Florida Homeowners Association Terror

In How to File an ARC with Your HOA So That They Can Reject It, I begin to tell the story of how I landed in my present situation with the HOA. Keep in mind that when I mention the HOA, I am also talking about the Property Management Company/Property Manager since they are a team, regardless of whether they functionally operate in that manner or not. And as you can see on my neighborhood’s CDD website, the HOA is the property manager.

Since I did not respond to the request for further details in a timely manner, I submitted another ARC. Below you will see what I wrote, with additional emphasis that I have added in bold for reference later:

1. Description of Improvement:

I had the flu from 12/7/25 for two weeks. Do you want a doctor's note? I do not have insurance but I can go to the clinic to get one because I had records of my fever and symptoms. I also started a new job on 12/1 and ended up missing a lot of time due to the flu. This is why I did not respond. Without any further assistance available for poor and/or disabled homeowners, the tarp would be replaced in May of 2026 and will be done at that time due accumulations of funds and/or to sale of property/new owner. ______ Progressive Insurance in conjunction with South Shore Roofing company would like to improve the roof that was increasingly damaged by storms Debbie, Helene, and Milton by installing a whole house tarp as prior damage was exacerbated by multi-day rain storms that occurred in May 2025 which resulted in severe interior leaking throughout the 2nd floor of home and a part of the 1st floor. FEMA was unable to tarp for homeowner immediately after the storm. Progressive insurance will deny coverage of interior damage if roof is not tarped. Home already has $30k+ worth of damage from previous storms unresolved due to class action lawsuit against builder. South Shore roofing decided to use flashing to cover roof insisting that it was superior to what was seen throughout Vista Palms. Progressive insurance agreed with South Shore Roofing's conclusion. Flashing is a blue and white. Interior damage has not progressed and tarp remains intact. Progressive insurance approved total roof replacement with a deductible of $7k. Homeowner cannot meet deductible at this time due to 1. the HOA having a previous lien on property rending the property ineligible for county assistance over the summer; 2. current unemployment related to issue #1; 3. Catholic Charity subsidiary could not investigate FEMA claim and provide supplementary assistance due to being closed by current U.S. president. Homeowner's new employment is $22k annually which is about $2k per month. If I set aside $1k per month, I could pay for the roof in July 2026.

The part before the dashes is what I added to the ARC when I resubmitted it. Everything after that is the exact same thing I wrote in the first ARC. I tried to add all pertinent information because it still does not make since to me that I am actually making an improvement to the home. A tarp isn’t an improvement—it mitigates damages. Plus, the tarp already existed prior to them forcing me to submit this claim that they knew they were going to reject. If I were getting a better roof, that would be an improvement.

Here is the response from the HOA:

History

• Hello Board, The owner is requesting to keep the tarp on the roof for an unknow period of time. Their comments show that they could not pay the deductible for their insurance to complete the repairs. They make reference to hardship. The owner then states he could pay the deductible by June 2026, which still does not provide a ETA on when the tarp would be removed or repairs made. I would suspect that after the deductible is paid in June, it would take a while for the insurance company to approve and get the roofer out there to make the repairs. Please let me know if you approve this request or if there are any questions?

Management 12/23/2025 02:12 pm

I had to respond to this because I wasn’t sure if the HOA had a reading comprehension problem or if I was just stressed out and losing my ability to communicate effectively. I had already submitted documents detailing when the tarp was installed, the estimate for a roof replacement, and my homeowner insurance company’s approval of a new roof.

In June, either the foreclosure/sale of the home will be complete and the lender will be responsible for the roof at that time (possibly prior to that time but the lender has to deal with the lien that the HOA placed on the home while the home was already in mortgage foreclosure), or the “homeowner” (myself) will have said deductible in June due to accumulation of funds from new employment. The deductible has nothing to do with the insurance company (Progressive) approving anything. I have already attached documents to my previous ARC indicating as such so I am unsure why that claim is being made currently by Kessler. Additionally, I already have a roofer—for which I have previously provided documentation for also—that is ready to do the job as they did the tarp and were going to do the roof in June prior to the HOA foreclosing on the house which pulled the Hillsborough County home repair funding from the roofer. There are not an abundance of roofs needing repair currently as there were no active hurricanes to hit this area during the past season so nothing is hindering the repair except money.

So, in response to my response, I am sure you know what the HOA did. They rejected that shit:

Hello, This request has been declined by the board of directors. The board has stated that it is unreasonable to have to wait until June to have this issue taken care of especially since this has been an issue throughout 2025. The board further states that the repairs must be made within the reasonable time of the end of January in order to avoid the issue being sent to the attorney for legal enforcement actions. Please have the issue resolved by the end of January.

Management 01/05/2026 02:58 pm

So, let all the details above serve as a further introduction to how I landed in this predicament. It gets worse. Much worse.