Q: I live in a deed-restricted townhome community and have a neighbor who thinks the county's right-of-way is her property. She will not allow me to put out my trash bags for pickup even though it is a common area. She throws my garbage and yard waste onto my driveway. The association, police officers and waste removal service representatives have spoken to her yet she refuses to allow me to utilize this service area. What do you suggest I do?

S.H., Orlando

A: Since many parties have discussed the problem with her, I can provide little help, but I do suggest one thing. First, send her a written notice to refrain from touching your garbage in the right of way and warn her that if she does, you will not be responsible for any injury or illness she receives. Explain that your trash may contain medical discards or food waste that can cause serious consequences if she comes into contact with it.

Pour ammonia on the bags when you place them outside. If you use a trash can, put ammonia in that. Let your waste company know of the ammonia and explain why you are doing it for a limited time. I am sure that you will not have the problem long after you do it several times.

Q: What is the law or ruling on a member of an association requesting monthly financial statements from the management company? We had a problem with the management company -- one of their employees was stealing money from HOA accounts and I am concerned.

A.S., Naples

A: Any member can request to inspect the financial records by sending a letter to the board. You can inspect the records but if you ask for a copy, they can charge a reasonable copy cost for the records. You must send a letter each month to obtain copies.

Q: Our HOA has a bad case of apathy. Most of our members are only here for the winter months and the others are older retirees. When an annual meeting is scheduled, the notice includes proxies, which most just return to the board. This gives the board control of the meeting and the election. Is there any method available to a relatively small group to take some of the powers of the board? We would like to have the proxy changed from a general one to a limited one but have not been successful.

L.E., Palm City

A: The unfortunate situation is that no one can help with apathy except you, your neighbors and the owners. One solution is to meet your neighbors and ask them to help. You can copy the proxy and then knock on doors to ask owners to sign and put your name as the proxy holder. Maybe you can get other owners to help get proxies signed.

Q: I am in the process of selling my condominium and I have close to $5,000 vested in the reserves. Can I request to get my money back?

D.C., Tampa

A: No, reserves are not a deposit. The reserve that you paid was part of the budget, which was a debt obligation you paid for the unit. Reserves make your unit more valuable to a buyer.

Q: I live in a very nice villa complex. Inspections for compliance with the rules and regulations are conducted twice a year by the Architectural Review Committee (ARC). During this walk-around inspection, are committee members allowed to come on to your property or must they stay on the right of way? There appears to be a disparity in the manner in which homeowners are cited, even though they operate from a check list.

D.A., Tampa

A: I can only give you my opinion of how I would conduct inspections. I have had several discussions in past years with other managers and boards of directors on how to inspect and some will disagree with me. First, it is important that you have a check list or inspection report and I suggest more frequent inspections, such as weekly or every other week, depending on the size of the community.

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