I thought it was legal but...

[chandasue]

Thanks for all the feedback! The agent was actually working for us and this was a foreclosure. I specifically asked before we made an offer because we had all these homesteading plans in mind. All but one of the people out here are not in compliance with the "rules" as far as we could tell, even the jerk is not controlling his dog. His dog has bit 2 people and is supposed to be on a leash at all times and muzzled when they leave the yard. They have an underground fence so anyone that would wander on their yard would surely be bit again. And the one that is ok on everything is our neighbor and loves my eggs. The guy that talked to us actually wants to get a couple pigs. We thought, too, that if anyone picks at us we can easily find something to pick back for on nearly everyone out here. I'm going to go through all our paperwork tomorrow and see what I can find.

Hopefully we can file for a variance if all else fails...

 

[Sillystunt]

good luck!Keep us posted

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
I thought you had a problem! Sounds like a very tidy arrangement. You might wish to have a tete a tete between your fellow residents, though, just to make sure everyone is "on the same page..."

 

[chandasue]

Well I knew I wouldn't sleep until I dug out the papers. There is absolutely nothing in there saying there's any covenants, which may or may not be correct as the real estate agent said there was nothing as well, even though that probably doesn't mean anything for us legally. So I guess I just wait until someone complains and hope that just doesn't happen... In the mean time I'm going to

 

[azelgin]

Since there is no H.O.W. and no dues, who would be enforcing any C.C.& R.s? The county is not likely to get involved. They usually have more important things for their county attorney to deal with. Is a lone neighbor going to foot the bill for a private attorney? I doubt it. I really don't see where there is any problem. I live next to a development from the 1960s with C.C. & R.s that had an expiration clause, if the homeowners did not vote to keep them in force after ten years. Could be the same in your neighborhood. Best of luck to you.

 

[CrazyChickMom]

Who told you there were these restrictions/convenants on the property? If the information is not on your title insurance policy then it is not recorded at the court house. If it's not recorded at the court house then it's not worth the paper its written on. They cannot record these after the fact and have them binding today...I wouldn't worry about it! Party on chickies!..and goats too!

 

[Rootball]

Technically You are still legal. This has nothing to do with the courthouse or the county or city government. Covenants are a civil matter, they are a legally binding document, however the police or sheriff have no authority in the matter and have no power (or desire) to enforce covenants.

If you are breaking a covenant your homeowners association has to notify you of that fact and then if you choose to defy them they would have to take you to civil court and sue for some kind of compliance.


What this means.... Its not totally clear, but from your posts what I read is that there is no homeowners association to speak of, just your 8 neighbors. SO in effect there is no one for someone to complain to. There has to be some kind of organization of people who are interested enough in keeping the covenants that they are willing to go to the work (time and money)to enforce them(again it seems like you arent aware of such a group of people, so they probably dont exist).

What probably happened was that when the development was originally built, the framework for covenants was carried out but no one has followed through with enforcing them.

Another way to think of it is this....the covenants are the laws for you and your 8 neighbors, and the laws are instituted by the government of your development, which is .....you and your 8 neighbors...these rules are imposed upon you by yourself(and 8 neighbors). If all of you are breaking the rules, then you probably have strong support to actually have the covenants changed. Figure out what the legal framework is for your development; call a homeowners association meeting and change the rule. You are not at the whim of some higher power here. You and your neighbors have the ability to rule the neighborhood as you like.(If you lived in a neighborhood of 150 homes this process might be much harder)


I was in a similar situation. The area where I live was subdivided 50 years ago and someone arbitrarily set up some rules. no one in the area today likes the rules or cares about them, we've all been breaking them for 25 years and since there is no one to enforce them, for all practical purposes they dont exist.


Lastly, Ill say that I'm making a lot of assumptions about your situation based upon what I read in your post. Dont go off all half cocked. Quietly research what the actual rules are which outline how the covenants in your development are made, changed, and enforced. It might be very easy for you and your neighbors to change the rules.

 

[quiltnchik]

Quote:
You should have been given a copy of the covenants and bylaws, if any, up front - from what I know, that's the LAW! Do a search on BYC for "Are you legal or an outlaw?" There's an attorney that posted on either the next to the last page or the last page (can't remember how many pages we're up to on that thread now) that may be able to give you better advice

 

[quiltnchik]

Quote:
In our HOA here in Virginia, they don't have to take you to court. They send you a notice and give you 10 days to "make things right." If you don't fix the "problem" in those 10 days, you then go before the "Compliance and Hearing Committee," which can then levy fines. If the fines are not paid, they can take you to court and foreclose on your property - just FYI. Not sure how it works where you live, but I'd still fight it if I were you!

 

[chandasue]

There is definitely no association and I've double checked and still can't find anything that says there's a covenant. The lady that lives on the first corner originally owned all of these properties. When she sold it to a developer, her (and maybe the developer) wrote out the covenants to keep out the "riff-raff." There is no one to report to as far as I know. We've lived here over a year and this is the first we've heard of anything. The neighbor that informed me of all this said that if someone files a complaint with the county we'd be served and we'd have to go to court or become compliant with the covenant laws. So I don't know how binding that makes any of this. I'm going to quietly keep looking into it.