Is America’s Worst Homeowners Association in Miami? It’s starting to look like this | Opinion

Gangster-style wrongdoing allegations at one of Florida’s largest homeowners associations, the Hammock Community Association in the Miami suburb of West Kendall, have already become a nightmare for suburbanites.

Last year, HOA board members were charged with racketeering, money laundering, fabricating evidence and using shell companies. The monthly maintenance fee has been increased by 400% without any real explanation. The money seemed to be disappearing, but the expenses were not documented. The board did not meet publicly for over four years, meeting instead in secret. However, the homeowners couldn’t get rid of the board: one attempt was thwarted by a false bomb threat, and a recall attempt went nowhere when the board threw out two-thirds of the ballots in an outrageous act.

It took the arrests of the former president, her husband and three others for participating in what prosecutors called a sophisticated “criminal enterprise” to uncover the madness that Hammocks homeowners have lived with for years.

Miami-Dade County Judge Beatrice Buchko, according to The Real Deal, called it a “terrorist situation.”

And now, in the latest court hearing on Tuesday, it appears that the fraud was even worse than originally thought, somewhere in the $3.4 million range, up from the previous estimate of $2 million. It’s a whole bunch of homeowner’s royalties stolen or misappropriated. And this is another reason to take action at the state or local level regarding wrongful HOAs.

The Hammocks scheme, according to the Miami Herald, apparently revolved around paying suppliers for work that wasn’t done, with the money embezzled by board members or family members. The investigation dragged on for years, and the board refused to cooperate. When investigators from the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office were finally able to gain access to the club’s office last November – the association at one point refused to abide by a court order because “the board doesn’t trust the state” – they uncovered a ton of documents, including one stash under the floor of the office, according to the Herald.

The story goes on

President Margli Gallego seems to be at the center of it all. She was first indicted in 2021 for allegedly taking nearly $60,000 from the association, spending some of it on a private investigator to spy on her neighbor’s enemies. Community members say that for years they felt like they were fighting the “Gallego Mafia”.

But $60,000 seems like weak tea compared to the most recent allegations of a multi-million dollar conspiracy.

The revelations are not over either. Court-appointed Governor David Gersten said on Tuesday that board members used 55 bank accounts and credit cards, which he called “extremely abnormal.” Prosecutors might call it something else: evidence of a crime.

HOA Hammocks is expected to help manage a sprawling community of 6,500 housing units and a population of approximately 18,000. But an HOA of any size can abuse its members. How many small HOAs spend money in questionable or even criminal ways that we don’t know about?

Homeowners associations can be a boon to their community by keeping quality of life and property values ​​high. This is no small matter when for most people their homes are their biggest investment.

But Hammocks is proof that, without oversight, HOAs can spiral out of control. Board members can exploit their neighbors or even become criminal organizations. Obviously more control is needed. Miami-Dade State Attorney Katie Fernandez Rundle said in December that she was working on a plan to prosecute HOA leaders. She was scheduled to hold a press conference on Friday to discuss “serious efforts” to change laws to provide new protections for HOA residents and apartment owners. This will be welcome progress.

Whether it’s a state or local initiative, it’s time to learn the harsh lesson of the Hammocks HOA. And love your neighbor, it’s not like that.

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