http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=123915&page=1&page=1
ABC news had this chilling trend that is polarizing and destroying the peace and happiness of neighborhoods across the country. Homeowner Associations who are beginning to act more like petty tyrannies than American neighborhoods.
QuoteThinking of putting up pink flamingos in your garden? Or hanging the laundry out to dry?
You might own the house, the garden and the lot, but if you're one of the nearly 50 million Americans living in communities run by homeowners associations, you may find you don't have the freedom to do everything you like on your property.
Homeowners associations are nonprofit organizations that manage the common areas in a housing development. They have rules that can be strict, and critics say that enforcement of those rules is increasingly turning neighborhoods into battle zones.
"The level of frustration in associations is escalating and in some cases, going through the roof," says Evan McKenzie, a political science professor at the University of Illinois who has written a book about homeowners associations, Privatopia: Homeowner Associations and the Rise of Residential Private Government.
"The problem is when they go to ridiculous extremes, when they become neighborhood tyrants." McKenzie adds.
The rules can be very picky. A homeowners association in Mesa, Ariz. said no to a resident's frog planters. An association in Atlanta, Ga. ordered a family to remove their pink flamingos, and a board in Sun City, Calif. put the kibosh on clotheslines. Associations can even dictate where you can park your car, with one in Escondido, Calif. requiring residents to leave their cars in the garage not in the driveway.
I understand some things that HOA's try to do are for the overall good, but telling me I can't have certain plants, paint colors, or anything along that line is asking for trouble. Glad I live in a neighborhood that doesn't have one.
Me too.........i'd hate it.
HOAs are in real trouble due to foreclosures. How do you get the dues from a foreclosure? Would not want to be part of an HOA with dwindling revenues. State laws mandate that HOAs, for condos, maintain certain amounts of insurance. Tough when you have units in foreclosure.
My parents live in a neighborhood in Murfreesboro, TN where it is an option to participate. The only real restrictions they have are storage sheds and chain fences.
There have been a few stories from nearby Williamson County, especially Fieldstone Farms and the whole flag pole war.
^^I wouldn't expect anything less out of Williamson County, but I have to say that whole county is top notch the way it looks. Very nice, especially Brentwood and Franklin.
As a result of homeowners associations attempting to restrict tv antennas and satellite dishes, Congress got involved in 1996.
QuoteAs directed by Congress in Section 207 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Federal Communications Commission adopted the Over-the-Air Reception Devices (“OTARDâ€) rule concerning governmental and nongovernmental restrictions on viewers' ability to receive video programming signals from direct broadcast satellites ("DBS"), broadband radio service providers (formerly multichannel multipoint distribution service or MMDS), and television broadcast stations ("TVBS").
The rule prohibits restrictions that impair a person's ability to install, maintain, or use an antenna covered by the rule. The rule applies to state or local laws or regulations, including zoning, land-use or building regulations, private covenants, homeowners' association rules, condominium or cooperative association restrictions, lease restrictions, or similar restrictions on property within the exclusive use or control of the antenna user where the user has an ownership or leasehold interest in the property.
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html
Quote from: fsujax on November 02, 2009, 11:27:33 AM
^^I wouldn't expect anything less out of Williamson County, but I have to say that whole county is top notch the way it looks. Very nice, especially Brentwood and Franklin.
However, they have the state's highest foreclosure rate, not surprising.
You'd be surprised that people are beginning to leave there for Rutherford County and Murfreesboro because they're sick of the way things are in WillCo.
I live in an HOA Neighborhood.. My Girlfriend refers to it as the "Nazi Fortress"...
I was President of a HOA in St John’s County for the last few years and it was nothing but headaches. It is painful to moderate a raucous meeting for hours discussing the pros/cons of speed bumps and the proper location of satellite dishes.
I live in one now in Oakleaf. If you live in a area that has high foreclosures or half built developements, the people that remain are hit hard. We were fined an assesment for the remaining townhomes in our area that are not yet built with a promise they will be refunded when the developer builds the units as promised. The assesment was a one time fee meant to cover the losses of homes not being built.Our dues are also going up due to vacancies. It can be very roguh and for the most part, there is not much you can do about it. Theya re given too much power, and if you refuse to pay an assesment a lien is placed against your house.
Congress also carved out solar energy from the power of HOA's. They cannot prevent you from putting up solar hot water heaters or photovoltaic panels. Historic associations can do so which will soon be an issue that RAP and SPAR will have to address.
Yes, DW. Solar panels will become more of an issue soon. Although its important to remember line of sight when dealing with solar panels. I would think most homes, other than corner lots, will be able to incorporate the panels without much argument.
Our HOA is bad. When it was run by the builder (KB Homes) we never had an issue. Now that we have a board, it is out of control. There have been days where I rinse out my trash cans and leave them out to dry and get a nice letter on my front door threatening fines.
There is already a revolution brewing amongst the clothesline guerrillas...
http://www.laundrylist.org/
I will fight for my Right to Dry!!!
At the condos we used to live in at the beach, we had a woman that my wife coined "Dragonwoman". She was married, but her husband would not live with her, I did not care for her so I did not ask the details. We'd go to the beach, and hang our towel to dry in the front of the porch. We'd get calls in 5 minutes complaining that our condo, did not match the front of the other condos, and in the by-laws, they ALL have to match all the time.
Some days you just wonder what is important to people.
I would've put up a pink wind chime, just to piss the bitch off.
I live in a condo where the HOA dues are creeping up on 50% of the cost of my mortgage. I'm running for the board so that I can limit the authority and the level of service that our board has in the future.
I live in an area that has had some problems with homelessness, and it is amazing to hear how the blue-hairs refer to homeless folks. amazing.
one guy in particular loves to spout rhetoric that gets all the old folks foaming at the mouth -- next thing you know -- special assessment.
he wants back on the board based on a platform of "doing everything we can to collect every dollar of every late assessment".
Get 'em cowboy.
Iv had a legal bout with a HOA before.
Over a CAR COVER. Course I had pictures of one of them in my yard at 3am in the morning from a hunting camera you post up in a tree, yea I won that round.
Quote from: Sportmotor on November 02, 2009, 06:37:22 PM
Iv had a legal bout with a HOA before.
Over a CAR COVER. Course I had pictures of one of them in my yard at 3am in the morning from a hunting camera you post up in a tree, yea I won that round.
What in the world were they doing in your yard at 3am????
Quote from: AmyLynne on November 02, 2009, 07:12:40 PM
What in the world were they doing in your yard at 3am????
attempting to remove the car cover, but I always locked it since it was covering a $5,000 custom paint job and it was a show car.
Would it have been against HOA rules to shoot one of the bastards in the knee or the arse?
I would like to keep 3 or 4 chickens, so I can have a steady supply of eggs. Someone tell me what HOA's have against chickens.
Also, one friend tells me she is not allowed to compost on her property--why the hell not?
A wild guess at both - smell? unsightly?
Composting ought to be fine. It is a part of gardening.
Chickens, on the other hand, I can understand that. Although I think the world would be a much better place if we had free range poultry wandering around everywhere.
Free chicken?!
I'm in.
But to live in the nicer neighborhoods, you have to put up with the HOA's. Its a tradeoff I guess.
Quote from: kellypope on November 02, 2009, 11:43:49 PM
I would like to keep 3 or 4 chickens, so I can have a steady supply of eggs. Someone tell me what HOA's have against chickens.
Also, one friend tells me she is not allowed to compost on her property--why the hell not?
Farm animals are probably not allowed by municipal code. You can check here,
http://www.municode.com/Library/Library.aspx
Years ago my aunt and her husband were chased out of a neighborhood in Ponte Vedra. My new uncle drove a commercial truck and it was against the rules to be parked at the house. They were absolutely harassed until they moved.
I used to keep my boat at my folks house in Mandarin. When I got back after dark I would park it cleaned & covered in the driveway and every time their was a notice on the door the very next morning. It's crazy that someone walks the neighborhood every morning at the crack of dawn looking for infractions. Who would want to live like this?
Quote from: Charles Hunter on November 02, 2009, 09:51:44 PM
Would it have been against HOA rules to shoot one of the bastards in the knee or the arse?
Shoot to kill never to wound. If they lived they could have sued.
Strange, I thought people would like HOA's. It gives the "common man" power they could normally never have. In national elections people always complain the rich get elected, a common person could never run, those crooks always take my money, buddy-buddy system, my representative never listens to me, etc etc etc...
Doesn't HOA solve all those problem? It allows people to pool their resources to a common easy to access "government" of sorts.
It would seem like it would be a better solution. Your in charge, you have a chance to run and be elected, you can talk directly to your constituents (your neighbors), etc. You can run for the board or complain directly to the board - they live a few blocks over!!! Doesn't it solve all the complaints that people have over regular politics? What's there to complain about? If the entire neighborhood doesn't like flamingo's - well - that's that.
Who know's, what's next? HoA Constitution, Bill of Rights, etc!!
My brother bought a house in a subdivision and he's had issues over his lawn dying and he's complaining about it. Whatever. He had to sign a stupid contract and agree to the terms to live there. I wouldn't buy a car that required me to eat glass and set my face on fire every time I got into it and I wouldn't live somewhere where I'd be forced to conform to insane regulations.
But that's the american dream- get a big house out away from the city and have your pretty lawn and 2.5 kids. If the rules get created when you've been there a while, that's one thing but moving into a subdivision and signing a contract to abide by stupid rules and then complaining about getting in trouble when you don't follow them? Sorry.
What about when the rules (pretty day-glo green lawn 24/7/365) conflict with good environmental policy, rules, and even laws (water and fertilizer restrictions)? And these are conditions that have changed since 99.999% of HOA rules were written.
Do HOA contracts ever get renewed? You can cross out what you disagree with in a contract, rewrite it, and resubmit it before you sign it. Is there a way to ammend contracts? Charles, you made a good point. Did anyone see Riverkeeper's recent post?
http://www.riverhugger.com/2009/11/judge-approves-historic-nutrient.html
Quote from: Riverkeeper
As we mentioned in previous posts, St. Johns Riverkeeper is one of the parties involved in a recent settlement with the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that will require the state of Florida to establish meaningful limits for the nutrient pollution that is triggering algae blooms and poisoning our waterways. Unfortunately, many of the state's biggest polluters and some politicians tried to get a federal judge to overturn this decision. Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle rejected arguements made by those seeking to further delay cleanup and avoid compliance with the Clean Water Act.
I can't predict what this will mean for homeowners, but I hope it prevents overuse of biocides and synthetic fertilizers--which St. Augustine grass needs to stay "day-glo 24/7/365" since it isn't suited to our climate. Hypothetically, if we can't legally toxify our precious lawns for the sake of the grass, then won't HOA requirements for lawn standards need to be adjusted? Will native grasses or gmpalmer's style of habitat making (read:
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/topic,5912.0.html) become acceptable?
Buy astro turf, problem solved.