Do you think your HOA is picking on you? Well, you're not alone.
Paulla thinks so too. The Phoenix woman's home is under Kingswood HOA and her battle began two years ago stemming from a paint issue.
Her HOA approved only three paint colors for houses and only one for beams. But when Paulla needed her beams painted she said she could not get ahold of the approved colors. She also explained that the store that supposedly sold the paint didn't have a list for her HOA.
So instead of buying the approved "Mojave Sage" she bought "Summer Sage." She thought it looked similar and says she brought a sample to the board.
Paulla said there were no objections — so she took that as acceptance and used it to paint her beams.
Then she got a letter from the HOA which explained that her beams needed to be repainted. Paulla said other homes in area have weeds, rotted wood and unapproved paint colors and the HOA hasn't gone after them.
"I felt I was being bullied, singled out," she said.
And Paulla said that may be because she notified Phoenix code enforcement about some neighbors' homes. When she refused to paint her beams, the HOA sued. Paulla counter-sued.
"If you're going to penalize me, you have to penalize everybody else too," she said.
After two years, both sides settled the suit.
Paulla said she got thousands from the HOA's insurance. But most of it went to an attorney that she had to hire. The HOA spent thousands of dollars too.
And she said it's crazy that all of it was over a paint color, which she gets to keep for five more years.
"At that time it will be time to repaint anyway," Paulla said.
We repeatedly contacted Kingswood HOA board members, the property management company and the HOA's attorney for comment. We received no statement by the time this was published.
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