West Houston condo owners sue their HOA claiming it won't turn over insurance money for Harvey damage

HOUSTON - "It hurts after this long to not be able to go home," said condo owner Norman Hord. " We just want to go home."

Hurricane Harvey wreaked havoc on Houston in August of 2017.

"It's now January 2020 and I still do not have a completed home in spite of having flood insurance," Hord said.

Residents of West Bayou Oaks Townhomes spend hundreds of dollars a month on their homeowner's association fees and they say part of that goes for insurance.

"And the insurance is supposed to cover a catastrophe, like what happened with Hurricane Harvey," said attorney David Tang.

But some condo owners say the West Bayou Oaks Townhomes Central Association refuses to turn the insurance money over to them.

"I was told about a bunch of restrictions I had to use their contractor I wasn't going to see any of the money it was going to be how they wanted it done," said condo resident and past HOA president John Laughlin.

"There's probably another 40 to 50 homeowners ready to sue the HOA to get the rest of their money and move on," Tang said.

A lawsuit Hord filed against the HOA accuses West Bayou Oaks Townhomes Central Association of failing to properly account manage and release insurance proceeds.

Hord says he was supposed to get $25,000 from insurance to repair his home.

He says he only got $10,000.

"They showed me where the money that was allocated. To me, it was misspent and those explanations to me were tough luck," he said.

"This year, they have spent $80,000 defending suits to not pay money," said condo owner and HOA board member Yousuf Beg. "They are using my money to hire lawyers to defend me from myself.

We reached out to the attorney representing the HOA, but have yet to hear anything back.