For a brief period, I began hoping she'd finally accepted that the estate wasn't part of her association.
But the silence didn't last.
On a Tuesday morning, I received a notice from the City of Scottsdale concerning a complaint about the pool enclosure.
The notice requested an inspection to determine whether certain safety features complied with applicable requirements.
At first, I was irritated.
Then I reminded myself that a municipal safety inspection wasn't automatically harassment.
Pool barriers mattered.
Children could be seriously injured when properties lacked appropriate protections.
So I contacted the city.
Scheduled the visit.
And provided the documentation concerning our pool's permits and safety features.
The inspector arrived two days later.
He was courteous and professional.
He examined the gate.
The fencing.
The latches.
And the other relevant features.
He explained the scope of the inspection.
Then documented his findings.
We had one minor maintenance item requiring adjustment.
Nothing involving the association's authority.
I arranged the repair immediately.
When the inspection concluded, I asked whether the complaint had been anonymous.
The inspector said the city would handle any disclosure questions through its ordinary records process.
I nodded.
Then thanked him.
I wasn't going to treat an inspector as an enemy simply because somebody may have used the complaint system to inconvenience me.
The inspection was legitimate work.
The question was whether the complaint was made in good faith.
Two days later, a second complaint arrived concerning exterior lighting.
Then a third about landscaping near the boundary.
Each issue required time.
Documentation.
And communication with the relevant office.
Elena began recording the pattern.
She submitted appropriate records requests and correspondence through ordinary channels.
The documents eventually showed that at least some of the complaints had originated from communications connected with Caroline.
That wasn't proof every complaint was knowingly false.
But it strengthened our concern that she was using different institutions to pressure a property owner after failing to establish HOA jurisdiction.
Elena prepared a formal letter.
It demanded that the association stop asserting authority over the estate without evidence of legal rights.
It prohibited unauthorized entry by association representatives.
And it requested that the board preserve all documents concerning the walkway project, the estate parcel, and communications with Caroline about my family.