Welp, the HOA was notified

[Dinogrrl]

That's still something I'm keeping in mind. I sent them a letter on Thursday so now we play the waiting game for their response.

 

[Liz Birdlover]

Yeah, that's pretty much what they sound like...

At my last rental, the agent showing us the place (he happened to live 1 street away from the unit) warned us that that particular HOA was really hardcore about people having garden hoses without nozzles, of all things. That was our welcome to the community.

A hose without a nozzle?! Wow...that's a new level of pettiness!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

A hose without a nozzle?! Wow...that's a new level of pettiness!

In places, its financially lucrative to turn in neighbors who aren't following water restrictions.

 

[Liz Birdlover]

This kinda crap is the exact reason why I've never rented from somebody and have never lived inside city limits. Any moron that comes on my property trying to tell me what I can and can't legally do is about to get the lead end of a shot gun.

Where I moved to, for peace & quiet as well as freedom to have chickens, is zoned for such, agricultural/residential. After 10 years of peace, sounds I heard being my chickens & pigeons, owl hoots or fox barks at night, now things are unfortunately changing...& changing rapidly. It sucks. I now hear car alarms, lawn mowers, thumping music speakers, helicopters, sirens, barking dogs, people yelling or driving vehicles with loud pipes, at any given moment. They ripped up the historic train tracks & installed a stupid bike path for the tourons (moron tourists), so now there are trespassers constantly driving, bike riding & walking down this privately owned lane, despite signs posted as such, because curious tourons "just want to see what's here" & heard my roosters crowing or want to pet the neighbors horses & feed them things that could kill them or make them very ill. (Yes, it's happened)

There's no HOA on my section of gravel road, but regardless, things change whenever people move in. They bring their attitudes, rudeness & eventually someone complains about something (most times just cuz they're the miserable type always complaining) & someone with some type of position of authority gets their ear bent with that complaining & is compelled to Do Something just to shut the complainer up.

Rules can get changed or new rules get made, change is inevitable.

I feel bad for your scenario but you have few options, & those options will be ultimately decided by law, bi laws, zoning, & in your case HOA rules. Appeal is within your rights, but the results could go either way as you know, so do your best to be prepared & think of places your flock might be relocated to, for their sake.

I know I moved where I am now, so I could have my critters in peace. Things are not the same here. Civilization is closing in. I will probably be relocating again. This time, to a much more rural area, further from front line of the growth sprawl. Moving is a real PITA, but you may want to consider that going forward.

I hope your appeal gives you more time at least. Best of luck!

 

[Liz Birdlover]

In places, its financially lucrative to turn in neighbors who aren't following water restrictions.

So they're assuming your hose without a nozzle must be leaking, drip drip drip?
Are these the same places with lawn irrigation sprinkler systems?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

So they're assuming your hose without a nozzle must be leaking, drip drip drip?
Are these the same places with lawn irrigation sprinkler systems?

Usually, the nozzles are required to be self-closing, or you aren't allowed to water at all - no turning on the hose and walking away. See, for example, LADWP. CA Water Board, etc

 

[rosemarythyme]

So they're assuming your hose without a nozzle must be leaking, drip drip drip?
Are these the same places with lawn irrigation sprinkler systems?

Ironically yes the HOA had sprinkler systems everywhere and after having it re-piped, it ruptured in under a year and leaked water through the garage wall behind the furnace.

We never really used the hose anyhow, mostly just the neighbor washing his car. And the nozzle broke so it didn't work after a while but we just left it on there so they couldn't ding us for not having one.

 

[Rise722]

I will NEVER live in an HOA just because of the (sometimes) stifling rules. And it only takes ONE individual to make everyone else "tow the line." Good luck with your chickens.

 

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

I will NEVER live in an HOA just because of the (sometimes) stifling rules. And it only takes ONE individual to make everyone else "tow the line." Good luck with your chickens.

The trouble is that you buy and build and live in an area and then it changes. These places become HOA controlled, they aren't born that way. When I bought here it was rural. There is a farm up the street (half mile away) that had roosters and chickens and horses, sold firewood and had a garden fertilized with all that poo, but new people moved in and now all that is illegal, so an 85 yr old man has to get rid of all the things that made him get up at 5am and work all day until he goes to bed. Now he sits on the porch and drinks milk with jam and brandy (or is it cognac? Or maybe Bourbon, I don't know, but his Milk is not child friendly).

When you buy in an area where there are farms, you shouldn't be allowed to complain when they spread manure. People bought here to have the peace, but they didn't understand that the pretty farm with chickens would mean a rooster lived there too.

I did not buy a house in the suburbs so why do I have to live in one?

Why do I have to move further out because the suburbs came here ? I have to build a new garden, a new greenhouse, a new chicken coop and a new house, and make my "home" buyer friendly instead of suitable for me. I have been planting perennials and fruit trees for 18years, I am too old to now plant new trees and eat the fruit. My spouse is over 65, now he has to build a new house and outbuildings at his age? This isn't always fair. We should get to live our lives quietly where we built our home.

 

[Dinogrrl]

Yup my parents' property backs up to a local cattle farm. They bought the house (over a decade ago) specifically because there were no other houses behind them. But of course now the farmer's getting ready to retire and his kids aren't sure they want to take on the farm, and developers are absolutely frothing at the bit to get their hands on that land...

(Also ironically, one of their neighbors has stealth-owned chickens for many years, which is against their HOA AND county laws...and literally NOBODY knew about them until this summer when a tornado came through and knocked down a tree that took out the coop and the neighbor had to move the hens into a temporary pen!)