My HOA fined me $100 a day over my door’s Ring camera – they argue it’s about privacy and now I owe $73,000

A WOMAN is forced to pay thousands after losing a lawsuit against her HOA over a Ring doorbell.

The woman claimed that she’s been living on the edge ever since she lost a lawsuit with her HOA , resulting in her owing them $73,000.

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Teywonia Byrd, a resident of Fat City Condos in Charlotte, North Carolina , fought for years to keep a Ring camera on her door, WSOC TV reported.

Byrd first put up a Ring doorbell after she was a victim of sexual assault.

“I was drugged unbeknownst to me and then sexually assaulted,” Byrd claimed.

After the assault, Byrd asked her HOA to approve the installation of the Ring camera.

However, Byrd’s HOA rejected the request.

The security doorbell, which has a video camera to record the outside of the home, has Byrd’s Homeowners Association concerned over other tenants’ privacy.

“So I had mentally prepared for the threat of that, but no type of preparedness could ever have brought me to this point,” she said.

Despite the HOA rejecting Byrd’s proposal, she installed the doorbell anyway.

Due to defying the HOA’s decision, Byrd was fined $100 daily.

This battle raged for years.

“It’s difficult to put into words,” Byrd recalled.

Lawyers for the HOA stressed that the rejection of the Ring doorbell was about the privacy of other residents and claimed that Byrd could have chosen to install security cameras inside her home.

“Nothing would have prevented Ms. Byrd from putting a dozen cameras up inside her own unit for her own security, which she has never done,” HOA lawyers said.

After years of Byrd being fined $100 for her camera, she took them to court.

Her lawsuit went to trial, had a jury, and lost.

“It feels like I’ve been alive every single moment and every single day with nothing but pain and injustice,” she said.

The HOA initially offered to settle with Byrd and waive the fees if she took the camera down, but she continued to fight.

After losing the fight, Byrd now owes the HOA $73,000.

The HOA is also asking Byrd to pay the $65,000 attorney fees for one part of the case and $50,000 for another.

The HOA’s lawyers said that if she chose to settle, they wouldn’t be asking for the fees to be paid.

Byrd isn’t scared of the fees she’s facing.

“God will make a way. He always has. He always does,” she said.

Can a HOA legally take your home?

Camron Dowlatshahi, a Los Angeles attorney spoke to The U.S. Sun about whether and how homeowner associations have the right to evict you from your home.

The short answer is yes. But there are steps you can take to reduce the risk of it happening in the first place.

First, pay attention to any red flags and all monthly fees listed on your contract when you sign up to join an HOA.

“When you’re signing the HOA paperwork, it’s a contract. And so if there’s some provision clearly set forth in that contract and then later on, you don’t agree with it, or you don’t think it’s fair, well that’s unfortunate, because you signed that contract,”  said Dowlatshahi.

But if you decide to stop following the rules, the HOA “can decide to fine you an exorbitant amount and then you can’t pay that now they’re threatening to start the eviction process.”

However, studying the contract with a fine eye can go both ways.

“If it’s something that’s not clearly laid out in the contract, and maybe they’re doing something that’s in breach of that contract, or contrary to those terms, then certainly you would have a case to defend yourself.”

Though each case will differ, the lawyer suggests “consulting an attorney as much as possible,” if your HOA is trying to take your home.

Camron Dowlatshahi is a founding partner at Mills Sadat Dowlat LLP