April 29, 2012

Ms. Peggy Shaw Golden West Property Management, Inc 6101 Ball Road, Suite 301 Cypress, CA 90630

Re: April 26, 2012 Courtesy Notification. Ms. Shaw, My husband and I are in receipt of your letter dated April 26, 2012. In this letter you state, During our community Inspection on April 19th we noticed that you have a vehicle (Buick) license #2EWB329 that has been leaking oil onto the street. Please clean up oil spots. In point of fact, we do not own a Buick, nor do we own a vehicle with license plate number 2EWB329. We have to presume you are referring to our Mercury, with license plate number 2RWB329. It seems incongruous to go to the trouble of specifically mentioning the vehicle make and license plate number (rather than, say, to simply refer to the vehicle often parked in front of your home ) and then to get this information incorrect on the document you sent. When walking around the tract today, I noted that several other houses have oil spots in the street [photographs enclosed], including in front of 910 Spyglass, which I believe is the home of the HOA president. Many of these oil spots look a lot worse than the street in front of my house. Did these homeowners also receive such Courtesy Letters , or were we singled out for such attention? If they did not also receive such notices, then why not? You may also remember that this vehicle in question had been illegally towed at the direction of your property management company in 2009, and my husband and I still believe that you owe us $360 (double the towing fee we had to pay) for this infraction. Excerpts from California Vehicle Code (C.V.C 22658), with the most relevant sections in bold: (1) There is displayed, in plain view at all entrances to the property, a sign not less than 17 inches by 22 inches in size, with lettering not less than one inch in height, prohibiting public parking and indicating that vehicles will be removed at the owner s expense, and containing the telephone number of the local traffic law enforcement agency and the name and telephone number of each towing company that is a party to a written general towing authorization agreement with the owner or person in lawful possession of the property.

(4) (e) (1) An owner or person in lawful possession of private property, or an association of a common interest development, causing the removal of a vehicle parked on that property is liable for double the storage or towing charges whenever there has been a failure to comply with paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of subdivision (a) or to state the grounds for the removal of the vehicle if requested by the legal or registered owner of the vehicle as required by subdivision (f). To date, your property management company has still not listed the name of the towing company on the parking notice signs outside our tract. In addition, we were not given proper notice before my daughter s car was towed, and I frequently see many cars on the street on street sweeping day that are neither ticketed nor towed. I bring up the towing also because there is construction going on at 931 Torrey Pines. In fact, many of the vehicles from construction companies were parked in front of the house during last Thursday s street sweeping: why were they not towed? They do not live here nor do they pay $90 a month in HOA fees. Not only was it street sweeping day, but section 10.5.2 of the CC&Rs states that commercial vehicles may not be parked, stored, or kept on any street in, adjacent to or visible from Properties except for brief periods of time for loading, unloading, making deliveries or emergency repairs. Certainly none of these situations apply, since the trucks have been parked there for more days and more hours per day than can be accounted for by the allowed activities. So I wonder why my daughter s car was towed, yet more egregious violators are allowed to remain nuisances. My neighbors at 437 Augusta Lane have at least six vehicles that often park in front of my house. My children have been awakened at night by the sound of them repairing their vehicles with the garage door open. This violates CC&R section 10.5.4, but I am not aware of any Courtesy Notifications they have received in response. Most mornings I come out of my house and see that they have multiple cars blocking their driveway and/or extending into the red No Parking zone [photographic documentation (including from today, April 29) available upon request.] Surely the security that patrols our neighborhood has noticed such recurrent violations, or is it only my house that receives such scrutiny? By the way, did this house pictured below (414 Augusta) get a Courtesy Notification about their windows?

Very soon after the slats in our front window fell, we received a Courtesy Notification to fix it and we did. The house at 414 has a similar floor plan to mine, and their windows have needed repairs for months. What about the family that lives at 431 Augusta Lane? The windows in their garage were broken for over a year before they were finally fixed. One of our neighbors recently received a Courtesy Notification to have the shutters on her home painted, but her house has no shutters. I get a Courtesy Notification about some nonexistent Buick, when you are apparently referring to our Mercury. These kinds of errors make me wonder how carefully the homeowners association regulations are being enforced if the facts are not correctly documented. The combination of all of these events and the violations that apparently evade Courtesy Notifications appears as if the regulations are not being enforced in an equal fashion. If they are not being enforced in an equal fashion, that is harassment. I also want to mention an ongoing problem with the communal hot tub. My husband often has back pain, and has repeatedly tried to use the hot tub in the pool area for relief but has found it non-functional. One of the reasons why we bought a house in this development was so that my husband would have the ability to soak in the hot tub when necessary. In the past, he frequently called Golden West Property Management to have it fixed, but he finally gave up in frustration. Because it is a medical necessity, we ended up joining a health club with a hot tub, since the functionality of the Alta Vista South community hot tub can t be relied upon. You ask us to comply with the rules and regulations, and yet this is not reciprocated.

We are currently addressing the oil spot issue in front of our home. However, we would like to point out that the repair and maintenance of the streets is the responsibility of the homeowners association, much like the upkeep and proper maintenance of the other common areas such as the hot tub and pool. CC&R section 9.2 states that the Master Association shall maintain, paint, repair and replace all driveways, streets, parking areas, sidewalks and recreational facilities (such as pools, spas and restrooms) . The maintenance obligations of individual property owners (CC&R section 9.1) do not include the streets in front of our homes, and so we question your authority to designate us, or any of our neighbors, to perform such duties. Are we to be compensated for performing maintenance functions that the Master Association is supposed to take care of? Nevertheless, in a show of cooperation that we hope will be reciprocated, and because our car was certainly involved in the production of said oil spots, though my neighbors and all of their guests have also parked in front of my house, we are in the process of removing them. Sincerely,

Julianna Reiter Suchard For your information:

437 Augusta Lane

425 Augusta Lane

910 Spyglass (where the President of our HOA lives)

910 Spyglass (where the President of our HOA lives)

919 Torrey Pines

919 Torrey Pines

931 Torrey Pines

931 Torrey Pines

424 Quail Run