Community is up in arms after neighbor installs giant swastika in front yard

OMG

this is unbelievable. surely YOU own the land, yes? there is no way this can be legal. NO way.

 

You own the land, but you are a part of association, so you cannot do absolutely everything your want.

 

the USA sees it that way, your right, other countries may not, some may still support the burning cross too, but we do not... just the reality of it, these people put a stain on these things in our collective consciousness

 

if you choose to live in a area like that, you have to follow the rules... they are usually gated communities

 

OK fine. There are far more violent Left wing extremists in this country than any extremist Right wing group and the Left wing extremists are supported by the media and many top Democrats so they are emboldened to carry out their violence. They might not kill as many as the Right wing but they make up the majority of the violence against political opponents. And so I repeat, the odds of being assaulted by a Left wing wacko is far greater than by a far Right wing wacko.

 

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I have lived in neighborhoods that have HOA's for twenty years. Neither are gated. I was supposed to get the color approved before painting my deck and I am being required to paint my mailbox. The requirements are standard and apply to everyone in the neighborhood, so I don't mind. They keep the neighborhood uniform and help maintain high property values.

 

HOA's are perfectly legal and routine and they can sue you if you don't abide by their covenants. I'm pretty sure they can also force you to move.

 

aah, the socialist (aka totalitarian) hoa's, also known as anal retentive busybodies running around measuring each blade of grass & barkin orders...

 

I'm sure some HOAs have such busybodies, but I haven't found mine does..

We have been essentially "issue" free for 15 years, because I maintain, but we got 2 notices last spring.

1. Was for some foundation paint that had faded and peeled a bit over the years in one exposed section. We bought a quart and patched it up... Doesn't match exactly, but I'm not up for painting all of my exposed foundation, although I might consider it some fall.

2. Over the winter, we had removed some viney plants that had grown over a retaining wall we had, but those plants left some black stains on the wall. They asked us to clean it up and we borrowed my neighbors power washer and 45 mins later was as good as new.

Didn't mind doing either.. No biggie!

And nobody measures each blade of grass

Please NEVER move into my community with your attitude....

 

You can't be 'part of an association' with a freehold title. That's what FREEhold actually means. You can only legally be overridden on autonomy in a STRATA title (eg, apartments and some townhouses). Whatever they're doing is not legal, it's barely more than a Gentlemans' Agreement. Anyone could challenge it and win.

I can't imagine why you put up with it. You barely even own your own land, since you have no autonomy (over it).

 

Again, who owns the land? If it's FREEhold, then what they're doing is illegal.

 

nope, they moved there knowing the rules, they have to follow them

 

No court of law in my country (and we're even less berserk here about private property, so that tells you something) would stand with the association over the freeholder, in a test case. The freeholder would win.

Check your fine print. Make sure you are actually a freeholder, because you may not be. Again, once the title deed for a freehold property is in your name, NO ONE can compel you to do anything. Sure, your local council can take action against you if you violate health and safety codes, but that's it. If these 'associations' don't have any title claim to your plot, they don't have a leg to stand on. Any contract entered into is invalidated upon sale, because it's a contract between the association and the initial title holder. It cannot be 'liened' over the property in perpetuity, when that property is freehold and not mortgaged (and even in the case of a mortgage, the only other interested party is the lender).

You guys are being had, wholesale. Unless your laws are dramatically different to ours, which may be the case. If so, I'm sorry for you.

 

Once again, who owns the land?

 

We have covenants here also. They apply to new housing estates. BUT, they only apply to the initial build. Once that build is signed off, the convenant expires. You could legally demolish that new build immediately and rebuild in a style contrary to the convenant, and there's nothing the developers or neighbours could do about it. The residents may hope things 'stay pretty', but that's all they can do.

 

I don’t fully understand why you are up in arms about it.
I knew that I was going to be required to be in association when I bought my new townhouse. In most cases I benefit from the HOA - I have a large pool with trampoline that goes 20 feet deep, my whole community is pretty much in a giant park - lots of trees, bushes, grass and other things to take care of - something that most of individual homeowners will find to be too expensive and time consuming to take care of on your own.
As a community we can fire and hire a HOA company. We can technically get together and vote to disband it, but I’ve never heard this actually happen. HOA is more about community than anything else - everyone chips in to pay for nice things, like pool, landscaping, roof repair (huge expense saving!) and snow removal and everyone wants their neighborhood to look good so you are not allowed to paint your house any color you want, attach things to the siding of the house, grow potatoes at the front porch, and so on.
While you own the land, when you bought it you agreed to follow the bylaws of the community. If you want to change something you need to get the community to agree to the change.

While sometimes I don’t like some of their rules, in my opinion it’s better to have HOA than not to have it.

 

Yes, but you're in a townhouse, so probably on Strata Title. I'm only referring to Freehold Title. No Freehold title can legally be usurped by outside agencies (other than local govt, relating to health/safety etc).

 

In which case you cannot actually own your plot freehold. Needing 'permission' to change anything indicates Strata Title. They are the only forms of title in which you don't have freehold ownership of the land upon which your dwelling is situated.

A 'community' is not a legal entity unless THEY own the land on which your house is situated. You need to check your Title status. If it is Freehold, you can tell them to take a hike. There's nothing they can do to you, as legal title holder. Did you sign a contract for works? If so, check the small print. It's almost certainly a year to year kind of deal - and cannot be in perpetuity (again, unless the community actually owns the land), so is only good for a maximum of 12 months, or until you sell. I get that you LIKE being made to pay rent and have no say in how you use the land you paid for, but intellectually and legally, this is high level BS. I almost want to fight it myself, and I have no skin in the game.

 

Just another Trumper being an ***hole.

Yet didn't Republicans complain when a mosque was planned for the World Trade Center sight?