Location: Chantilly, Virginia
what happened: So my husband painted our door brown instead of the oak color that the HOA wanted (we later found out). we got the first hearing letter in Oct 2009 and since my wedding is the day before the hearing date, therefore i couldn’t attend. My now-husband called and explained the situation and ask the management what we can do in terms of what color should we paint the door to avoid the fee, they told us to write a letter to the Board of Directors (BofD). so we wrote the letter about how we couldn’t attend the hearing. Then a month later, we got a bill of $900 fine for the door. We were furious and called the management again. And of course, they told us to write to the BofD again. So we wrote a letter explain how we wanted to work with them to figure out the color to avoid the fine. Still no words, no calls, no letter from them for months. then we got another bill with late fee this time for the $900 charges. my husband and i went to one of the semi-annual HOA meeting and told them face to face about what happened. The owner of the management company was there and said he would look into it and gave us an answer. we dealt with him for few days and re-send all the letters we had to him and all he told us was he would ask the BofD to review again and notify us. So few weeks pass by and we got a letter from a paralegal about how the BofD rejected our request (once again) and we had to pay the fee. My husband and i walked over to one of the BofD’s house to try to talk to her about this issue and not only she refused to talk to us, she said it’s not legal for her to talk at the point and we should talk to their paralegal. So we called the paralegal and she told us she’s only the paralegal and we had to talk to the BofD. What the heck??!! so few days ago, we got an official court order to appear on the court for our “debt” and this time, it has the $900 + late fee + attorney fee, total of $1400!!! it’s crazy!!! it’s not like we didn’t try to resolve this issue, but their lack of communication and unresponsiveness should cost us money! i don’t know what to do right..should i appear on court and defend ourselves or should i try to negotiate and pay only half ($450 i am only willing to pay half of $900)? and what are the chances that the judge will be on our side if we go to court? oh btw, we live in Chantilly, Virginia. Please help and thanks!

If a person owns a home in S.C. with cars registered to that home has rented a Townhouse in V.A. run by HOA for a temporary job assignment do they have to change to DL & plates to VA in order to park in front of they temporary residence?

Is it legal for an HOA to levy late fees for unpaid community fees without notification of amount due or date due?
Fredericksburg, Va.

Can a Homeowners Association be held liable for negligence if a dog bite victim is injured by a resident’s unrestrained dog in the HOA common area? There are no enclosed dog exercise areas within the HOA, and no signs prohibitting dogs from running at large within the HOA common areas. Over the years, there have been numerous complaints made against the owner of this aggressive dog yet she continues to exercise her unrestrained dog in the open common area and the HOA refuses to do anything about it. All the HOA does is refer people to the Animal Control Authorities to look into the incidents that have occurred.