Trouble Blooms: Condo Board Sues Resident Over Flowers

A condo association in Portsmouth, N.H. is suing a resident for having planted flowers in her yard.

Kimberly Bois has "daisies, bearded irises, lavender, hydrangeas and tulip builbs" around her home in the Atlantic Pointe condominiums, where she has lived since 2008. According to the Portsmouth Herald, many of the plants are heirlooms from her late mother. She told the newspaper that they were planted with the permission of the developer, before the condo board even existed. But the association has sent her 13 certified letters, beginning with a cease-and-desist order and escalating to a demand that she remove the plants and pay thousands of dollars in fines and penalties.

PortsmouthPatch reports that Boise offered to settle the dispute by paying up to $3,000, but that the condo board rejected the offer, instead insisting that she pay all of their legal costs and fines.

"Every month I get a certified letter of what my assessments are, and I'm up to $5,500," Boise told PortsmouthPatch. "It's kind of like they sucked the joy out of owning my first home."

Last month a notice reportedly arrived informing Bois that a lien had been placed on her unit for $4,500 in back fines. The board has also reportedly demanded that she pay the $8,000 in attorney's fees it has accrued in the course of suing her.