Busted by the homeowner's association

[Luckydevil]

This is by far the dumbest thing I have ever received in the mail...


I have an outside water spicket on the side of my garage and keep a hose neatly wrapped around the spicket. It really isn't even visible unless you look carefully. Well someone ratted me out to the homeowner's asscociation for violating my no-hose clause that I was unaware even existed. I already filled out the bottom and am about to mail it back.

[gb387]

wow.... bummer. Yeah you know a improperly stored garden hose can drop your property value by thousands even tens of thousands!?!?

:rolleyes:

[sca037]

When we were shopping for property to build on, one of many things we had to consider was that we were also buying into a set of restrictions. The lot we most liked came with 8 friggin' pages of rules, some of which made sense (no temporary structures) and some that did not (no log homes---apparently just a personal preference of the developers). The one that affected us the most was "no trailers or other equipment" storage outside. This meant that we had to design a garage large and tall enough to hold everything and still get the doors closed ;) .
It was just part of the deal, so in the big scheme of things we decided where we wanted to live based on all the factors taken as a whole.
Your garden hose example helps to point out how micro-picky some of these restrictions can be, but I'll bet that on balance you're probably better off with the overall package in place than without it.

Live & learn, eh?
Brian

[428]

Being on the ARC and Board of our HOA I've had my own set of problems with enforcing restrictions and adhering to them. I just got approval so I can add a utility building for all the lawn and garden stuff so I can get it out of the garage. Well, being on the ARC was some help as I know the routine but I still had to file all the papers and agree to put it behind the garage out of site and side it to match the garage even though it's behind the garage and out of site. :bs:

But the biggest obstacle I've had is when I built the garage. By the restrictions no garage door can face the street. No problem, when I built the house the attached two car garage faces the side, the detached three car garage location meant the doors had to face the street but is considered an out building but others on the HOA saw it differently. They said a garage is a garage, luckily I had a letter from the developer stating the intent of the garage door clause was not meant for outbuildings but dwellings and topography of each lot dictates where out structures can be placed. (Our lots are not flat rectangles) My garage is 200 feet from the road and behind the house so it was approved.
A guy up the street wanted to add one to his yard but put it even with his house facing the road citing mine as an example of why he should be allowed. But he wanted it only 60 feet off the main entrance road. After several lawyers and to much money later he finally aggreed to put it behind his house where it needed to go. He even turn the door parallel which I didn't care as long as it was behind the back line of the house as in the restrictions.
Another neighbor is wanting one now, 250 feet off the road but the only way he can turn it is with doors facing the road. I've approved it but some new board members have the same old thinking from when I built mine. Here we go again.
:lol_hitti

I'm also surprised I didn't get a letter when I had everything out of the garage for two weeks while I worked on the inside. I guess they didn't want to send me a letter to approve to send to myself to get everything out of site. :see:

If you are lucky enough to be building from scratch and buying from the developer get any variance in writing from the developer, he just wants to move property and will usually see your point if it's practical. The you can :moon: your HOA.

[Hot Rod]

Keep your hose put away BoY!! :monkey_pi :lol_hitti

[Satatic]

Well I for one am appaled. You sir are going to hell. :lol_hitti

[OI812]

So if you bought one of those platic 6 foot high storage sheds to store it in outside your garage would that be better?

Oh and that has to be one of the most dumb deed restrictions I have heard of. I own some land in a sub-division that has I think 12 restrictions total. 4 of those deal with the size of the house.

[Luckydevil]

i just pulled out my deed restriction "book" and it has 62 pages of restrictions, no joke. :monkey_pi

[jstbecauz]

You people laugh and make jokes about these rules, but it is anarchy, and thugish activity like this that will soon lead to complete chaos. Issues like this need to be nipped in the bud as to set a presidence for other to follow. Rules are there for a reason.

[OI812]

Some rules are good and I can see why they are there and in place. However some are just dumb--kind of like the hose. Who cares.

Then again I suppose it depends if you live in prosperity heights or poverty heights.

[LK1]

For the time being I don't have to put up with a homeowner's association, a simple solution would be to plumb the hookup on the inside of your garage. That way you can have the hose connected and ready to go.
I plumbed a hot water hookup near my bulkhead, which is next to my driveway so that I can still have water in the winter, it was 29 degrees here this morning when I washed my car. I have a hose reel on the wall of the steps, just open the door and go. BTW this site is great, even if it gives me "garage envy".

[fmdualexhaust]

Well, that's it for me.
I just can't belong to a forum where the founder can't follow the rules!!

[ranger_dood]

Build a big ugly box and attach it to the side of your house to hide the hose. Only temporary, of course.

[UroTrash]

What a lucky bunch of pucker-b*tts (the HOA is) if this is the worse thing they have to worry about! HA!

[Wile1Coyote]

All I can say is WOW! And I refuse to ever live in a neighborhood where they can dictate where I can store my hose!

That is just A**inine!

[428]

We've got some bad ones as well. Kinda understand the reasoning but they seem silly none the less.
No tree over 4" in dia. measured 36" off the ground can be cut without approval. (including dead ones)
No visable closelines. Never seen an invisable one.
Swingsets, trampolines, basketball goals cannot be seen from the road. Hard to do when you have a corner lot.
No trucks or trailers parked in the driveway. Doesn't state pick-up, work truck, dump truck. Over half the homes have a pick-up truck.

I got a letter once because I built a Cross Tie retaining wall but hadn't finished backfilling behind it. I was using dirt from another project and moving it a wheelbarrel at a time. Took a few months to do it. I just responded saying it would get done but I wasn't buying dirt just to back fill as I'd then have to haul off my other projects dirt. Nor was I hiring someone to finish my other project just to get it backfilled sooner.
I also got one when I built the house but hadn't paved the driveway yet. I was in the process of building the detached garage and decided to have all heavy construction done before I paved the drive. 65 yards on concrete and I only wanted to do it once. It was also about a month after doing that before I got the siding on the garage. (had exposed OSB) You guessed it, got a letter. If only they'd ask first. I did about 90% of all work on my place. It takes a lot of time to DIY weekend warrior style. Our restrictions give you a year for each major project and I used every day of it.

HOS's get a bad rap and some of them deserve it. For some reason some board members would rather send a letter rather than approach an owner face to face which is one reason I got on our board. All it takes is a nice general conversation of "Hey, that (project) is looking good, you going to finish it yourself?" Usually that leads to the owner spilling out everthing of how and when, as he's proud of his work and should be. Just show a general interest in his work. You'll meet the neighbors and they won't have a bad view of the HOA.

I call one member of ours the "Tree Police" I swear she has measured our trees and knows when each gets over 4 inches. I'm suprised she doesn't send the tree a graduation card or something.
Wonder what she'd say about a chain fall hanging off a limb with a small block attached. It ain't in the restrictions. :see:

Sorry these post get long but our HOA is an intersting bunch. I could write a book about some of their BS.

[cleoent]

crap, i leave my house outside coiled not so neatly. I had no idea that his could be against our HOA rules. Well i'll wait for the letter before i remove it, it's just so damn handy.

[byrdman]

My "restrictive covenants" =
-No more than one immobile car being stored outdoors(Until I get my transmission leak fixed, I'm 1 over. :eek: ) .
-No pigs, chickens, goats (ie "farm animals".)
-And the best one- NO OUTHOUSES! Yup, I live in North Carolina.

[...dave]

Ugh. That's typical of my neighborhood too... we have a rule against having garbage cans in sight from the road. Being on a corner lot, that means i either have to lay out $$$ to build a fence (and bow and scrape to the HOA to get them to allow me to put one up, which due to covenants wouldn't even be close to the kind of fence i'd want in the first place), or keep the big smelly thing in my garage.

Since the garage space has to come from somewhere, i pointed out that the covenants do not have a rule prohibiting spare motors covered in plastic from being stored outside, so i'd obviously have to swap the two. It's now been a couple of months since the "housie nazis" have gotten on me for that particular issue.

But i am sooooo jealous of people with land... 200 feet from the street in front of my house would actually be past my house, past the house of the guy behind me, and out into another street. Subdivision living is the pits.

...dave

[dsprint2000]

I bought 7.5 acres. No one to tell my what to do with the property (besides the missus :boobies: ). I'll fire that engine up at midnight if I want, thank you very much, with AC/DC playing on the shop stereo........ :pimpflash

David

[casaleenie]

I was involved in two condo association situations. It's the worst way to live ever conceived. It's a diabolical lifestyle...

It's like living with a bunch of Nazi's. Everyone wants to get into your business.

I made the dastardly mistake of planting a hydrangia on my own... I left my hose out one night. I'm a freakin' rebel...

Condo living sounds ideal at first but just wait. People are starting to compare notes regarding the nonsense involved. Ohio has made some major changes in the way the associations are managed and financed.

I've sold the two condos my wife and I owned and am in the process of building a new home that is not so rigidly run. Wait until the assessments start coming in for roofs, roads, windows etc... Not the deal you first thought..
I've got one more condo to sell and then I'm free of all this crap...
I've served as president of one association and was on the board of another.
I've spent over ten years involved with them and I'm glad it's finally over.

And I've got a great garage built from scratch.... :rocker:

[partspup]

Covenents are put in by the subdivision contractor and are not enforciable by the munipality, so if the home owner association goes defunk so goes the covents, I serve on planning commission in my town and we get compliants and it is some times nice that we don't have to act on stupid stuff. :lol_hitti

[TOO Z MAXX]

You are now known as the "Hoser of the neighborhood"

[OH-MAN]

Keep your hose put away BoY!! :monkey_pi :lol_hitti


Did they see you out picking up your newspaper without your boxers on one morning?
Was the "GardenHose" identified.
We just moved into an assn. I was really wondering how it would be as I have heard of stories as petty as this . So far they have been pretty cool. Just received the OK to put in a 10' gate and concrete driveway around the side of the house.

[avsfan733]

we used to live in california and our neighborh was the HOA nazi he actually onetime sent us a letter about us playing rollerhockey in our driveway calling it an eyesore. My parents had had enough by the time we moved to virginia.

We built our house in a rather upscale neighborhood in northern virginia and immediately began the HOA problems specifically the one lady who was president (also childless and didn't work) she used to wander the hood walking her dog and making abusrdly exaggerated gestures at us to slow down. She seemed to concentrate on teenagers. that stopped after she was videotaped going 45 in our 35 mph development and a cd-rom with the video was distributed to all homes. she complained about unpaved driveway (which like others mentioned wasn't paved until we finished all work on the house) we attempted to get a subpoena allowing us to measure the heigth of hedge including the roots on the grounds they were a living part of the hedge...it stopped fast.

Since then we have had trailers in our driveway (we raced karts) cars on blocks for a couple weeks my brother regularly builds 10ft snowboard jumps and then uses a friends quad to tow people in and no one says anythign. These people need to feel important with as little effort as possible. Most of them will become very quiet if you make them look bad. sadly a lot of people actually think they are bettering other people. Our HOA agreement is like 45 pages long I read it and a lot of the things are valid, but unbelievably vauge and unenforceable. our max house size is 6000sqft however our next door neighborhs house is 14000 on the grounds that because his wife is in a wheelchair and they denied him a variance for an elevator (actually ended up on the news with that one) they can only count the first floor as usable space even though the house has a stair lift

[Grumpy350]

I would tell them to get a life ...then I would spray them with the waterhose!!!!!!!!!!!

[OH-MAN]

Making sure you put the hose away after.