ignorance, judgment, neighbors

[Usmcsousa]

SO my wife and I bought our first MH finally!
But first lets rewind.
About a year and a half ago, we bought our first home, 2000 square ft absolutely beautiful in a quite dead end neighborhood.
I knew then i wanted two things, a flag pole to fly my usmc and american flag and a large enough driveway for a class a.
Our "wonderful " neighbors have been great up until recently.
A few months ago, i pulled our new used 34 foot gem up to our home and like with any new toy, began making it ours, wash wax rip out the old, put in the new ect.
Not even 4 hours into my endeavor, this 200+ year old lady from waaay down the road( not visible from our property ) walked up to my driveway to kindly explain to me that there are restrictive covenants in our neighborhood. Which my realtor neglected to inform us of.
She came back the next day with a print out, sure enough, no flag poles, no motorhomes, amongst 140 other ridiculous restrictions.
About a week later i moved my mh off of MY property and into storage. Even though. We have NO hoa and 3/4s of the neighborhood are not in compliance with the covenants.
I recently found a facebook page of our neighborhood where i read a lot of nasty comments from about 4 select neighbors of which I've never met, calling us trailer trash and scum, putting their childrens safety at risk ect.
I was shocked to say the least, not One of these folks actually spoke to us about their concerns, just blasted my character over the internet.
Am i crazy for wanting to sell my $200,000+ home to go live in my MH with the friendliest "trailer trash" people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting throughout our short RV'ing travels?

[Bird_Freak]

Somebody educate me here. As there is no way I would ever have property where some one else tells me what I can do on it. If his deed says in plain print on it NO RESTRICTIONS, and he has no documents from his closing stating other wise. How can they enforce anything on him? I'm just asking here.

[AllegroD]

On page 1, last post, the OP states that there are covenants. I take that as CCR. What do the covenants establish? It usually states in the first 2 major para. whether there is an HOA or Condo association or other such structure. The covenants must have authority. They should define an administering body. Can a municipality establish covenants in an individual community? This probably means that whether it is called an HOA or not, it is a local community organization.

Take those docs to a lawyer and get you rights and responsibilities under the covenant.

[W4RLR]

steelpony5555 wrote:
I would go and knock on her door and anyone else's that opposes you and just advise them that you need their full name and address for your attorney and pending court case and possibly the media in regards to flying your American flag. She probably won't give it to you but I bet she sits up at night and worries about it, just thank her politly. Why should they have all the fun lol lol....

So what if she doesn't give you the information. Go to the local tax authority, ownership information is in the vast majority of jurisdictions, a matter of public record. You can even pull that information up on line.

[W4RLR]

mowermech wrote:
If you choose to stay there, I recommend that you take the tests and become an Amateur Radio Operator. Then, VERY carefully read the FCC rules regarding installing antennas, and put up a couple of nice big antennas on your property that are in complete compliance with ALL FCC rules
Oh, and make sure your station RF output is in complete compliance with said rules, as well.
Then let the busybodies complain!

While I can appreciate the sentiment regarding amateur radio, again this is a wrong answer. Municipal, county, and state laws must meet a "reasonable accommodation" test per the FCC. Private contracts, which are what restrictive covenants are, are NOT subject to the reasonable accommodation test. There does not have to be an HOA to enforce a deed restriction that says "no amateur radio antennas". Been there, done that with a property I tried to buy in Tennessee. No HOA, but the developer had that clause put in the deed. No antennas permitted meant just that. The FCC has made it clear that they will not insert themselves into private contract disputes.

[W4RLR]

Hikerdogs wrote:
Check with the city/county and an attorney as to the validity of the covenants. Most are written by the developer and are under his/her control until a certain percentage of the lots in the development are sold. Once the appropriate number of lots are sold and have resident owners the developer has them form a HOA. The home owners Association then becomes the party responsible for enforcement of the covenants.

Generally the covenants have an expiration date. If there is no HOA in place to vote to extend the expiration date they cease to exist.

Wrong answer. Restrictive covenants "run with the land" and survive the dissolution of the HOA. Check your deed.

[W4RLR]

2oldman wrote:

Usmcsousa wrote:
no flag poles, no motorhomes, amongst 140 other ridiculous restrictions. We have NO hoa and 3/4s of the neighborhood are not in compliance with the covenants.

If the neighborhood has covenants, but no HOA, how are they enforced? If 3/4 of the folks are in non-compliance, why is the OP being singled out?

They are enforced by the courts. Ms Busybody with a bee in her bonnet can take our friend to court and win. You don't need an HOA to enforce restrictive covenants. The plaintiff can recover court costs, attorney's fees, and if she can convince the court, monetary damages for loss of property value.

That is why I made DAMNED sure my little piece of heaven in the Cumberlands has NO HOA, and the few covenants that run with the land are those I can live with, basically no industry, no agriculture, no animal husbandry.

[Francesca_Knowl]

Executive wrote:
The OP has already acknowledged, several times in fact, that there IS NO HOA!

It would be most helpful, then, if he were to tell us where he lives so that we could actually look up whatever municipal codes he might be laboring under.

Clearly, there are "rules" written SOMEWHERE that govern what he can do on the property. If they only exist in the mind of the "200 year old lady" that showed him a copy, that's one thing.

But if they're the sort of dreary stuff that occupies the codebooks of municipalities everywhere, that's another thing altogether.

[BobGed]

Deleted

[Executive45]

The OP has already acknowledged, several times in fact, that there IS NO HOA! Why beat a dead horse? Doesn't matter what a HOA can or can't do, cuz he ain't got one!

We lived in a community in Northern California that did NOT have an HOA but it did have deed restrictions AND a "community district" that could, would and did enforce those restrictions. The community district was funded through our taxes and not a separate assessment. Something like that is easily missed during signing but the title company should have been aware of it.

TO the OP..pull your most recent tax bill and/or statement and look for a community district. Might be called something else in whatever State you're in. In California it was a community district...Semper Fi....Dennis

[ncrowley]

I am on an HOA board in New Mexico and if you were not informed about the C&Rs, you are not bound by them. We are having an issue with one lot owner and the owner claims they did not know about them. We need to prove that they were informed. We are having get affidavits about the practices of the realtor that sold the property to them since we do not have the signed copies.

I would not roll over and play dead. I would fight this.

[sdianel_-acct_c]

You gotta love HOA's. We got a nasty letter when we lived in Dallas because we put up a trellis for our climbing roses. Our yard looked much better than many of the other yards in the complex, but they sent us the letter. Glad we left there. We are now full timers and if we don't like the "neighborhood" we leave!
You fought for our country and you should be able to fly any flag you want!! Semper Fi from a Vietnam Veteran former Marine!!!

[BobGed]

One thing I find amusing about a lot of the advice posted here relates to living in a HOA governed community. The OP has clearly stated there is no HOA in his community.

This is all about the CC&Rs that he apparently signed an acknowledgement of receiving, and whether or not they are enforceable. My feeling is he could take his chances and continue to park his coach at his house and see what happens, or get a legal opinion before hand.

[AllegroD]

As you can see, there are all kinds of people in the world and the HOA governing docs are there to protect against the extremes and your property values. Noone likes being told what to do with their property but if your neighbor pained their house pink and had blue tarps in the front yard, all the time, you might understand.

I have only read part of the replies here. I have been on a HOA Board and served as it's Pres. Yuo need to find the board members. They are the only ones they may enforce the CCR and other governing docs. These docs must be in compliance to your state or local municipal statutes. These change. Flag poles may now be authorized. How they are displayed may still be upto your HOA governing docs? There has to be paragraphs in the CCR, which establish the administrative board. It might be as few as 3 people.

There is good advice here and some erroneous. You will want to weed through that. Stating that the HOA CCR and governing docs do not apply to you, because you were not informed, is likely very wrong. These docs are applied to every plat in your HOA. There are likely no exceptions. Seeking your state's agency which monitors real estate sales and attachment disclosure, is probably your best bet, if you are interested in seeking recourse against the real estate agent, agency or escrow/closing agency.

I believe you did the right thing by not arguing with the lady or other neighbors. As you state, starting a war is not good. If the neighbors have declared war, an attorney is your best offense.

If there is no HOA Board, what does your CCR and state statute say about the state of the HOA. There are docs the administrative board must submit (maybe) anually. What does the state say the HOA Board must do to inform members of the HOA activities, dues, budget, bylaws, etc? Here, the CCR and Rules and Regs spell out the steps the Board takes in the event a violation of the governing docs are noted. What are they and is the board complying with them.

I bet you find better info quickly, through local authorities. Our state requires the docs, including the list of board members, with the County Clerk.

Good luck but if it turns out that this lady is on the board (and it would be sad if so and she did not ID herself) or that the board is enforcing the governing docs correctly, you may be left with a sale and possible recoupment from agencies who failed to notify you of the HOA prior to your closure.

[Hikerdogs]

Check with the city/county and an attorney as to the validity of the covenants. Most are written by the developer and are under his/her control until a certain percentage of the lots in the development are sold. Once the appropriate number of lots are sold and have resident owners the developer has them form a HOA. The home owners Association then becomes the party responsible for enforcement of the covenants.

Generally the covenants have an expiration date. If there is no HOA in place to vote to extend the expiration date they cease to exist.

[2oldman]

super_camper wrote:
The last thing I want to see is someone parking/storing an RV permanently in our neighborhood, its just plain ugly.

It can be for sure.

I can put up with a lot, but not barking dogs. You let your dogs bark constantly and I'm going to complain.