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After a five-year fight with the homeowners association in her Lake Wylie neighborhood, Sherry Loeffler has scored a rare victory: a legal settlement with an HOA.

The dispute began in 2019, when Loeffler submitted plans to have new vinyl windows installed on her townhome, which the HOA for the Yachtsman on Lake Wylie community approved.

After the windows were installed, the association reneged on its approval, she contends. It ordered her to replace her windows at her own expense so their appearance matched most in the community. She refused.

The HOA fined her nearly $12,000 and put a lien on her house. Worried that the HOA would foreclose on her home, Loeffler sued.

The settlement grants Loeffler $75,000 — and she can keep her windows.

“Such a weight has been lifted off my shoulders,” said Loeffler, 53, who plans events and does other support work for banking executives. “I can’t even explain it.”

Still, Loeffler said, the money only begins to cover what the battle has cost her.

She had to borrow about $30,000 to cover her legal fees and refinance her three-story townhouse to a significantly higher interest rate so she could free up money to go to trial, she said. (The case was settled just a week before it was scheduled to go to trial.)

She also had to begin taking anxiety medication to deal with the stress of it all, she said. In a letter submitted to the court, Loeffler’s doctor said she had suffered from panic attacks and sleep difficulties — and that the conflict with her HOA was a major source of her stress.

A number of people who are in disputes with their HOAs have approached Loeffler for advice. She offers support, guidance and words of caution.

“I tell people you may want to fight them,” she said. “But let me tell you what it’s going to cost you.”

HOAs make and enforce rules in a growing number of neighborhoods. More than a quarter of North Carolinians now live in HOA communities, and many of them are happy with their associations. But legal experts say conflicts between residents and their HOAs appear to be on the rise.

HOAs in North Carolina have filed to foreclose on thousands of North Carolina homeowners — often for less than $2,000, a 2023 investigation by The Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer revealed. Hundreds of those homeowners have lost their homes as a result, the newspapers found.

A bill that would have prevented HOAs from foreclosing on homeowners for debts of less than $2,500 did not move in the last legislative session, but lawmakers may take it up again in the next session.

No state or federal agencies oversee HOAs, according to the North Carolina Department of Justice. Homeowners can sue associations, but that rarely happens because it’s expensive.

Loeffler was an exception. She won an initial round in her court fight last year, when Mecklenburg County District Court Judge Ty Hands ordered the HOA to remove the lien, cancel the fines and reimburse Loeffler for the $12,675 she had spent on legal fees. The HOA didn’t pay that money until this September.

In October, Loeffler’s HOA proposed a settlement agreement that included a confidentiality provision, which would have prohibited her from making public the terms of the settlement. Such language is common in many legal settlements. But that provision was removed from the agreement after Loeffler objected to it.

“People need to hear this story,” she said. “And a lesson needs to be learned that HOA boards shouldn’t be doing this to people and abusing their power. I think they’ll think twice before doing it to others.”

In previously filed court documents, the HOA said that neighbors had complained that Loeffler’s windows “defeated the common scheme of the building” and that the building’s appearance had an effect on the community’s property values.

The windows she had installed didn’t match the plans she submitted, the association contended. Judge Hands rejected that argument last year.

Charlie Anderson, who became president of the HOA board after the windows were installed, said board members years ago tried to negotiate a compromise that wouldn’t have cost Loeffler anything. Loeffler refused the offer, he said.

Now, he said, the community’s volunteer board members want to put the window saga behind them.

“We’re not happy with the settlement, but we want to move on,” he said. “...We just want to restore peace and harmony here, and have this case go away. It has been very arduous on all the board members involved.”

One lesson for homeowners, Loeffler says, is that they need to document everything.

“Put everything in writing, every detail, no matter how small, when dealing with an HOA,” she said. “Because you don’t know when they’re going to turn on you.”

In 2020, Loeffler’s HOA began fining her $100 a day over the windows — the maximum daily fine that HOAs are allowed to impose under North Carolina law. The total soon climbed to nearly $12,000. When the HOA put a lien on her house for that amount, Loeffler sued, knowing the association could foreclose on her otherwise.

Such lawsuits aren’t common because they’re expensive for homeowners. HOAs typically worry less about the cost of litigation, legal experts say, because they can use the association’s insurance or the dues paid by property owners to cover their expenses.

Loeffler’s attorney said that if the case holds a lesson for HOAs, it’s that they should think carefully before imposing big fines. In Loeffler’s case, lawyer Thomas Thurman said, those fines weren’t merited.

“Assessing daily fines against someone is going to rack up quickly — and create stakes worthy of litigation,” said Thurman, who represents both HOAs and homeowners in his Charlotte practice. “You don’t do that lightly.”

Why did the HOA impose $100-a-day fines on Loeffler? Anderson, the board president, said Loeffler wasn’t responding to emails from board members who were trying to resolve the dispute and “that was the action taken by the board to get her to come to the table.”

Worn out by her ordeal, Loeffler said she now plans to move. Where will she live next?

“Probably a community without an HOA,” she said.

This story was originally published November 13, 2024, 6:00 AM.

The Charlotte Observer

704-358-5060

Ames Alexander, an investigative reporter for the Observer, has examined corruption in state prisons, the mistreatment of injured poultry workers and many other subjects. His stories have won dozens of state and national awards. He was a key member of two reporting teams that were named Pulitzer finalists.