WRAL Investigates homeowners’ association: Window fight costing man $50 a day
MAR 8, 2022 | REPUBLISHED BY LIT: MAR 8, 2022
CARY, N.C. — Homeowners associations in North Carolina have enough power to take a home if a homeowner starts racking up fines.
It’s the fear of a Cary resident Andy Cheng, who is getting fined $50 a day because of his windows.
“It was not in the ARC. It was not in the guidelines,”
Cheng said of newly implemented rules regarding windows.
“It was added last year.”
The HOA rule change came 18 months after he installed new windows on the front of his home.
Even more frustrating to Cheng, he reached out to Carpenter Village’s management company to see if he need approval from the HOA board before installing the windows.
In an email exchange Cheng provided to WRAL Investigates, the management company said as long as the frame and trim of the windows remained the same, no approval was needed.
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More than a year after that email exchange, the Carpenter Village Association decided because the new windows didn’t have grids, they broke the rules. When Cheng told the board about his email exchange, they didn’t budge.
“They said the email statement was wrong,” Cheng said.
Cheng also points out some other homes in the neighborhood, including one of a former board member, also installed new gridless windows. He says the board has been more strict with him.
“Why (do) you treat me so aggressively, different from other owners?” he asked.
However, Cheng thinks he has an answer.
“I think I have reasonable doubt that race is a driving factor unless a convincing explanation from the HOA can be provided,” Cheng told WRAL Investigates.
Cheng hired attorneys and filed a lawsuit in January alleging violations of the Fair Housing Act, which protects against discrimination. The complaint also asks the court to tell the HOA to stop enforcing any window grid requirements against the Chengs, and from fining and possibly foreclosing on their house. It’s a big expense, but one Cheng feels is worth it.
“For me, it’s not about the money or the windows, it’s about the principle,” he said.
Lawyers for the management company responded to Cheng during the window fight, writing, “Contrary to any suggestions in your letter.. we do believe architectural control provisions in the Declaration would encompass changes to the style of windows which are plainly visible from the outside.”
That’s a very different message than the one he received when he asked that same company whether he needed board approval. Cheng says he supports the idea of HOAs in general. However, he feels his board is out of line.
“If they do things legally, follow the rules, follow the guidelines treat everybody the same, I’m fine with that,” Cheng said. “We can not let this power abuse continue. Today it was me, tomorrow that’ll happen to you.”
North Carolina courts have a history of siding with homeowners’ associations in legal battles. However, that’s only if the associations follow strict guidelines when it comes to notifying homeowners of fines and possible liens on their homes.
In a recent case from the western part of our state, the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled an association didn’t do its due diligence to contact a homeowner who temporarily moved. The association eventually foreclosed on and sold the home. The court ruled the association had to repay the homeowner because it only mailed notices despite having an email address for the owner.
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