Sterling Green in East Harris County seems like a quiet neighborhood that's a good place to raise your kids. Just looking around the community, you'd never guess that the neighbors are fighting. 

"My name is Don Griffin. I'm one of the people that has been trying to remove the board of directors," he said as he introduced himself to another resident. 

Also online:  Houston Area HOA Foreclosure-related Filings 
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A lot of people are downright mad, and it's about their homeowner's association. 

"It's like living in a communist area. You have to ask for permission to go to the bathroom, is the way I feel," said resident Catherine Pennington. 

It seems that hundreds of homeowners have been hit with sometimes expensive legal action. 

"As a neighborhood, we're actually spending thousands of dollars to collect a couple hundred," commented Griffin. 

The Herreras claim they paid their civic association fees, but didn't keep a check stub to prove it. 

It started with a bill for about $250. 

"I got this in October sometime and it was dated. And they charged me $1,30872," said resident Amy Herrera. 

Within a couple of months, the charges for demand letters, lien letters and other fees had climbed to more than $2,700. 

"They're taking advantage of people that are struggling to make a living, you know. They see hard times are here and they just keep accumulating and accumulating charges and charges that are nonsense,” said Herrera. 

Edna Pena got crosswise with the association over a new driveway and figures she's paid more than $4,000 in legal fees. 

"The house wasn't worth what it eventually was gonna cost me in court to fight these people," Pena said. 

Sterling Green might seem like a good place to raise your kids, but it's a bad place to cross the civic association. 

Just ask Beanie Adolph. 

The Houston grandmother has spent years pouring through mounds of court documents, researching homeowner associations. 

When she added up all the foreclosure-related filings Houston area associations had pursued against property owners, "Proportionally, it was just amazing," said Adolph. 

Sterling Green topped the list. 

She's not surprised people there are amassing so much in legal fees. 

"Property code 204 says 'reasonable fees.' Now, that is left open for interpretation from here to eternity. And that's what they charge. A reasonable fee should have a cap on it," said Adolph. 

This flurry of legal action and legal bills comes from a law firm that acts sort of like a collection agency for the civic association. But a lot of people in this neighborhood think residents are getting stuck with expensive bills for routine legal work and boilerplate letters. 

"Well, you're making the assumption that’s just sending out letters. The fees that I charge, the fees that any association attorney in this area charge, are all predicated on the overhead and what's necessary to perform that step,” said homeowner association attorney William Gammon. 

At the latest civic association board meeting, the question, ‘What are the rules in order to get the board removed,’ drew a standing room only crowd, with complaints about how many of their neighbors had been slapped with legal action. 

"Why were they sued? What was the process involved? And how much money did Mr. Gammon make off of that," asked one concerned resident. 

The attorney said his firm had profited about $130,000 in legal fees in a little more than two years from Sterling Green residents. 

Homeowners complained that threatening to foreclose over small association fees just wasn't fair. 

Whatever's fair, arguments like this over civic association fees are disturbing the peace of quiet neighborhoods throughout the Houston area. 

A faction of Sterling Green homeowners are gathering proxies to unseat their association's board members, but that's not easy because so few people get involved, for or against their civic associations.