"[FLORIDA] The board of directors representing The Eagles, a deed restricted community in Odessa, was trying to keep A.J. Vizzi from parking his Ford pickup truck in his home's driveway. HOA rules state all trucks must be parked in a garage."
Judge renders declaratory judgment in favor of truck owner, says HOA is insane and must pay about $100,000 in legal fees. Take drug test.
why anyone buys into deed restricted communities leaves me at a loss........
my home means if I want a purple flamingo in the front yard no one should be able to do a thing about it
Gee: At that rate they wouldn't even allow my rig through the gate! Or the $800 camper I bought and rebuilt, that occasionally goes on the back of it! One of these months we must wash it. A few thousand miles away people are dying for lack of clean water and we have HOA worrying about nonsense like this! It's all very well to set reasonable 'standards' for safety and health but ................ ! BTW in many places the ownership of a large pickup is a 'status symbol'. Soon to change possibly as economic conditions fall, pollution rises and energy costs escalate however? Also BTW does this kind of thing not smack of the European snobbery? If you can afford a carriage, a team of horses and pay driver/ostler you are in. But if all you can afford is a horse and cart and you look after the horse yourself you are somehow not so worthy! Same thing today with driving an SUV or pickup (many of which are mechanically similar anyway)! We know someone driving a Cadillac Escalade which is similar, mechanically, to a Chevy pickup truck. USA "Land of the free and the brave ..... " eh????? Methinks there is more to this story??????? Sounds like the HOA refrred to should hold an election.
There are people who don't want anyone around them to upset their little world with anything different than what their narrow mind finds acceptable. I wouldn't be shocked if this case is appealed. This fires a shot across the bow of every HOA in Florida.
BTW truck restrictions are not that rare around here. In Cape Coral you can't have a truck in your driveway by city ordinance.
Cape Coral: A Boy Scout family was fined for setting up tents in a front yard. Just for a day; after a camping trip, so the tents would air-out. It started when "snow-birds" didn't go back North...
This was in the late '70's.
Wonder what kind of stroke the HOA would have were one to buy a junker car, chop the top back off and remove the trunk lid, viola! a Pickup but the registration will show it is a car.
Harry K
Wonder what kind of stroke the HOA would have were one to buy a junker car, chop the top back off and remove the trunk lid, viola! a Pickup but the registration will show it is a car.
Harry K
Explain something to me. Someone buys a home in an HOA. Prior to buying they are given the docs and sign a statement to abide by them. Then all of a sudden they scream, kick and cry when one of the regs from the docs are enforced. Please explain why that person bought in an HOA in the first place if he didn't want to follow their rules. Don't get me wrong, I don't like HOA's but I sure wouldn't buy in one if I disagreed with the docs and had no intention of following them.
I believe in the case that hit fark.com recently (I assume that that is what this thread is about) the home moaner actually did check out the requirements before buying, but the ones being enforced are not the same ones given to him to review pre-purchase. I think that he does have a case if the facts are as represented in the article I read.
Oh, and HOA's suck.
nate
Just out of curiosity - do you have the right to refuse to sign the agreement if you buy the house? IOW, can you buy a house in one of these HOA neighborhoods, but refuse to sign or comply?
I've read of cases where prospective purchasers have been denied the opportunity to read the HOA rules before purchasing the property and thus being bound by them: "This is proprietary information."
Perce
Huh..I would think that you wouldn't need that sharp of a lawyer to get out of that one. Unless they signed a statement agreeing to follow the rules sight unseen.
HOAs are evil. I personally would *never* buy a house in a neighborhood with an HOA. But I guess some people like them, so what-evah....
Deed restricted........rules go with the land. There is a way to dissolve condo. associations in Florida, so probably also for HOA's. Different statutes. For condo, I believe it requires assent by all of the unit owners.
Prospective purchasers must, by law, be furnished with documents - the bylaws, rules, etc.. Minutes of board meetings would not be available to prospective buyer from the association, but any seller in their right mind would furnish copies. Unless the assn. is a hell hole and the seller doesn't want that disclosure. It would be a very good guage of the issues that arise, how business is transacted, etc.
Purchase of a home is a contract. Accepting the HOA's rules is part of the contract. It's all or nothing.
Generally.
A covenant or rules cannot, for example, be enforced against public policy such as "... buyer agrees to never sell the property to anyone not of the Caucasian race..."
What's a little weird is agreeing to not only the HOA rules, but agreeing to abide by any changes in the rules the HOA makes in the future.
There's only one thing to do in a situation like that: RUN.
nate
He only has a case if the docs and bylaws were not presented to him. And I guaranty he signed that he received and reviewed them before closing.
Nope. The main provision in buying is that you read and agree to follow the docs and bylaws. Otherwise, why would they have them?
That's because future rules are voted on by the membership and approved by a majority vote.
You'd have to prove that to me and everyone here. It's an illegal act and any idiot that would sign without reading and agreeing to them is exactly that, an idiot.
On Wed 17 Dec 2008 06:42:34a, HeyBub told us...
I see nothing wrong with buying a home in a deed restricted community. OTOH, buying into such a community is, as with many things, "buyer beware". If the covenants and by-laws were provided to the buyer prior to purchase, then it should have been clear to the buyer from the start what was permitted and what was not. AFAIC, the HOA had every right to enforce their rules if the homeowner had an opportunity to learn what they were before they purchased the property. Homeowners who want to flaunt the rules don't belong there.
To the other extreme, there are unregulated communities where yards are filled with crap, junk cars/trucks/trailers, homes are in disrepair, and the general tone of the neighborhood is unsavory. In many such communities, flagrant violations of city and county code are grossly overlooked by authorities. There is no recourse short of taking flight.
I have lived in both settings and I'm currently living in the latter. If I were able to, I would happily and immediately move into a restricted community with a well-organized HOA.
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