Overzealous homeowner's association

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think your meadow sounds awesome! We've got a much smaller yard but have a 10x10 space with just wildflowers. It's looking a little ragged now but we still have tons of finches and butterflies. I would LOVE a meadow!

I've had dealings with a HOA in the past and found that many of the board members are on a power trip. They will act imperiously and in violation of the law and covenants. I was glad that couple with the political sign was willing to battle their HOA
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/2013/02/09/d46f9bec-6652-11e2-93e1-475791032daf_story.html .

Since the meadow was approved, I hope you are able to maintain your stance against the board. Good luck!

That is an INSANE story. I get that the couple were being difficult, but why would the HOA put itself in a position to incur such costs?

That article is hilarious. A board member compared residents who refused to install window pane dividers to Saddam
Hussein? Priceless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We bought the center lot in a cul de sac next to our home. Our neighborhood consists of about 30 houses. Each lot is about 2 acres. We submitted plans for a wildflower meadow for the extra lot 12 years ago and they were approved. There are 8 distinct beds in the meadow, with mowed paths in between. In the center is a gazebo with outdoor furniture. There are arbors at the entrances with roses on them.

We have had a bit of turnover in our neighborhood, and thus a new assn. president. She has decided that she and the architectural committee are going to set new rules, regarding plantings, etc. The first email received by all was about not having satellite dishes in the front of the home. My husband quickly pointed out the federal law restricting homeowners associations in this regard, and they backed down. Clearly, they have no idea what they are doing.

So I get a call telling me that our meadow does not meet requirements because the flowers are weeds. I point out (followed with documentation), that the plants are not weeds, but natives, and that there is organization and a plan. I also tell them that we had a major issue last year getting landscapers to show up to do work in a timely manner, and that I will not hire illegals to do the job. I did a lot myself, but clearly not enough for them. I offered to have trees pruned this fall, but stressed that the brush cutting that mows the beds to the ground should not occur until late winter. We then overseed with native wildflowers, and let the peonies, iris. And flowering shrubs do their thing in spring, before the natives bloom in summer.

What they want, it appears, is all of the meadow gone,and just grass in its place. Even as a conservative, I recognize this is not the best choice for the environment. We garden as organically as possible. We also do not neglect our property, having put 35K into remaking the beds on our property, and another 15K into repairs on the deck and front arbor, in the past two years. The meadow is simply our way of providing a lovely native ecosystem. Most of our neighbors love it. SO frustrating to deal with this new HOA president. Had to vent

It sound like you don't believe the rules and regulations you agreed to when yor purchased your house apply to you. Just because something was approved doesn't mean you don't have to maintain it to the community standard and you readily admitted that you have/had a hard time keeping up with needed maintance due to not being able to get landscapers in.

It does not appear the association wants your meadow gone - they want it MAINTAINED and I'm sure most of your neighbors do too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

It sound like you don't believe the rules and regulations you agreed to when you purchased your house apply to you. Just because something was approved doesn't mean you don't have to maintain it to the community standard and you readily admitted that you have/had a hard time keeping up with needed maintenance due to not being able to get landscapers in.

It does not appear the association wants your meadow gone - they want it MAINTAINED and I'm sure most of your neighbors do too!

From a true conservative point of view, the neighbors' opinions about the OP are irrelevant. The OP's meadow is private property. OP should be able to do what OP wants with the OP's private property, as long as it doesn't harm anybody. And "your meadow offends my aesthetic sensibilities" does not constitute harm. If the neighbors don't like the look of OP's meadow, they should offer to buy the lot from the OP.

This is why I (a liberal) don't live in a house with an HOA. I do what I want with my yard. My neighbors do what they want with theirs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We bought the center lot in a cul de sac next to our home. Our neighborhood consists of about 30 houses. Each lot is about 2 acres. We submitted plans for a wildflower meadow for the extra lot 12 years ago and they were approved. There are 8 distinct beds in the meadow, with mowed paths in between. In the center is a gazebo with outdoor furniture. There are arbors at the entrances with roses on them.

We have had a bit of turnover in our neighborhood, and thus a new assn. president. She has decided that she and the architectural committee are going to set new rules, regarding plantings, etc. The first email received by all was about not having satellite dishes in the front of the home. My husband quickly pointed out the federal law restricting homeowners associations in this regard, and they backed down. Clearly, they have no idea what they are doing.

So I get a call telling me that our meadow does not meet requirements because the flowers are weeds. I point out (followed with documentation), that the plants are not weeds, but natives, and that there is organization and a plan. I also tell them that we had a major issue last year getting landscapers to show up to do work in a timely manner, and that I will not hire illegals to do the job. I did a lot myself, but clearly not enough for them. I offered to have trees pruned this fall, but stressed that the brush cutting that mows the beds to the ground should not occur until late winter. We then overseed with native wildflowers, and let the peonies, iris. And flowering shrubs do their thing in spring, before the natives bloom in summer.

What they want, it appears, is all of the meadow gone,and just grass in its place. Even as a conservative, I recognize this is not the best choice for the environment. We garden as organically as possible. We also do not neglect our property, having put 35K into remaking the beds on our property, and another 15K into repairs on the deck and front arbor, in the past two years. The meadow is simply our way of providing a lovely native ecosystem. Most of our neighbors love it. SO frustrating to deal with this new HOA president. Had to vent

It sound like you don't believe the rules and regulations you agreed to when yor purchased your house apply to you. Just because something was approved doesn't mean you don't have to maintain it to the community standard and you readily admitted that you have/had a hard time keeping up with needed maintance due to not being able to get landscapers in.

It does not appear the association wants your meadow gone - they want it MAINTAINED and I'm sure most of your neighbors do too!

This. I feel like OP glosses over the maintenance aspect in a side note and focuses more on where she thinks she has more ground - her personal property rights. Sounds like you bit off more than you could chew with this garden, OP, if you can't maintain it yourself, and I bet it ended up looking like an overgrown mess and that's where your problem started. If you aren't keeping it up to HOA standards then you are in the wrong. I'm no big fan of HOAs, and know all too well how they can sometimes run amok and be full of self-interested petty dictators who write the rules to suit themselves. But the fact that you casually toss off your lack of maintenance is a red flag. Keep it looking nice and within standards and then you'll be in the right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Keep fighting and run against her next year.

+1

HOA leaders are the worst. Maybe you can be the first "normal" one. what do your neighbors think about the wildflowers? will they support you?

maybe if they understand the community is supportive of your project, they will back down.

there are lawyers who specialize in HOA matters, if it comes to that.

Most neighbors love it. The children certainly do!

They were pissed because they forgot to take me off the short list, due to previous position on the board, and I called them on the satellite dish legalities. Apparently, I wasn't supposed to know, as a commoner neighbor, what they were up to.

I am more than willing to keep the property groomed - and have been They cannot force me to hire a fly by night to do the work on their timeline, since it is illegal for me to hire undocumented workers. Proper landscaping companies in VA are overbooked, and you need to get on their schedule. They need to understand their timeline realistic.

Really? I'm just wondering where you live? I have hired plenty of landscapers to do a spring clean up. I hire a reputable licensed business. Are you then interrogating the employees to determine their residency status? How are you going about verifying that you are not hiring "illegals"? FYI if you hire a legally registered tax paying business license holding business you are good to go, it is their problem if they hire undocumented workers. Unless you are that adherent to your political beliefs. Which makes me think you don't eat any produce. Since you know who picks those?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It sound like you don't believe the rules and regulations you agreed to when you purchased your house apply to you. Just because something was approved doesn't mean you don't have to maintain it to the community standard and you readily admitted that you have/had a hard time keeping up with needed maintenance due to not being able to get landscapers in.

It does not appear the association wants your meadow gone - they want it MAINTAINED and I'm sure most of your neighbors do too!

From a true conservative point of view, the neighbors' opinions about the OP are irrelevant. The OP's meadow is private property. OP should be able to do what OP wants with the OP's private property, as long as it doesn't harm anybody. And "your meadow offends my aesthetic sensibilities" does not constitute harm. If the neighbors don't like the look of OP's meadow, they should offer to buy the lot from the OP.

This is why I (a liberal) don't live in a house with an HOA. I do what I want with my yard. My neighbors do what they want with theirs.

You sound like yet another uneducated liberal. It is OP's private property - but she bought the property, which is within a homeowner's association, so she can't do whatever she wants with the property. SHe agreed to certain standards - which BTW, "power-tripping" board members did NOT write. The HOA rules were written by the developer under strict laws set by the state!

Other people bought in this HOA with the understanding that they as well as all homeowners would keep their property to a certain standard. THey did not want to live next to a homeowner that mows the grass once a year - if that, or paves the lawn so the entire extended family can park off the street or is a hoarder and begins to store stuff outside or has three broken cars up on blocks on the driveway or decides to plant wildflowers and let's the property go "natural."

The neighbors should not have to buy the lady's weed garden out as the solution to the problem. THe HOA needs to enforce the rules and this homeowner is required by contact to abide.

I certainly hope you're not as uneducated about issues if you vote, Buddy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It sound like you don't believe the rules and regulations you agreed to when you purchased your house apply to you. Just because something was approved doesn't mean you don't have to maintain it to the community standard and you readily admitted that you have/had a hard time keeping up with needed maintenance due to not being able to get landscapers in.

It does not appear the association wants your meadow gone - they want it MAINTAINED and I'm sure most of your neighbors do too!

From a true conservative point of view, the neighbors' opinions about the OP are irrelevant. The OP's meadow is private property. OP should be able to do what OP wants with the OP's private property, as long as it doesn't harm anybody. And "your meadow offends my aesthetic sensibilities" does not constitute harm. If the neighbors don't like the look of OP's meadow, they should offer to buy the lot from the OP.

This is why I (a liberal) don't live in a house with an HOA. I do what I want with my yard. My neighbors do what they want with theirs.

You sound like yet another uneducated liberal. It is OP's private property - but she bought the property, which is within a homeowner's association, so she can't do whatever she wants with the property. SHe agreed to certain standards - which BTW, "power-tripping" board members did NOT write. The HOA rules were written by the developer under strict laws set by the state!

Other people bought in this HOA with the understanding that they as well as all homeowners would keep their property to a certain standard. THey did not want to live next to a homeowner that mows the grass once a year - if that, or paves the lawn so the entire extended family can park off the street or is a hoarder and begins to store stuff outside or has three broken cars up on blocks on the driveway or decides to plant wildflowers and let's the property go "natural."

The neighbors should not have to buy the lady's weed garden out as the solution to the problem. THe HOA needs to enforce the rules and this homeowner is required by contact to abide.

I certainly hope you're not as uneducated about issues if you vote, Buddy.

The conservative belief is that private property is private property, no? Or is it ok with conservatives for your neighbors, in a private, non-democratic organization, to tell you what you can and can't do with your private property -- it's just not ok if society as a whole, in the form of a democratically-elected government, does so?

Yes, the OP signed a contract. But OP said that OP is principled, and that contract is at odds with basic conservative principles about private property.

("Strict laws set by the state" for HOAs, indeed. OP hasn't even said which state.)

[Anonymous]

These basically turn to invasive weeds after the 2nd year, it's a pain http://seattletimes.com/html/pacificnw/2017513110_pacificplife26.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It sound like you don't believe the rules and regulations you agreed to when you purchased your house apply to you. Just because something was approved doesn't mean you don't have to maintain it to the community standard and you readily admitted that you have/had a hard time keeping up with needed maintenance due to not being able to get landscapers in.

It does not appear the association wants your meadow gone - they want it MAINTAINED and I'm sure most of your neighbors do too!

From a true conservative point of view, the neighbors' opinions about the OP are irrelevant. The OP's meadow is private property. OP should be able to do what OP wants with the OP's private property, as long as it doesn't harm anybody. And "your meadow offends my aesthetic sensibilities" does not constitute harm. If the neighbors don't like the look of OP's meadow, they should offer to buy the lot from the OP.

This is why I (a liberal) don't live in a house with an HOA. I do what I want with my yard. My neighbors do what they want with theirs.

You sound like yet another uneducated liberal. It is OP's private property - but she bought the property, which is within a homeowner's association, so she can't do whatever she wants with the property. SHe agreed to certain standards - which BTW, "power-tripping" board members did NOT write. The HOA rules were written by the developer under strict laws set by the state!

Other people bought in this HOA with the understanding that they as well as all homeowners would keep their property to a certain standard. THey did not want to live next to a homeowner that mows the grass once a year - if that, or paves the lawn so the entire extended family can park off the street or is a hoarder and begins to store stuff outside or has three broken cars up on blocks on the driveway or decides to plant wildflowers and let's the property go "natural."

The neighbors should not have to buy the lady's weed garden out as the solution to the problem. THe HOA needs to enforce the rules and this homeowner is required by contact to abide.

I certainly hope you're not as uneducated about issues if you vote, Buddy.

The conservative belief is that private property is private property, no? Or is it ok with conservatives for your neighbors, in a private, non-democratic organization, to tell you what you can and can't do with your private property -- it's just not ok if society as a whole, in the form of a democratically-elected government, does so?

Yes, the OP signed a contract. But OP said that OP is principled, and that contract is at odds with basic conservative principles about private property.

("Strict laws set by the state" for HOAs, indeed. OP hasn't even said which state.)

I'm not sure why you are making it into a conservative debate. THe OP agreed to keep her property to certain standards regardless of political affiliation

Holding conservative or liberal views does not negate the point that, YES, legally, HOAs CAN tell you what you can do with your property! What part of that don't you understand?

And it doesn't really matter what state the OP is in. ALL have laws associated with HOAs with slight variations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It sound like you don't believe the rules and regulations you agreed to when you purchased your house apply to you. Just because something was approved doesn't mean you don't have to maintain it to the community standard and you readily admitted that you have/had a hard time keeping up with needed maintenance due to not being able to get landscapers in.

It does not appear the association wants your meadow gone - they want it MAINTAINED and I'm sure most of your neighbors do too!

From a true conservative point of view, the neighbors' opinions about the OP are irrelevant. The OP's meadow is private property. OP should be able to do what OP wants with the OP's private property, as long as it doesn't harm anybody. And "your meadow offends my aesthetic sensibilities" does not constitute harm. If the neighbors don't like the look of OP's meadow, they should offer to buy the lot from the OP.

This is why I (a liberal) don't live in a house with an HOA. I do what I want with my yard. My neighbors do what they want with theirs.

You sound like yet another uneducated liberal. It is OP's private property - but she bought the property, which is within a homeowner's association, so she can't do whatever she wants with the property. SHe agreed to certain standards - which BTW, "power-tripping" board members did NOT write. The HOA rules were written by the developer under strict laws set by the state!

Other people bought in this HOA with the understanding that they as well as all homeowners would keep their property to a certain standard. THey did not want to live next to a homeowner that mows the grass once a year - if that, or paves the lawn so the entire extended family can park off the street or is a hoarder and begins to store stuff outside or has three broken cars up on blocks on the driveway or decides to plant wildflowers and let's the property go "natural."

The neighbors should not have to buy the lady's weed garden out as the solution to the problem. THe HOA needs to enforce the rules and this homeowner is required by contact to abide.

I certainly hope you're not as uneducated about issues if you vote, Buddy.

The conservative belief is that private property is private property, no? Or is it ok with conservatives for your neighbors, in a private, non-democratic organization, to tell you what you can and can't do with your private property -- it's just not ok if society as a whole, in the form of a democratically-elected government, does so?

Yes, the OP signed a contract. But OP said that OP is principled, and that contract is at odds with basic conservative principles about private property.

("Strict laws set by the state" for HOAs, indeed. OP hasn't even said which state.)

I'm not sure why you are making it into a conservative debate. THe OP agreed to keep her property to certain standards regardless of political affiliation

Holding conservative or liberal views does not negate the point that, YES, legally, HOAs CAN tell you what you can do with your property! What part of that don't you understand?

And it doesn't really matter what state the OP is in. ALL have laws associated with HOAs with slight variations.

I agree that the OP has failed to maintain her meadow and is using some odd argument about hiring illegals to divert attention from her inattention. She has admitted that last year her landscapers stood her up. That means that the regular maintenance did not occur. Yes, I have had issues getting lawn and landscaping caretakers to come and if this had not been resolved in 6-8 weeks, you bet the contract would have been cancelled for non-compliance and I would have found another firm. While it's a lot of work and we've sometimes had to call 4-5 different business, we do find one and OP should be calling everyone within driving distance of her property to find a business to handle the work.

In the various HOAs that I've known including our current neighborhood, they usually have a clause that if the homeowner ignores X notices from the HOA, that the HOA will hire a company to do the maintenance and will bill the homeowner for the work. Sounds like that's what the HOA should have done. OP might not have approved of the work done by the forced contractor, but it would have resolved the issue.

For Mr. "I do what I want with my yard" this is why you should not buy into a neighborhood with an HOA. If you do, you get to pack that attitude of yours in the attic or basement until you move out. You sign the contract, you agree to the HOA rules until they are changed (for which you are welcome to run for the HOA and work to change the rules). Since you apparently don't live in a neighborhood with an HOA, OP should take your advice with caution since you have no experience dealing with such a situation, nor are you familiar with your legal obligations should you live in a neighborhood with an HOA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I'm not sure why you are making it into a conservative debate. THe OP agreed to keep her property to certain standards regardless of political affiliation

Holding conservative or liberal views does not negate the point that, YES, legally, HOAs CAN tell you what you can do with your property! What part of that don't you understand?

And it doesn't really matter what state the OP is in. ALL have laws associated with HOAs with slight variations.

I didn't. OP did.

And yes, of course HOAs can tell you what to do with your private property. Which is why somebody like the OP, who describes themselves as a principled conservative, shouldn't live in one.