Semi-vague HOA verbage

[AZMama33]

Hello all,
I'm new here My sister has about 4 hens and just sold her home. They will be moving to a rental while they build a new home and can't take her chickens with her. She has offered them to me and I REALLY want them. My husband and I, with our two young daughters, recently moved into a new home in suburban Phoenix. It is becoming rare these days here to find a home that does not have an HOA. Our new home does unfortunately have an HOA, so I checked our CC&Rs and it states ...

" No animals, birds, fowl, poultry, or livestock, other than a reasonable number o f generally recognized house or yard pets, shall be maintained on any property and then only if they are kept, bred, or raised thereon solely as domestic pets and not for commercial purposes . No animal shall be allowed to make an unreasonable amount o f noise, or to become a nuisance. No structure for the care, housing or confinement of any animal shall be maintained so as to be Visible From Neighboring Property . Upon the written request of any Owner, the Board shall determine whether, for the purposes a particular animal is a generally recognized house or yard pet, or nuisance, or whether the number of animals on any such property is reasonable. Any decision rendered by the Board shall be enforceable to the same extent as other restrictions contained in this Declaration."

Would you say there is a little wiggle room? I obviously don't want to ruffle my neighbors feathers (lol) but I'd love the benefits of having chickens. I garden and am in the process of putting in four large garden beds and fruit trees in our back yard. We also compost. Also, one of our neighbors has a SUPER noisy bird of some sort that they keep outdoors and I can hear it squawking from inside my house. It doesn't really bother me, but I wonder if my neighbors are obviously ok with that bird would a few hens be any noisier?

Thanks in advance for your input!

 

[N F C]

Welcome to BYC!

Your HOA wording does seem a bit vague but before you take on the birds, check with them to see if it's ok for you to have them. It would be hard to get attached to the chickens and then have to re-home them if you aren't allowed to keep them.

Good luck to you and let us know how it works out.

 

[BonRae67]

You could ask your neighbors if the chickens would bother them. If they say no then that would be info you could take to you HOA. Go to them with the coop plans and where you are putting it on the property. Flood them with info about the benefits of the chickens. I find that most are not educated about chickens and they think they are dirty, disease ridden birds. Good luck with them and keep us posted.

 

[vehve]

I'd recommend talking to neighbors too. I would also say, that the wording of that could work to your advantage. If you acquire permission beforehand, wouldn't it mean that that permission would be enforceable too, protecting you against complaints?

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I'd just ask the neighbors. If they're good then go with it.

"reasonable number o f generally recognized house or yard pets, shall be maintained on any property and then only if they are kept, bred, or raised thereon solely as domestic pets and not for commercial purposes ."

The only vague part of this wording is numbers of poultry allowed. Obviously you can have a rooster as breeding is allowed.

 

[tcstoehr]

I'd just ask the neighbors. If they're good then go with it.

"reasonable number o f generally recognized house or yard pets, shall be maintained on any property and then only if they are kept, bred, or raised thereon solely as domestic pets and not for commercial purposes ."

The only vague part of this wording is numbers of poultry allowed. Obviously you can have a rooster as breeding is allowed.

Unfortunately poultry are not generally recognized as house or yard pets, except by people like us. And nowhere does it say anything accepting about poultry. In fact it specifically mentions poultry as forbidden.

"No animals, birds, fowl, poultry, or livestock, other than a reasonable number of generally recognized house or yard pets, shall be maintained on any property..."

This seems pretty clear that chickens are outlawed. And if you want to claim that chickens are "generally recognized as yard pets" then it looks like you'd have to make a written request to have that considered, as per this:

"Upon the written request of any Owner, the Board shall determine whether, for the purposes a particular animal is a generally recognized house or yard pet, or nuisance, or whether the number of animals on any such property is reasonable."

But since they have specifically mentioned poultry as unacceptable, I think your chances are slim. But I would certainly try.

I think we're all on the same side here, I just don't think your chances are very good. But if I were you I'd certainly give it a try.