Pooler man says HOA hit him with $19K in fees, no warning

POOLER, Ga. (WTOC) - A Pooler man says his homeowners association is charging him more than $19,000 in fees, much of it issued without warning or prior notice.

Ronald Hamilton has lived in the Somersby neighborhood for 17 years. He says he received just one HOA ticket in his first 11 years of owning his home, but that changed after Schrieber LLC took over management of the association.

Thousands in fines, no notice

Hamilton says that within a couple of months under the new management, he received $6,000 in violations for parking on the street overnight — with no communication or proof provided.

“Nobody that I know of has 19-thousand dollars to give an HOA for a parking violation,” Hamilton said.

He says the prior HOA would leave warnings and notices of fines by mail. Since the $6,000 surprise, Hamilton says he has received only three notes — two for daytime street parking and one for cutting weeds. Street parking fees account for more than $10,000 of his total balance.

Hamilton also says that when he tried to get answers, the HOA board required payment before engaging with him.

“We were trying to find out how did these fines come about, and they told us in order for us to communicate with the HOA board we’d need to pay two thousand and six hundred some dollars before they’d even talk to us,” Hamilton said.

Other residents share similar concerns

Hamilton is not the only Somersby resident with complaints. Tony Butts says his wife was issued a $1,500 fine without warning.

“I’d have moved it the next day, within the hour,” Butts said.

Butts said the core issue is a lack of communication from the HOA.

“You can’t call nobody or get anybody on the phone line or nothing,” he said.

Butts says he paid the fine. Hamilton says his situation is more costly, and he plans to take his case to court.

“It’s a burden on us and our family, it stresses us out because we know we’ve got that over our head,” Hamilton said.

The HOA board did not respond to a request for comment.