Cost of Ownership: 

Liens

 

A loophole in West Virginia law allows HOAs to impose liens on owners even when they do not actually owe money.  Although this rarely happens elsewhere, the Beaver Ridge president is known to harass innocent owners with unjust liens and wrongfully deny their right to vote at meetings.

Purchasing a clear title at Beaver Ridge Resort is no guarantee that the board will not attempt to collect thousands of dollars from a hapless buyer at some point, usually forcing them into hiring an attorney – sometimes more than once. 

One tactic employed by the president is to sue a disobedient owner for money they do not owe, then file a lien on the owner and refuse to release it even after losing the suit.  Unless the unfortunate investor is savvy enough to file their own motions, they will be forced to pay an attorney to lift the lien - additional expense for which they will not be compensated.

The adoption by West Virginia of the so-called "super lien" process means that the Beaver Ridge president could punish an owner by initiating foreclosure proceedings.  While the recovery process would be costly to the owner, the president enjoys the benefit of "playing with house money" (as one person who looked into this points out) with no real accountability.

It is fair to say that a climate in which the authority and resources of the association are leveraged against individuals to satisfy the personal vindictive interests of a single member is less than ideal for investors. 


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