Updated 6 November 2014
Cartoons
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posted 1 June 2014
From Unit Owner with Repairs,
I want to share with you my story with the BUGMAN. I have to say I love their blue trucks but I can't say I agree with their pricing and billing.
So the HOA decided to a termite treatment and wood repair and actually I didn't even ask for it so I was quite happy. I wasn't so happy with the events that unfolded on Saturday May 15th. At about 8 am, the young gentleman from the bugman came by and treated my garage and unit. He only treated 2 or 3 areas above my window and my sliding door and a few areas in my garage. I asked about the balcony, rafters, etc and apparently this wasn't aproved by the HOA. I am in the process of obtaining this now. After about 30 minutes of work, he presented me with a bill for $375 and asked me to sign. Since I wasn't paying for it, I signed it but I would have been quite upset if I was paying for it. I still feel bad that the HOA is paying such ridiculous prices for a 30 minute service.
Then in the afternoon, two gentleman from bugman came to repair the closet frame and they finished the job in about an hour and half but they went to home depot for about 30 minutes and talked and joked and listened to music most of the time. The closet frame fixed was only about 10 inches long and they didn't even match the paint to my closet and just left it white. I was then presented with a bill for $475 and signed this also. So apparently for about 1.5 hours of work total from the bugman, I was charged $850 and this was happily paid by the HOA.
I think we have take some fiscal responsibility as homeowners and report that the BUGMAN is seriously overcharging the HOA and we should find a better contractor to do the work. I personally have paid licensed contractors much less or even a fraction for similar work. Hopefully the other homeowners will let the HOA know about how the BUGMAN is seriously overcharging us.
To Unit Owner with Repairs,
Thank you for your letter. You are absolutely correct, homeowners should pay attention to the HOA finances. Every homeowner has a vested interest in how our HOA dues are spent by the HOA Board and the management company. If a homeowner thinks the HOA is being over charged for services from a vendor, Homeowners can send an email to Taylor DeLauder advising him of the issue, or they can always send a Letter to the Editor and Harbour Vista News will publish it on the web site.
Thank you being a concerned Homeowner and bringing this issue to the HOA membership.
-----Michael Barto
To Ask a Question of Harbour Vista News: Simply email, call (714-883-1949) or send a letter. Remember: "We are all in this together™". |
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posted 28 May 2014
Letter to the EDITOR
From Concerned about Sub-Lease
I had a question about the land lease. It states in the Sublease Condominium Page 6, that the lessor can take over the properties (i.e. the condos) at the end of the lease. Is this true? This is a bit scary. I assume the lease will be extended before that but still it is scary.
Dear Concerned about Sub-Lease
Thank you for your letter regarding the Sub-Lease that all condo owners have with Harbour Vista LLC. Yes, that is what our current Sub-Lease states and we are contractually bound by our Sub-Lease. We agreed to and signed the Sub-Lease at the time we purchased our condos.
Currently our Sub-Lease expires in 2041. However, Harbour Vista LLC successfully obtained a fifteen year extension from the Land Owners. So, their Land Lease goes to 2056. But to date this extension has NOT been extended to the Owners of Harbour Vista.
Discussions between Harbour Vista LLC and our current Board have not been successful (See Land Lease report). It remains to be seen if condo owners will be able to negotiate an extension of the Sub-Leases. This has an impact on the property values at Harbour Vista.
At present, when the Sub-Leases expire in 2041, all the improvements, (i.e. the condos, club house, garages, pools, etc), go to the Lease Holder without any compensation to the condo owner. Even if extended to 2056, at the end of the extension all improvements will go to the Land Owners without compensation.
It is beneficial to all owners to have the 15 year extension. There is a concern about the cost of the extension to each owner. It remains to be seen how our current or future HOA Board deals with this important issue. Participating in the Monthly HOA meetings would be a place to start.
--Michael Barto
To Ask a Question of Harbour Vista News: Simply email, call (714-883-1949) or send a letter. Remember: "We are all in this together™". |
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posted 25 November 2013
From Mike on the Top Floor
Recently I moved to Harbour Vista to a 3rd floor unit on Blackbeard Lane. I am trying to have Verizon Fios installed in my unit. Verizon informed me they have to run their Fios line through the utility closets on the balcony/patio of the two condos below my condo. They told me HOA requires Verizon to install the Fios lines through the utility closets on the patios and balconies only. Verizon has to have permission and access to the two condos below me and they asked me to talk with these neighbors to get access and set up an appointment for the installation. I can contact the owner for the second floor condo. However, the ground floor unit appears to be vacant , so I cannot contact anyone for that condo.
I called the Action Property Management Company and was told they are not sure who is responsible for this ground floor condo since it might be in foreclosure.
What should I do? I want to install Fios..
Dear Mike Top on the Floor Unit
Yes, it is true that Verizon’s Agreement with the Association only allows them to run their Fios lines through the patio and balcony utility closets to get to your unit. We will check with one of our Harbour Vista News real estate resources to see if we can provide you with contact information for the owner of the ground unit. You could call or mail the owner.
If this is not successful for you, the HOA CC&R’s “Section 6.02 Right of Entry” provides a mechanism whereby the HOA can send a letter with a 7 day notice to gain access to the property. It is not required that the owner respond, only that they be notified. In looking at the units involved, the closets where Verizon needs access are on the outside of the units which falls under HOA outside access privileges.
I am sure that Action or the HOA Board should be able to get this matter resolved. You should first try contacting Action Property Management. If that does not work you can ask Action to have a HOA Board Member call. You could also send an e-mail to the Board at:
or you can attend the next HOA Board meeting on Monday the 25th of November at 7:30 P.M. in the Cabana Clubhouse and ask the Board to help you with this matter.
-----Michael Barto
To Ask a Question of Harbour Vista News: Simply email, call (714-883-1949) or send a letter. Remember: "We are all in this together". |
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posted 6 February 2014
From Mike
A GOOD ARTICLE IN THE LA TIMES
No doubt we all know about the Davis-Sterling Act, and dealt with some sections of it.
However, as of January 1, 2014, numerous sections of the code will be repealed and replaced with a new Part 5. California legislation reorganized and recodified the Act. But it is causing confusion for many people.
To help dealing with the changes, the December 29, 2013 Los Angeles Times (Business section), where every Sunday a column under subtitle “Associations” is printed, published the one titled “Code change is confusing”, and the authors offered a free conversion chart of how the changed statues relate to the original Davis-Sterling Act. To obtain such chart, a first-class stamped, self-addressed envelope should be sent ot the authors.
I think you can forward this to the Harbour Vista Board, and it will be helpful for the board to get such referenced conversion chart for future use.
Dear Mike
I am aware of the changes you referred to in your letter. On the Harbour Vista News web site there is a link under the "HOA Documents" tab to Davis-Sterling.com web site. This web site has a conversion chart for the new code numbers and is very user friendly. It has the entire Davis-Sterling Act along with an index of subjects that makes it easy to look at the statues that pertain to a subject you would want to look up. The site also shows legislation and case law pertaining to Davis-Sterling.
I appreciate you bringing this to our attention so we could let homeowners/property owners at Harbour Vista have this information also. We hope the web site is useful and convenient for you and others.
-----Michael Barto
To Ask a Question of Harbour Vista News: Simply email, call (714-883-1949) or send a letter. Remember: "We are all in this together™". |
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posted 22 January 2014
From Confused Homeowner:
In reading the article about “Ground Lease Extension”, I was a little confused. Does this mean my lease is now extended an additional fifteen years?
Dear Confused Homeowner:
The short answer is NO, your Sub-lease remains the same and will expire in the year 2041 and that is true for all the Homeowners/Property Owners in Harbour Vista. All the terms of the Sub-Lease you have with Harbour Vista LLC remain the same. You should have received copies of the Ground Lease, Sub-Lease and Amendments to these documents from your Escrow Company when you purchased your condo. For a convenient place to look at these documents, you can click on the Land Lease tab to see copies of these documents.
It helps to remember the chain of ownership:
- Land is owned by the Duc Family;
- they leased all the land at Harbour Vista to Harbour Vista LLC , represented by William Dickey; Harbour Vista LLC then Sub-Leased the land to individual Homeowners/property owners in HarbourVista.
In January of 2013 Harbour Vista LLC (Land Lease Holder) successfully negotiated a 15 year Extension of the Ground Lease with the Land Owners (Duc family). That Extension expires in 2056. So, Harbour Vista LLC owns the Land Lease for an additional 15 years until 2056. See this link.
It remains to be seen if, in the future, the 15 year extension will be extended to the Homeowners/property owners at the Harbour Vista Homeowners. Extending the Sub-lease for the additional 15 years would require the terms be negotiated between Harbour Vista LLC and Harbour Vista Homeowners. While the HOA hired an Attorney to contact Harbour Vista LLC regarding an extension of the Sub-leases they were not successful and gave a report to the Homeowners in March of last year regarding the issue. You can see a copy of the report at this link.
Perhaps an opportunity will arise in the future for a HV Board of Directors to re-open talks with Harbour Vista LLC about extending the Sub-Leases.
Hope this clarifies the issue for you and thank you for your letter.
-----Michael Barto
To Ask a Question of Harbour Vista News: Simply email, call (714-883-1949) or send a letter. Remember: "We are all in this together™". |
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posted 12 February 2014
I live in a three bedroom top floor unit. I noticed I have a crawl space to a very large attic space.
I was wondering what the rules and regulations are regarding making this area into a storage area or some other use?
--- Paul with Attic Space
Dear Paul with Attic Space
The governing documents regarding modifications to a unit can be found on the Harbour Vista News website under the HOA Documents tab. Under that tab you will find the HOA Rules and Regulations and there you will find the Architectural Rules and Regulations. Basically, if a homeowner wants to make a modification to their unit they should contact Taylor DeLauder at Action Property Management and tell him you want to submit an Architectural Form for review by the Board of Directors. You can also obtain a copy of this form under the Other Information tab on the Harbour Vista News web site. Taylor will be able to answer any question you have regarding the process to follow for approval of your Architectural modification to your unit.
The Harbour Vista Rules and Regulations state that any modifications must be in compliance with the CCandRs Section 4.02. You can also take a look at the CCandRs Section 8.05 and CCandRs Section 1.42 on the web site.
I spoke with a couple of former Board Members who said there were modifications made to units, in the past, that had permits from the City and Approval from the Board. But there may be units where the owner did not have Permits or Approval from the Board for modifications to their unit. This could be a problem for these homeowners should they decide to sell their unit. They will have to declare the modification to their unit as “non-permitted” and “not approved” by the HOA. Potential Buyers may not want to purchase a unit without the proper HOA Board Approval and City Permits.
I hope this information and places to find the governing documents for modifications to units is helpful.
-----Michael Barto
To Ask a Question of Harbour Vista News: Simply email, call (714-883-1949) or send a letter. Remember: "We are all in this together™". |
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