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Woman says HOA asked her to take down lights

Posted at 5:59 PM, Dec 13, 2015
and last updated 2015-12-13 20:59:20-05
While people across the valley are getting in the holiday spirit, one woman says her HOA is a bunch of Grinches!
 
They asked her to take down her Christmas lights.
 
Andi Goldstein and her husband have been putting up a Christmas display outside their house since they moved here almost a decade ago. It is her way of spreading cheer, when so many people need some.
 
"I would love to just hug them and give them a snow man," said Goldstein.
 
Friday, someone told her she has to take it all down. Goldstein said a woman came and told her that her Christmas decorations are against the HOA policy.
 
Action News called the president of the Homeowners Association for Sun City Summerlin, David Steinman.
 
Steinman said he likes her lights and they do not go against any of their policies. However, Goldstein is also part of a sub-association.
 
American Property Resources runs the Showcase sub-association.
 
Robert Hilson, the owner of American Property Resources, said they have been overseeing this sub-association since April 2014. 
 
Like us, Hilson heard they just now got a complaint about Goldstein's decorations, and had to do something.
 
He said it is important to enforce the rules evenly when they are notified of an issue.
 
Hilson explained the issue: Residents can put whatever they want in the courtyard. But they cannot put anything outside the courtyard or on the exterior of the house.
 
Hilson said that is because the sub-association is charged with maintaining the outsides of the homes and the yard, and the decorations interfere with that.
 
Steinman said the sub-association can make their own rules and those rules supersede the rules of the HOA. 
 
Goldstein rents the home and said the only rule she was aware of was when you can have the decorations up - the day after Thanksgiving to January 15.
 
She said her neighbors and her landlord support her leaving the decorations up, and she is going to leave them up as long as she can.
 
"Maybe it's extreme for somebody, I don't know, I don't think it is," said Goldstein. "The world needs this."
 
Action News asked what the process is for a violation in the sub-association: They have to give the person a letter, and then that person has ten days to fix the problem.
 
After the ten days, they can appeal for a hearing with the board, and then get 15 more days to prepare.