Battling the Homeowners Association (HOA)

The following article regarding our homeowners association (HOA) appeared in the Roanoke Times on April 2nd of 2024. It was written by Journalist Laurence Hammack who has covered southwest Virginia for three decades. We appreciate Laurence’s interest in our story and for reaching out to gather the insights and facts. Also we are grateful for his professionalism and fairness in covering it. We had hoped the HOA would respond back to his calls to get their side of the story, but so far they have had no comment as of this post. Now on to the article:

Jeannie Brown feels trapped in her own home.

She said she used to love her three-level townhouse in Hunting Hills Place, an upscale neighborhood on a hill that offers sweeping views of the Roanoke Valley.

But since she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis about 10 years ago, Brown said she has found it harder to handle the home’s stairs and steep back yard — and, she claims in a federal lawsuit, restrictions placed on her by the Hunting Hills Place Homeowners Association.

It started in 2017, when the association denied her request to build a patio in her backyard, which she was unable to enjoy because of mobility problems caused by her neurological disease.

“My patio; I can’t understand why people are upset about it,” Brown said. “How is it an inconvenience? How is it harming anyone else in any way? I don’t understand that.”

Brown filed a complaint with Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, saying the denial violated her fair housing rights as a disabled person The department found in her favor, allowing the patio to be built.

Over the next several years, two things deteriorated: Brown’s relationship with the association’s leadership, and her health.

By 2023, just climbing the stairs to her bedroom had become an exhausting ordeal for Brown. She and her husband, Tony Sheen, decided they needed to move to a one-story house.

They found an ideal home in Franklin County, and a buyer for their Hunting Hills residence. Contracts for both sales were signed.

But then the homeowners association informed the prospective buyer of an unusual and previously undisclosed restriction — any future owner would be required to store all of the patio furniture, flower pots and other items inside the house every night.

The deal fell through because of the “onerous restriction,” which was imposed in retaliation against Brown for her earlier fair housing complaint, according to the lawsuit filed earlier this year in U.S. District Court in Roanoke.

“Ms. Brown was told that the residents and the board hated her after taking action to enforce her fair housing rights,” the lawsuit states.

Brown and her husband were forced to back out of their purchase of the Franklin County home, leaving her in a place where day-to-day living is becoming more difficult.

They are continuing their search, but have not found a suitable home. And they worry that the patio restriction will squelch any potential deal on the Hunting Hills home.

“This has really caused me a lot of stress,” Brown said during a recent interview in her home.

The lawsuit accuses the homeowners association of violating Virginia’s Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination against the disabled.

Multiple sclerosis impairs Brown’s balance, causing her to frequently fall, blurs her vision, produces muscle fatigue, pain and other symptoms that make it hard to live a normal life, she said.

The disease forced her to retire early from a business career that included serving as a senior business partner for Home Shopping Network and director of development for groups that include the local Planned Parenthood and the Roanoke Symphony. She has also worked as a CPA and a certified fraud examiner.

If her lawsuit accomplishes anything, Brown hopes it will shed light on the needs of disabled people.

“Disabled people face challenges on a daily basis, regarding their health situation, regarding the cost of their medicine, regarding the stress of whatever disease or situation you have,” she said.

“So when you have an seemingly arbitrary system that makes life more difficult for you, it’s overwhelming.”

The president of the homeowners association, Mary Lou Vaniels, declined to comment on the lawsuit. Calls to MRI Community Management, which acts as the association’s agent and is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, were not returned.

An attorney for both parties denied most of the allegations in a response to the lawsuit filed in court. The response also lists about a dozen possible defenses, including a statement — with no elaboration — that Brown “rejected, without cause or reason, the accommodations and/or modifications offered to her.”

Brown says she has no idea what that means. “It’s never been explained to me,” she said of the association’s actions. “There’s never been an attempt by someone to sit down and explain it to me.”

Other residents of Hunting Hills Place have patios behind their homes, she said.

In general, homeowners associations are organizations that make and enforce rules and guidelines for a subdivision or planned community. As members of the association, residents pay dues to cover common expenses such as lawncare, driveway and parking area maintenance, and recreational facilities that are available to all members.

A declaration of the conditions and restrictions for residents of Hunting Hills Place, filed in Roanoke County Circuit Court, does not require the removal of items from a patio, according to the lawsuit.

Currently, because the situation applies to future owners, Brown and Sheen are not required to abide by the rule, which is outlined in an inspection form included with the lawsuit. “The board requires that all furniture, fire pits and other items be removed each night. Nothing may remain on the patio pavers overnight,” the form states.

Attorney Jeremy White of Blue Ridge Consumer Law, who represents Brown, said he has not personally dealt with such a form before. “But I believe it is sometimes a part of the disclosure packet to a buyer of a home in a HOA,” White wrote in an email.

Brown believes the association’s aversion to her stone paver patio — which is about 10 by 18 feet — is not widely shared.

“I’m not going to say anything bad about my neighbors,” she said. “Because I really refuse to think that all 77 units up here have that mindset,” a reference to the homes of Hunting Hills Place, which is a separate entity from the larger residential area.

Her lawsuit — which seeks an unspecified amount of damages and an order prohibiting the restriction on patio furniture — was filed as a last resort, she said.

“I begged them, ‘please don’t do this’,” Brown said. “I said ‘you’re going to back me into a corner and I’m not going to have any alternative.’ ”

Brown is in the process of creating a website that will advocate for the disabled and provide resources. She already has an email: jb@disabledchampion.com.

“I am stubborn,” she said. “But if you’re going to get a disease like I have, you better be stubborn. Because it’s something you constantly have to fight, and work hard to maintain whatever you have.”

If you would like to read the original publication of this story, you can do so by clicking this link The Roanoke Times. You may be required to subscribe to the publication to view.