Do we have any lawyers among us that could comment on the wording?

[chixnovis]

My HOA covenants have the wording below:

Animals. No animals, livestock or poultry of any kind shall be raised, bred or kept on the properties except that dogs, cats or other household pets may be kept, subject to full compliance with the ordinances of the City of Louisville.

I think this is open to interpretation since chickens could be considered pets. Would anyone with law expertise care to comment on this please. Fortunately I am on the HOA board so they can't go after me unanimously.

The City passed an ordinance earlier this year allowing backyard chickens.

Thank you

Erik

 

[cassie]

I'm not a lawyer but I think your HOA might throw a hissy fit if they found out about your chickens. You could give it a try though. I would simply do what I could to make sure the HOA didn't know about my chickens.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

If you plan on raising your chickens in your house then you have an argument. If you plan to keep them outside then you will be fined. Your better off getting a pot bellied pig.

The wording is clearer if rewritten- no keeping of outside animals excepting house pets that go outside.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Is the HOA self-managed, or do you have a management company? How large is it? And how neighbor-friendly is it? It is much less expensive to have the city deal with provision violators, and hte way for that to happen is for your covenants (or many of them) to mirror city code and zoning rules. Since your city has made a recent change allowing backyard chickens, bring it up to the board that y'all ought to update your covenants to match. Not a slam dunk, but if the board is on-board, you will probably be able to get it passed.