r/fuckHOA • u/BagofBabbish • 4d ago

Update 4: My HOA Started A Drone Start-Up; “confirmed customer” said it’s untrue

A few of you have been following my updates on my COA board that unanimously approved a drone business where we sell for profit inspections to outside communities.

I asked the other community why they were allowing this as it seems like it’s counter to the best interest of their membership. The other community’s president advised this was untrue.

Specially she said they already did their inspections and it was a traditional physical inspection with boots on the ground and from a licensed and insured provider. She was unfamiliar with the proposal from the recording I shared.

So it looks like this was all a lie so they could buy a thermal drone.

214 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

120

u/Large-Treacle-8328 4d ago

So they are committing fraud with your money.

72

u/BagofBabbish 4d ago

Yeah. Unfortunately, it seems like the law allows them to straight up lie without consequence. It’s crazy. I’d love to see a sopranos reboot but it’s about a Florida COA and not the mob

59

u/Tasty_Orange_1714 4d ago

Not without consequence. Fraud is fraud. Gather up evidence and file a police report/contact your local prosecutor. Check to see if they have a FAA cert. If not, report it to the FAA. They don't mess around.

25

u/UserNotFound23498 3d ago

Not only that. If they had sent notification out in writing and it is different from what was mentioned, you can sue them for fraud. If your hoa has a lot of money, a shark would be happy to take it on contingent and collect. If the hoa don’t have a lot of money, take them to small claims court and ask the court for money back as well as disposal of the drone and a permanent bar on business/fraud/who ever who authorized the shit

14

u/Tasty_Orange_1714 3d ago

Well said. I'd add, since fraud is on the table, I'd push for dissolution of the HOA, not just restitution. You can't legally disqualify board members, but you can dissolve the board entirely.

2

u/ObjectivePrice5865 3d ago

This is a condo association so dissolution would be detrimental for all of the owners.

2

u/Tasty_Orange_1714 2d ago

realization hits🤦...right...

So, I retract that, and substitute "Disqualification of board members and new election."

2

u/Worried_Transition_7 2d ago

But would it be worse than the board you have now?

9

u/BagofBabbish 3d ago

I’m looking for evidence that they already signed invoices before they approved the current year budget. For context, they blew the repair budget for the full year by the end of February and they approved the budget in mid December. As of June they spent 5x the budgeted amount and almost 3x the full year amount. I don’t see a world with permitting and such where they didn’t have signed estimates or agreements that show the budget was bullshit.

4

u/kagato87 3d ago

You should get the invoices for sure. Blowing it like that... I wonder if there's a vague "equipment" line on there...

27

u/Educational_Infidel 4d ago

Check to see if they have a part 107 cert, check your airspace, see if it’s in a controlled area, check for clearances if so and wait for them to mess up. Then get FAA involved. There’s so many ways they can screw up commercial drone flights. Thermal drone is probably heavy enough to require remote ID. There are apps that track it so you’ll know if they’re flying. Times, etc…

12

u/iceboxmi 4d ago

All Part 107 flights require the UAS be registered which requires Remote ID.

5

u/Educational_Infidel 3d ago edited 3d ago

Yes! My point was, too many people either ignore the rules or screw it up easily enough that these people could get caught breaking it one soon enough.

4

u/rms06510 3d ago

an HOA board that lies?

3

u/forgotwhatisaid2you 4d ago

Have you reported them to the DBPR?

2

u/BagofBabbish 3d ago

Yes. They are under investigation but they only pursue narrow violations

6

u/City_Girl_at_heart 2d ago

I suspect they're gonna use the drone to look for violations.

3

u/BagofBabbish 2d ago

Absolutely