Judge Rules Couple Can Not Smoke In Their Own Home

Originally posted by ArMaP
Have you ever needed to go to the hospital because you couldn't breath? Take one or two cortisone shots, and stay for 2, 3, 4 or maybe more hours breathing oxygen and Ventolin (I think this is the name used in the US) through a mask until you feel strong enough to walk?

Yes, actually, I have. Childhood asthma, grew out of it around 19. Still have a nebulizer, and the appropriate meds, just in case.

But that isn't the point. The point is, people like you, who really can't be around smoke at all, should live in the "special housing," with super-ventilation or whatever. The rest of us should be able to live in a place where we can smoke.

It's not that I don't understand. It's that, you can't just start changing the rules willy-nilly. Your home, or apartment, or wherever you live, is yours. That's why you pay rent, or, in this case, made a huge investment. All I can say is, I hope they're offering that couple a nice buy-out deal.

I wonder how many smokers live there, because there must have been a whole lot of smoking to disturb enough people to pass a new rule. Maybe it was a popularity contest and the smokers weren't as 'whatever' as the opposition.


[edit on 19-11-2006 by HarlemHottie]

For some reason, I couldn't edit this into my last post, but I had to respond... couldn't let this slide.

Originally posted by ArMaP
I don't drive either, but the difference is that the fumes from the cars, buses, etc. is the result of something working, not the result of someone just passing time with a completely useless thing like smoking.

No, the fumes from cars is the result of someone not working. If all able-bodied Americans would get off their butts and walk or ride a bike sometime, I wouldn't have to breathe in all that exhaust.

Oh, I forgot, lazy people get a free pass. Smokers are the pariah du jour.

Originally posted by HarlemHottie
Yes, actually, I have. Childhood asthma, grew out of it around 19. Still have a nebulizer, and the appropriate meds, just in case.

I am glad you got rid of it, I am stuck with it for the rest of my life...

It's that, you can't just start changing the rules willy-nilly.

The problem is that one of the rules is that they can change the rules, that is why I said that people must know what they are signing when they sign anything.

I wonder how many smokers live there, because there must have been a whole lot of smoking to disturb enough people to pass a new rule. Maybe it was a popularity contest and the smokers weren't as 'whatever' as the opposition.

That is the problem with a democratic system, its good only when you are part of the majority, when you belong to the minority you must accept what the other people want.

No, the fumes from cars is the result of someone not working. If all able-bodied Americans would get off their butts and walk or ride a bike sometime, I wouldn't have to breathe in all that exhaust.

That is another problem, many people do not really need to use the car but they use it just because they can.

Oh, I forgot, lazy people get a free pass. Smokers are the pariah du jour.

And the lazy smokers?


Back on topic...

I think that part of this problem, regardless of the reasons presented by the HOA, is that there are too many things that can be regulated by them.

In Portugal, the law says that the condo administration has power to decide only about the common areas, and that the individual owners are only forbidden to use their unit in ways that are forbidden in that condo's establishing declaration (for lack of a better word for it), and the declaration is made when the condo is legally established and is not changed after, unless all members accept it.

Condominiums will soon be revealed as the scams they are. You have no rights nor do you actually own anything in law. You buy some space and apparently due to this story you do not even have reasonable rights to enjoy the space that you paid a great deal of money for control over.

The police state cometh and so many will welcome it with open arms.

You know, I really have to say this.

This is (at least it's supposed to be) a free country, where people
can do what they like so long as it does'nt break any law.

That said, if I or anyone else for that matter wants to smoke a
cigarette, than we should be able to.

And if you don't want to smell it, well guess what, there are tons
of places that are smoke free.


Dictating what a person can and can't do with their own bodies
just because you don't like it, or purposefully inconvenience
yourself is completely Fascist.

Originally posted by ArMaP
I think that part of this problem, regardless of the reasons presented by the HOA, is that there are too many things that can be regulated by them.

Yep, that's it. I don't understand how you can purchase property and someone can tell you what to do with it. This whole thing is causing a weird cognitive dissonance for me. I thought that was the point of buying.



ps, I really am sorry about your asthma, I don't want you to think I was being flippant.

wow, smoke seeping into other units?

nice construction techniques in this condo, eh?

I'm guessing theres more to this story than meets the eye, of course, you could also end up next to some neighbors who have no tolerance for anything outside of their own little worlds, and seriously need to have the stick impaling their backside removed.

then again, anyone seriously stupid enough to move into a place where you can't even have even a modicum of control over your own purchased property probably deserves what they get.

Yes, I've seen it before.. these associations telling you what color curtains you have to have, or no blinds, so on and so forth. But,as was said before, American Idol is between seasons, so some people need their drama fix apparently... others lack so much control over their own life they feel the need to control someone elses to assuage their personal inadequacies.

Never join a Home Owners Association unless you really don't mind them telling you exactly (and I do mean EXACTLY) what you may and may not do to your own house. Most Home Owners Associations carry binding clauses in their contracts that let them legally turn you off the land if you fail to meet with their demands.

HOAs can demand outrageous and expensive changes quite literally overnight, can fine you on Day One of your violation, and you are bound to pay these fees, even if you correct the demand to their specifications, AND can subsequently place a lein against you if you fail to pay these fines. A lein will, by the way, prevent you from ever buying property in that state again until it is paid off.

A cousin of mine made the mistake of buying a house in a HOA controlled neighborhood, because he thought it would net him the highest return in value appreciation. Within five years, he'd spent tens of thousands of dollars trying to keep up with the most ridiculous demands, some of which changed course in the same year. The most famous of which was "The Fence Incident".

I don't remember the exact numbers, but here's the gist:

When he bought the house, the fence was 7 feet tall. The first WEEK they were in the house, (they hadn't even finished unpacking yet) he receives a fine for $1000 plus $100 PER DAY he continued to have a fence under 8 feet tall. No warning, no grace period, no probation to correct the problem. So the first order of business wasn't buying a fridge, or a washer and dryer, but instead, buying a stupid fence that was one-foot taller than the previous fence (because they also expressly stated the fence had to be uniform, he couldn't just add boards to the height). He (wrongly) assumed then that he wasn't required to pay the fine since he'd just bought a several hundred dollar fence.

Needless to say, a month later they receive the equivolent of an eviction notice because he hadn't paid the thousand-PLUS late fees. He took them to court, lost, paid the late fees, then received a bill in the mail for their court costs. He later said he thought that was going to be the angriest moment of his life. In point of fact it came later, when the HOA told him one year later that all houses in the neighborhood were lowering their fences to five feet, and that he would need to buy a new fence. With an evil grin and a saw, he cut 3 feet off his fence.

The next day he received ANOTHER $1000 fine because his fence was damaged.

He lost it that day. I mean literally lost it. He made it through twelve fences with a sledgehammer before the police hauled him off, and his family ended up with a bill that was more expensive than the downpayment for the house. Which of course he couldn't pay, it eventually turned into a tens-of-thousands dollar lien, and they now live in an apartment with destroyed credit.

NEVER buy a house in a Home Owners Association. Maybe my cousin's story is a worst-case scenario, but that's a real life example of just how bad it can get.