Northwest Condo & HOA News from CAN
News items about Condominium and Homeowner associations in Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Alaska, compiled by the Community Associations Network

• WA: Sudden Valley overwhelmed by snow
  This private community's steep roads proved to be especially treacherous for drivers during this week's snowstorms.
• WA: County wants to change road maintenance rules
  The county law would require a developer to form a permanent road division (PRD), rather than using a homeowners association (HOA), to maintain roads in any new subdivision larger than four lots.
• AK: Condo insurance can be complicated, so ask questions
  If an earthquake, fire or theft should strike, is your home adequately protected? Unfortunately, only when the worst happens do we truly know. A devastating condominium fire last year caused us to reassess our insurance needs for a condominium unit we own. What we found was that condominium insurance was a lot more complex than we thought.
• AK: Condo association plans to rebuild after tragic four-plex fire
  Lisa Jenkinson, president of the building's condo association said the association has enough insurance to cover a possible demolition and rebuild of the property.
• OR: Frustrated Condo Owners Sue Resort (video)
  More than fifty condominium owners have filed a fraud lawsuit against the Inn at the Seventh Mountain Resort in Bend.
• OR: Pollock's troubles; Paulson and a new plan
  Northwest Community Management Co., which manages the homeowners' association, filed six liens against Buena Vista seeking $4,900 in unpaid dues. Pollock said all the homes were rentals but he stopped making the payments while he negotiates with his lenders
• WA: Will Bellingham homeless, condo owners co-exist?
  That's why he doubts the city's plan to transform the industrial area - Bellingham's Skid Row, as one neighbor calls it - into an urban village with commercial-residential buildings and a mix of people. He doesn't believe the homeless and condo owners will blend.
• OR: Tentative deal reached in Beaverton suit over the Round
  The City Council has tentatively agreed to settle the city's lawsuit against the owners of the Round at Beaverton Central for unpaid utility bills.
• WA: Downtown slowdown: Seattle, Bellevue building projects take a hit
  How many construction cranes did you count the last time you drove through downtown Seattle or downtown Bellevue? Ten? Twelve? More? Count them while you can.
• WA: Don't Let Your Condo Complex Turn Into a Dump
  Oh, one more thing. If your condo isn't FHA approved, you should see what your condo board is doing to obtain approval. That is the most attractive form of financing right now for condos, and absent that, sales will be more difficult and/or at lower prices.
• WA: Prospective condo buyers in Seattle area sitting on the fence
  Sometime around the end of the year, the first residents will move into Bellevue Towers, Bellevue's tallest skyscrapers. They may have plenty of elbow room for a while.
• OR: Smoke in Sunriver condo traced to portable heater
  Bennett said as the colder weather arrives, remember to use portable heaters only for their intended purpose. To keep pipes from freezing, consider using approved pipe insulation, heating tape or other specifically designed products. Portable heaters should only be used in places where people can keep an eye on them, he said.
• OR: Neighbors squabble and mediators settle
  Since the city's Dispute Resolution Center started 20 years ago, the quarrels have graduated from barking dogs and trees across property lines to truant high schoolers and fractious homeowners associations.
• WA: Lowdown on condo reserve studies
  Q: Our condominium association is struggling to understand the new law requiring us to have a professional reserve study. With the exception of financial hardship, is it mandatory we have this study?
• WA: Kennewick reservist faces threats over landscaping
  Now, Lt. Jensen is being told to get an irrigation system and landscaping on his property as soon as possible or face legal action from the Oak Hill Country Estates Homeowners' Association.
• WA: Former Roy mayor charged with theft from HOA
  Eldridge allegedly stole more than $11,000 from the McKenna Meadows Homeowners Association between February 2003 and September 2007.
• OR: Barton sentenced for embezzlement
  Josephine Marie Barton, 55, of Waldport was sentenced Wednesday afternoon to 11 months of incarceration and ordered to pay $86,750 in restitution to the Waldport Chamber of Commerce and the Sandpiper Village Homeowners Association for monies she embezzled between 2005 and 2008.
• WA: Don't let condo dues catch you by surprise
  But before she moved in, the dues rose notably -- and the concierge ended up on duty just six hours a day.
• WA: Plants in condo hallways - against fire code?
  Q:I live in a five-unit condominium on Capitol Hill. One of the owners put a jade plant outside his front door this summer in a corner on the landing on the third floor. Another owner complained to all owners about this and said this is against the by-laws.
• WA: Investigators: Some condo conversions crumbling (video)
  On home video he and his wife documented their new condo's rapid slide into disrepair.
• OR: The Round Owners Assn. denies city claim to collect on unpaid utility bills
  The Round Owners Association is fighting back and pointing to Dorn-Platz Properties Commercial Investment as the culprit in failing to forward payments to the city for utility bills dating back to May 2007.
• OR: Some cry foul over Mountain Park political sign rules
  Some Mountain Park homeowners say their free speech rights are being violated while they are forced to take down political signs in their yards and homes.
• WA: Condo building protest allowed to continue
  A Spokane man may continue his bizarre protest of a condo building near his house, so long as he does not target a Realtor with signs or call her, a Spokane County District Court commissioner decided today.
• WA: Condo partner files lawsuit over cost statements
  A partner in Don BarbieriÂ’s high-profile riverside condo building is suing the Spokane businessman, alleging Barbieri and companies he owns overstated costs by more than $3 million to avoid sharing project profits.
• WA: Office condos see growing interest in Seattle
  Office condos -- white-collar work space that is sold, not leased -- have had a slow start in Seattle, but now they may be catching on here as they have in some other parts of the country, say real estate marketers and analysts.
• OR: Portland condo buyers win $2.3 million salve
  Owners of Northwest Portland's Hilltop Condominiums at Uptown have won $2.3 million in their long legal battle against prominent local developer Marty Kehoe.
• WA: Sudden Valley services restored
  Eight people lost their jobs and almost all recreational programs were cut after a $14.13 monthly dues increase failed to achieve supermajority approval in March. But a resident-supported petition brought a June 14 revot