HOA crushed my dream building

[Charles (in GA)]

Not all HOA's are the same.

I would urge all prospective homeowners who are exploring this option to thoroughly check out the HOA itself before committing to live under it. In my case, my HOA covers 39 single-family residences that is part of a 80 home (approx.) tract. Apparently each development phase got its own HOA for some reason. The dues are only $70/year, which is great, but the downside is nothing gets done. Only 2 slots on the 5 person board are occupied. Rules on RV parking and other things are going unenforced. There's a couple of bank-owned properties that are severely distressed. In other words, people are acting like there's no HOA, and for all intents and purposes, there isn't.

One of the Lead Mechanics at work is the Pres of his HOA. He is quite fair, but strict also. For instance, people who bring their boats home, and leave them in the driveway after a big holiday such as Memorial Day, are not harassed for a week or so. By then they have had lots of time to empty them, clean them and get them out of sight or into the storage place. But continue to leave it there, and expect to hear from him right away. He enforces evenly, no favorites, and no exceptions, and doesn't hesitate to file liens for past due assessments and fines. Most of the property owners are apparently happy with what he does, because he is so fair about it, and he only expects you to follow the rules you agreed to abide by when you bought the house. Who can fault that?

I live in a community where a HOA is an absolute necessity. The HOA owns the streets, the pool and the water system and some other common properties. We get free water in exchange for paying the assessment.

Charles

 

[premierplayer]

Originally Posted by kmacht
The biggest thing to remember when working with a HOA is that there are things that they want and things that they require. Only what is specificly listed in the covenants is what they can require. Anything outside of that is something they Want and can't enforce. Read the covenants and see where you stand. Until you do that everything else said here is just speculation.

Keith

This is the best response I've seen yet.

+2 on this

I live in Southern Maryland, Calvert CO. Local Ordinances, then State Ordinances trump HOA EVERYTIME, end of story. If your addition will meet the current zoning (setbacks, permited use, etc.) Health Dept. requirements and Building Permit process approves you're in.

Looks like you have a very nice well kept home, I'm guessing you plan to keep it that way with the addition. Sounds like some HOA'ers may be on a power trip. Make nice, maybe hire an attorney familiar with the process to make nice with you.

Another option is to sell me the GTO that would free up quite a bit of space in the existing garage. I've been looking '67 Tempest, your GTO could maybe end the search, looks like a nice one.

You'll be at Huntingtown HS tomorrow with the GTO?

 

[DekeT]

+2 on this

I live in Southern Maryland, Calvert CO. Local Ordinances, then State Ordinances trump HOA EVERYTIME, end of story. If your addition will meet the current zoning (setbacks, permited use, etc.) Health Dept. requirements and Building Permit process approves you're in.

Yes your building department would issue you a permit based on the requirements they have. They would have to because you met the standards of their ordinances. However, they do not enforce more stringent requirements of the HOA similar to how the state will does not enforce county and township ordinances. The HOA is invisible to the local ordinance requirement. If agreed to belong to the HOA you still have to meet the HOA level no matter how much state, county, and township approvals you get

Local governments may be more restrictive than higher levels of government but cannot be less restrictive.

 

[wedge40]

I've read through most of these and am always intriqued with people who live with HOA's. I'm not the one dealing with it, but it still doesn't seem right. My mother worked for a lady who owned a condo with a HOA and even something as simple as painting a room in the house had to go before the board.
I wish you luck and hope you get your dream garage, if not I hope you win the lottery and can afford to move.

It dawned on me.. Don't most of us have to deal with HOAs. Maybe not explicitly, but we do have to deal with permit and local requirements.

Wedge

 

[EOC_Jason]

It dawned on me.. Don't most of us have to deal with HOAs. Maybe not explicitly, but we do have to deal with permit and local requirements.

Depends on where you live...

Of course there are at minimum Federal requirements, then State... If you live in an unincorporated area then County/Parish requirements. Sometimes you can be in the ETJ (Extraterritorial Jurisdiction) of a Municipality and have certain things you must comply with. Then of course if you live in a Municipality you have their requirements, and finally if you live in a subdivision or group living thing there is typically a HOA. And if you rent then you have a lease agreement to abide by...

So many layers of bureaucracy... In all honestly it's easier to just do what you want and ask for forgiveness later (in the end most just want $$$$ ) then to try and and dig through the miles of red tape (and often endless loops between departments) to try and get something done in a reasonable amount of time. Unless you do something extremely stupid like build over the property line, on a septic field or water shed, they aren't going to be tearing anything down.

For over a year once the county said to my father he couldn't build something on his property because there was a creek going through it. He had pictures, plans, etc, etc... But they refused to budge because their records showed a creek. Well after a year of fighting the idiots, they conceded that the creek they were talking about happened to be ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STREET nowhere near his property!!!!

 

[NUTTSGT]

Move ? Has anyone said that yet ?

 

[EOC_Jason]

Move ? Has anyone said that yet ?

Several times over....

Believe it or not out of all the various things I've read in county records from HOA's suing homeowners over... This one family had "too many pets"... The subdivision allowed for like a maximum of two dogs or cats. Well this family had more than that (nothing outrageous though), but rather than get rid of their pets they decided to move... I think it is sad that some people are so snobby as to even go to court over something like that. Okay, *maybe* if the dogs were barking or fighting all night long in the back yard that is one thing... But nothing about noise was even noted in the court documents. Many people consider their pets as part of the family... The only other place I know of that limits the size of your family is communist china! I think one can infer some parallels between the two communist regimes...