Home Owners' Association Covenants

I was wondering if anyone has had issues with complaints about their properties, and if so how has it gone? I got a letter today telling me to remove the white lattice that caps off the end of my front porch (will have a Gold Badge rose on it soon) and that all my curtains have to match (I have one red one visible from the street). Now I'm nervous about not putting in plants all the same shape and color. *sob*

Unbelievable what happens when some people get a tiny amount of 'authority'. My brother had a problem with the HOA when he placed a rolled up white towel over the white doorway to prevent hornet's or wasps (?) from building a nest there. They did not want to hear anything about it being a very temporary measure, and harrassed him at home on a Sunday. Also give grief about the precise shade of blue paint of the front door, after it was approved, but someone complained. Another friend had to limit height of a fence, as you are not allowed to block the view of the water from the road...

Thanks for sympathizing. :) I guess I thought when I got a house that I was getting out from under the nose of a landlord. But now I see otherwise. I mean it's not like I painted the house pink. Now I feel like I'm an embarrasment or something. Makes me want to move to the country. Any one feel like taking in me and my husband and my dog and my fish and my parakeets and my frog and my lizard and my bearded dragon and all my plants? lol

wish you could move to the country near me!

Hey if I didn't work in Marietta/Kennesaw tiG I might take you up on that! Ain't that life? :) Of course I'm coming out there to pick up my brug/col in the next few weeks. If I show up with a U-Haul you might be in trouble!

Man O Man I guess Austell has really changed! I remember when Austell was soo laid back, and country like. I know it has really grown since I was thru there. That is why I don't want to move into a subdivision of any sort. I'd be soo out of place in any other place other than the country!

Yeah,but people try to change things in the country too.City folk move out here and think they are gunna put the rules and regulations from the city out here.They tried to push thru a huge list of stuff out here,everything from how many chickens you can have ,how many horses,to a rule that says you can't have an unregistered car in your yard,lawn equipment cant be left out etc......

We live in the sticks and there are some families that have been here since the place was colonized.You are not gunna tell them they cant have cousin Darrel's rusty ole pickup sitting in the middle of the yard...or his other brother Darrel's broke down tractor sitting out by the driveway....

Needless to say it got voted down....by a lot of votes!

But it goes to show ,no matter where you live there is always someone who want to impose their rules on you.....

Austell still is pretty country, but they are building everywhere now, especially with the new Arbor Place mall. We looked out in Douglasville and I said 'no'. I grew up in Gwinnett County and didn't want that many people around. Problem is that I moved into a subdivision anyways cause we love our lot. It backs on to Sweetwater creek. Now if I could just get rid of all these pesky neighbors. Pink flamingos...yes I think pink flamingos might run them away to a more prestigious area...hmmm....

How's this for a pesky group....... There is a large Amish community about 15 miles from here. The beauty of this region has recently brought some wealthy city folk to the area. The newcomers decided that a law should be passed that would make the Amish put diapers on their horses whenever they came into town ! Honest !!! Fortunately, wisdom and common sense prevailed and the law did not pass.

Diapers on a horse, I can't even imagine. Lots of people have moving this way from the city. They build a huge house next to a farm and then complain about the farm noises and the smell of cow manure.

SILLYLILY, I heard about that when I was out in Lancaster, just unbelievable. Along the lines of wealthy people moving in, right here in NJ we had that tiger preserve for decades, now suddenly there are expensive homes encroaching in on it, and so they want it gone.

It's unfortunate that we are the 'live and let live's in a society of people with too much self worth. All we can do I suppose is smile and wave from behind our picket fences and hope that when they see our gardens in full bloom that it will inspire them to find out why we are always smiling and waving as they grumble by.

Ecobioangie - Yeah, and they can see that manure has its good uses, too! ;)

In Granville, a town we lived in for some time, we were aghast when the village would not allow a family to put fiberglas shutters on their house. The shutters looked identical to wood, but that didn't matter. I can see the importance of historic preservation -- Granville would not be the beautiful town it is were it not for people dedicated to that - but for something which is cosmetically identical to the real thing? Sheesh.

That is why its so important to have a lawyer when you buy a home.
Its money well spent to uncover crazy restrictions like this.

Paul
(By the way, I'm not a lawyer)

(But you play one on TV?)

rotflmao...!!!!!!!

Wow! I've heard of some weird subdivision "laws", but I think yours that all curtains have to match tops them all! I hope I never have to move into such a neighborhood; I would be chased out before I had a chance to unpack!

I wish they had chased me out before I unpacked! Then I wouldn't have to be living there now! It's a group of 3 people on the board and 2 of them must be the most boring people alive.

The "worst place to live mistake," I ever made was buying a landmarked house in Manhattan, NYC. It never occured to me..., why has this been on the market for so long and why is it this price..., until...,

I started having to make repairs on it and learned..., painfully..., that repairs had be be done to historical preservation standards and inspected by NYC's Landmarks Preservation Commission..., a delight for which I actually had to PAY!

In the process I helped an ironworker and a mason become millionaires. But they did do some very sweet work.

As to private community covenants..., while being a member of a home owners association is an agreement to engage in specific activities or limit certain modes of expression, it is not necessarily a blanket license for the board of directors to whimsically restrict your fundamental inalienable rights.

Do not be afraid to ask that these limits on your behavior be carefully spelled out by the board and that they include their documentation explaining the underlying legal justification for these restrictions.

You are entitled to that.

Adam.

I have asked them to describe to me in detail what is and is not their jurisdiction under the covenants. I'm not moving the curtain until they do so, cause it sure as heck isn't stated 'indoor decor visible' in them. If it was it'd be different.

I ran into this problem many times when decorating homes in southern California. Many associations state that all window coverings that are visable to the community must be white or beige, No exceptions! So we lined a lot of curtains that would normally be unlined to allow for color inside and bland outside.

Cookie cutter units lined streets where yards were allowed to have only a certain type of grass. A single tree which had to be selected from the approved list and no more than 2 pots of annual flowers on the front steps and they had to be approved pot sizes and types. The house numbers had to be painted on the curb in an approved manner so that visitors or the fire department could locate the right cookie. Needless to say when these people relized how boreing this was it was too late, they already owned the place and were stuck, So they went crazy inside trying to develope a sense of personality to the interiors.

Read your covenants carefully! If there is nothing in there that specifies window coverings you can safely tell them no. But if it is there you will need to comply or face problems with the association.

One more story: I knew someone who bought a huge old Victorian home in a town in NJ where everything must be kept 'Victorian'. They lovingly and authentically renovated the dilapidated eyesore into something the community could be proud of. Then made the mistake of putting a small satellite dish on the roof (some 3+ stories up and barely visible). The town demanded its removal, rather than giving them an award for their contribution to the unique character of the town. They were so disgusted, they removed some of the ornate gingerbread trim, and placed it around the dish, thus meeting the letter of the covenants, yet disfiguring the home. No one won that round...

This goes under the heading of, "No good deed goes unpunished."

Adam.

That kind of thing just makes me bridle, John. Why do people alienate each other over things like that? We need our neighbors, you know? Some things just don't matter, especially when it's so obvious that great care has been taken to do something GOOD. Grrrrrr.

Right you are, gardenwife! And Adam!!