Home owners’ associations (“HOA”) require certain and specific governing documents. As a resident in an HOA, you are entitled to access to these documents. Understanding them can help you realize not only your obligations but your protections. Most states have laws that govern the formation of home owner’s associations. Kansas has the Uniform Common Interest Owners Bill of Rights. It is contained at K.S.A. 58-4601 – 58-4623. Declarations Of Covenants, Conditions And Restrictions One of the first and most important documents to understand is the Declarations of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (“CC&R”). This document contains agreements that run with the land, which means they transfer with land ownership. In other words, a planned association developer creates these agreements or restrictions that are part of the purchase of the property for residential use. Once you sell the property, these same restrictions… Read More
Appraisal Fraud You recently received an appraisal on a home, and something does not seem right. The value is too high and out of whack with comparable purchases in the area. Worse still, there was a suspicious relationship between the broker, lender, and the appraiser. Perhaps you received the value of an appraisal as part of a divorce. An inflated appraisal is the linchpin of the property flipping schemes and many predatory loan schemes. Sky high appraisals are often used as evidence in many different court cases. Mortgage brokers secure inflated appraisals to persuade lenders to extend loans larger than the borrower’s income and assets justify. The consumer ends up saddled with a mortgage that may exceed the value of the home, making it impossible to refinance or to sell the home except at a loss. An appraiser may be… Read More
Most mortgage lenders require you to pay into an escrow account, and the lender, through its servicer, then pays your property taxes and insurance from that escrow account. Even if there is not enough in your escrow account, the servicer will typically pay your property taxes. You could eventually face foreclosure on your mortgage loan if you do not pay what you owe into your escrow account. Your servicer will usually do the same even if you do not have an escrow account—in that case, you face foreclosure if you do not repay the servicer for the taxes it has paid for you. On the other hand, if you own your home free and clear of a mortgage, then you are responsible for paying the property taxes on your home. Failure to do so could eventually lead to a “tax… Read More
There is an increasingly common problem developing in rural communities. Your neighbor sprays their crops with an herbicide or pesticide and all of the sudden your crops become damaged. What is happening? And more importantly, what remedies do you have? The increase in Dicamba Drift cases is bringing more information to light. What Is Pesticide Drift? What does “drift” mean in this context? According to the EPA drift means “the movement of pesticide dust or droplets through the air at the time of application or soon after, to any site other than the area intended.” https://www.epa.gov/reducing-pesticide-drift/introduction-pesticide-drift Dicamba is a broad spectrum herbicide first approved in 1967 to kill weeds. It has come back into favor due to resistance in some weeds. Dicamba is prone to drift off target. Although the new dicamba-based herbicides are formulated to stay on the application… Read More
Someone owes you money, and now you can’t find them, what can you do? In a year, Titus Law Firm, LLC receives hundreds of calls from clients trying to collect on certain debts and those trying to avoid collection. Overall, understanding the process involved in skip tracing and cyber tracking may be helpful in understanding the process. Skip Tracing The very best way to track a person and/or debtor down is through a skip trace. Skip tracing is a term used by bounty hunters to describe the process of locating a person that cannot be found at their place of residence or usual hangouts. “Skip” refers to the person being searched for (derived from the term “to skip town”) and “tracing” meaning the act of locating the skip. Skip tracing is performed in stages. The first step is to verify… Read More
Mo. Rev. Stat. §§ 407.010 Through 407.307 Merchandising Practices Act The Missouri Merchandising Practices Act (“MMPA”) exists to protect consumers. Missouri’s Supreme Court has observed that the unfair practices declared unlawful by the MMPA are exceedingly broad. A brief synopsis of the MMPA is provided below: Prohibited Practices Under The MMPA Deception, fraud, false pretenses, false promises, misrepresentations, unfair practices, or concealment or omission of material fact. Scope Of The MMPA Sale, lease, offer for sale or lease, attempt to sell or lease, distribution, or advertisement of any merchandise including goods, commodities, intangibles, realty or services. Also includes solicitation of funds for any charitable purpose. Exclusions Under The MMPA Advertisements by publisher, radio and television media, with no knowledge of falsity; institutions supervised by director of insurance, credit unions, or finance unless director authorizes attorney general to act or a… Read More
Kan. Stat. Ann. §§ 50-623 Through 50-640 and 50-675a through 50-679a Consumer Protection Act For all Kansans, one of the most important consumer laws is the Kansas Consumer Protection Act. Borrowing words from the Kansas Supreme Court, the Kansas Consumer Protection Act allows consumers that are harmed by deceptive or unconscionable acts or practices to act as their own “private attorney general” and take steps to protect their rights. In addition, the law allows the state attorney general and local district attorneys to take steps to protect consumers. Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices under the KCPA can be broken down as follows: Prohibited Practices under The KCPA Any deceptive acts or practices including but not limited to 12 enumerated prohibitions, one of which is willful concealment of material fact; unconscionable practice, determined by considering 7 enumerated factors. Scope of… Read More
Your home has been foreclosed on, or sold for failure to pay real estate taxes, what happens next? 2020 has been incredibly difficult for many people, and foreclosures and tax sales are likely to only go up in 2021. It is important to know that you have some rights that are seldom explained. Although, unless you can repay delinquent amounts, there may be nothing to stop the sale of property, you (or your heirs) are not completely out the equity that has accumulated in the real estate being foreclosed upon. It is frequently not shared with homeowners that if your property is sold for more than is owed to the bank or government entity seizing the property, that you (or your heirs) are entitled to any money collected in excess of the amounts owed. This can sometimes be significant money… Read More
Every year, Americans encounter life-changing problems they can’t resolve because our civil courts are a complex maze. At some point, most people have a problem like a divorce or wrongful treatment by a landlord or debt collector and need a legal solution. But millions lose their cases in civil court, not because they’ve done something wrong, but because they don’t have the information or legal help they need. Whether your are in the landlord tenant docket in Wyandotte County District Court, the limited actions docket in Johnson County fighting a hospital bill, or associate level court in Jackson County Circuit Court, self-represented litigants are the norm in courts across the Kansas City Region. Judges are forced to make hard decisions on whether a family can stay in their home or medical debt is really owed. Most of these self-represented litigant… Read More
The various titles and other documents evidencing a car’s history are often key to discovering exactly how a car’s history differs from that represented by the dealer. The detailed title history is often more revealing than the summary title history described in the prior section. Not only is there no substitute for obtaining copies of the actual records to determine if there have been alterations, forgeries, information left blank, and other problems, but the actual records will show the names and addresses of prior owners. These records are also likely to be admissible in court, while a summary title report will not be. Summary reports also will only reliably indicate transfers to a purchaser for use, and may not indicate transfers from one dealer to another, from an insurance company to a body shop, or from a body shop to… Read More
