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A 28-year-old homeowner says she is being forced out of her father’s 55-and-over after inheriting the home following his death, as residents are expected to fund the legal fees.
Bethany Michel said that “155 geriatric-aged residents” are being asked to foot the legal bills from the HOA dead set on removing her from the Arbor Mill retirement community in Jacksonville, she said on TikTok on Monday.
“There is a 55-plus community that is so eager to get rid of one of their non-55 residents, myself, that on Wednesday, in order to sue me out of my own home, they’re asking 155 residents on fixed incomes to do a mandatory $1,000 assessment,” Michel said.
Five people voted to approve the special assessment that will charge residents to help amass the HOA’s legal war chest for the legal fight, Michel revealed on her Instagram Story.
“They allowed 155 people to think that they had a decision in the vote,” Michel told News4Jax. “But it was the five board members who spoke for the whole community.”
Michel, who hosts a podcast and reviews restaurants, has been living in the retirement community since moving to the Sunshine State in 2020 to care for her terminally ill father during the COVID pandemic.
She inherited the home after her father died in 2023, and residents haven’t been pleased with their younger neighbor.
Michel said she first received a note telling her she didn’t meet the community guidelines three months after her dad’s death.
“I 100% am being forced out,” she told the outlet. “They’re trying to rip my office away from me, too.”
Michel has since been denied access to other community amenities as she faces the lawsuit, the outlet reported.
Residents who don’t hand over the assessment fee will be charged $100 over the next ten months, in order for the HOA board to get the required money, Michel claimed.
“So not only do I have to pay my own attorney to defend me against these f–kers trying to sue me out of my own home, but I also have to pay the thousand dollar assessment,” she said. “I have to pay both sides. I have to pay them to help sue myself.”
Non-board member residents were left conflicted over the lawsuit and subsequent vote to remove Michel from the community.
“As a person who has kids, I don’t believe that this is the right thing to do, to just kick her out and take her out,” neighbor William Baltazar told News4Jax. “The majority of the people here disagree with this. There are very few people that are really pushing it.”
Other unidentified residents shared they didn’t like the situation but wanted to respect the community ownership age restriction.
The HOA covenants require each home to have at least one occupant who is 55 or older, and no residents 19 and under are allowed to live in the neighborhood, according to documents viewed by The Post.
Transfer of home ownership is allowed to be transferred to someone under 55 if they meet the requirements the occupancy restrictions specify
“Nothing in this Section shall restrict the ownership of or transfer of title to any Lot; provided, no Owner under the age of fifty-five (55) may occupy a Home unless the requirements of this Section are met nor shall any Owner permit occupancy of the Home in violation of this Section,” the document states.
The HOA governing laws were organized to “comply Association’s responsibilities in connection with the Housing for Older Persons Act “HOPA,” a federal law that makes it legal for certain age restricted communities to operate and restrict residency.
Michel remained optimistic and defiant against the HOA after her dad made sure she would be “grandfathered in” before his death.
“How many people between the age of 20 and 30 can actually become a homeowner these days?” she told the outlet. “It’s nearly impossible to become a homeowner, and the fact that he worked to set me up with a situation where I own a home — and I was told I would be allowed to stay.
“Love y’all, even the ones who don’t like me,” she said. “You will live the rest of your life watching me thrive, whether you’re happy with it or not. I ain’t going nowhere.”
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