Homeowners association sells woman's house


 

By ZEKE MINAYA

Article Courtesy of The Houston Chronicle

Published April 28, 2005

Pamela Bernhardt was close to completing renovations on a house she owned and hoped to sell. She had installed a new roof, new granite tops in the kitchen and new tiles in the bathroom.

Earlier this month, she arrived at the house on the 14200 block of Swallowfield in southwest Houston and found a small, yellow note stuck to the front door.

The handwritten note said that the house had been sold at a foreclosure sale seven months earlier. The local homeowners association had sold the house, valued at about $250,000, saying Bernhardt failed to pay a $420 assessment fee.

"It was so devastating," Bernhardt said. "I was just stunned."

Bernhardt's situation was another example of the excessive power of homeowners associations and the need to reform the use of foreclosure sales to collect fees, state leaders and activists said Wednesday.

Suing to get house back

A lawyer for the Briarhills Homeowners Association, which foreclosed on the house, said sufficient protection is on the books for homeowners and that Bernhardt was given ample opportunities to pay the debt.

Bernhardt has filed suit, claiming she never received notices alerting her to the delinquent fees. She is asking for her house back.

"I was never sent any notices," the 52-year-old real estate agent said. "I would have paid the $420, before spending about $48,000 on renovations."

Terry Sears, a lawyer for Briarhills, said notices were sent to Bernhardt by certified mail and that after the sale she had 180 days to buy her home back.

"She could have bought her home back for the amount of the past due assessment," he said. "It's unfortunate she did not respond to any of the notices."

Had the dispute been mediated in court, Bernhardt would not have lost her home, said state Sen. Jon Lindsay. Some foreclosures can be enacted without going before a judge, Lindsay said.

"I want to see judicial foreclosures," said Lindsay, R-Houston. "A judge should be looking over the shoulder of this process."

Lindsay said he would address the concern during the current session. The deadline for introducing new bills has passed, but he could still amend a pre-existing proposal, Lindsay said.

Practice is common

The push to curtail homeowners associations gained momentum after 83-year-old widow Wenonah Blevins lost her Houston home in 2001 when she failed to pay $814.50 in association dues.

Blevins eventually got her home back, and public outrage galvanized state leaders to install protections that included the 180-day period in which a property owner could repurchase their home after a foreclosure.

But more needs to be done, according to Robert A. Axelrad, Bernhardt's lawyer.

"There are no safeguards with non-judicial foreclosures," he said. "You are talking about such a relatively small amount of money. The question is whether people should be allowed to take away people's homes without the safeguard associated with the judicial process."

The practice of homeowners associations threatening foreclosure has become much too common, said David Kahne, a lawyer who has represented homeowners against foreclosure. He estimates that 1,000 lawsuits are filed each year in Harris County by homeowners associations seeking foreclosures.


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