The HOA Will Reply — Unless It's About Money or Accountability

After trying for 3 years to communicate fairly and legally with our HOA board, I continue to be met with silence, deflection, and obstruction — especially when the topic is money, records, or transparency.

For nearly three years, the board’s attorney has sent letters stating:

In a January 5th, 2023 letter:
- “The directors and management will no longer accept or read emails from you.”
- “[the association] has no obligation to accept or respond to email communications from you”
In a June 5th, 2025 letter:
- “[the association] will not read your emails.”
In a June 25th 2025 letter:
- “[the association] will not respond to your emails”
On June 23rd 2025 on zoom (where they made threats to fine me for exercising my rights to post flyers):
- “You will never have access to email the HOA ever again.”

They’ve insisted all communication be sent via snail mail — an outdated and impractical demand in 2025. And yet, they’ve selectively responded to some emails — usually trivial or low-stakes — while ignoring requests for legally required records, like financials or architectural applications.

The association’s letter claiming they “will not read my emails”, despite no violations and no due process.

This selective communication isn’t just frustrating — it has the effect of blocking transparency, avoiding accountability, and sidelining homeowners who raise legitimate questions.

According to section 11.3 of the 2008 CCRs:

“A notice, document, or report permitted or required by the governing documents shall be in writing and deemed received […]”, “when permitted by law, by electronic transmittal”

California Civil Code 4035 permits emails:

“A document delivered pursuant to this section may be delivered by any of the following methods: By email, facsimile, or other electronic means, if the association has assented to that method of delivery.”

The association assented to emails, which in my position is a boolean decision — either they accept email from everyone, or do not accept email from everyone.

If I did commit a violation, like offensive communication they accuse me of, there is a process for that. They are supposed to issue a 30 day warning and an optional fine. More importantly, there needs to be due process, including an ability to show evidence, and a right to appeal.

Despite being told not to talk to the on-site manager, all communication appears to be funneled exclusively through that person, further centralizing control and, in my view, cutting off access to the board. This gatekeeping, as I see it, contributes to a lack of transparency and resident input. A dynamic that appears to underlie many community issues — such as the abrupt removal of furniture in the common area, and delays in things as simple as a building key.

Meanwhile, the board labels my overwhelmingly polite, legally grounded requests as “abusive” or “threatening” — while ignoring their legal obligation to respond. Here are just a few real examples of my so-called “threatening” emails:

These are not confrontational messages. They’re respectful, reasonable, and fully within the rights of any homeowner. Yet they’ve been ignored or reframed as antagonistic — I apologize for any emails I sent that were abrasive, and it would be my position. I may have been frustrated at not being acknowledged. We all have rights to inspect their records under Civil Code § 5205.

Their restrictions are also unreasonable by any standard. Snail mail is not appropriate for reporting certain issues, like being locked out of the building, due to our entry system (ButterflyMX) being offline.

Snail mail is not possible when residents have been repeatedly trapped in elevators and found the emergency call systems to not work.

When I have called the emergency hotline for issues that are emergencies by their own standards, like building security, they have threatened to fine me and on another occasion the HOA attorney threatened to ban my access to the emergency hotline.

After they then instructed me to use Pilera, I did so, and they closed my requests without resolution. These are simple requests, such as when I was asking them if they were going to pay for damage that their vendors caused to my car in April 2024:

I keep asking them to pay, using the communication channels they ask me to use, such as Pilera in June 2025. No response over a year later.

Here is a video showing the door handle no longer working on My Tesla Model S, due to the damage (A cost of ~$300, far exceeding any damage caused by thumbtacking a flyer to a wall).

The HOA attorney also tells me not to talk to any board members or management company staff. The attorney tells me to instead call the main management company phone number, however when I do, I am forwarded to an employee’s voicemail. That employee has not answered or returned any of my calls in over 3 years.

Also despite being accused of harassing the on-site manager, the manager repeatedly initiates contact such as on June 23rd at 7:32pm 2025 when the manager approached me and repeatedly berated me, calling me a “baby” and making statements I interpreted as threatening toward my vehicle.

I’ve documented these patterns, contradictions, and gatekeeping tactics — with screenshots, timelines, and evidence. Now they are panicking and mopping sidewalks to silence me, because they didn’t think I had the receipts.

This is not just about poor communication. It’s about a sustained effort to suppress transparency, stonewall residents, and consolidate power. The HOA will respond — unless the question challenges their authority or demands answers they don’t want to give.

It’s time we call that what it is.

If you agree, demand your right to be heard. Insist the board follow the law, respond fairly, and respect legitimate questions about how our community is being managed — and how our dues are being spent.

For transparency, a management company employee did provide some documents on March 17, 2022. I complained it was not the full record (there were no bank statements to verify reserves match their reports, and many other issues)

The records they did send were not legible to me, they were too blurry. I complained repeatedly, for 3 years, and never heard back. Additionally, these blurry incomplete records were not provided within the time required by law (10 days). The blurry incomplete records took 49 days (The request was on March 29, 2022. Their incomplete blurry records were provided May 17, 2022)