so people would not have to look at the ugly slab. They lost the building as a result.

[Jane Long]

Funny thing is....the local garden expert, Randy Lemon, says to keep your landscaping down below the foundation...at least six inches below weeps.

These folks should just tell the HOA they were following Randy’s advice.

[bgill]

That is correct about the foundation.

There was a thread on FR a few years ago (or a couple) about an HOA suing people because they were growing vegetables. It was ok to grow fruit though. Thing was they were growing fruit but the HOA was too dumb to know the difference. Didn’t matter because the HOA is always right.

[antidemoncrat]

I agree about reading HOA rules before you buy and I’ve never read one but I wonder of they are like legal documents you are faced with every time you agree to use a website. Four or five pages of legal BS the generators know no one ever reads. I wonder who actually writes the HOA rules because they vary from development to development. Whoever writes them seems to have the authority put whatever rules in they like.