Chafing
under uniformity
HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATIONS: RULES AND REGULATIONS Article Courtesy of the Newsobserver.com |
By LORENZO PEREZ, Staff
Writer
Published Saturday, June 1, 2002
"We've been ostracized," Robinson-Pierce said Thursday. "They've put us every month on the front page of the Preston Village newsletter. Do they put everyone else's violations on the front page? Technically, you can call it stalking." Neighbors who support the three-dog limit tell a different story in affidavits filed in the suit by the homeowners association. In the affidavits, neighbors complained about Robinson-Pierce's dogs barking outside at 3 a.m. And despite the iron fence around the Pierces' yard, neighbors said they feared that some of the larger dogs could escape and threaten their children. The vast majority of people in homeowners associations appreciate the benefits, said Henry W. Jones, a Raleigh lawyer who represents more than 200 associations, including Preston Village. In neighborhoods where covenants regulate neighborhood noise, the external appearance of a home and other land-use restrictions, property values are maintained or tend to rise, Jones said. "Some neighborhoods don't have restrictive covenants, and you can tell it," Jones said. Exerting power To enforce appearance standards, most homeowners associations are empowered to fine homeowners who violate covenants. If it is a question of an untidy lawn, for example, many reserve the right to send a landscaping crew to a homeowner's property and bill them for the maintenance work. Homeowners associations can also put liens on homes where the owners fall behind on their association dues. Last year, Thomas and Preethi Thomas were threatened with a lien or possible foreclosure after the management company for their Lochmere neighborhood home in Cary claimed it had never received their association dues. The threatening letters continued after the Thomases' bank verified that the check had gone through earlier in the year, Preethi Thomas said. The Thomases filed a complaint with the state Attorney General's Office, and the management company eventually cited a computer software error, acknowledging receipt of their dues. In the past three years, the state attorney general has received 100 complaints against homeowners associations. Many of them stem from liens placed against a complainant's home by an association claiming the homeowner had skipped paying association dues. It was unnerving at the time, Preethi Thomas said, realizing that because of a question over $210 in association dues, the Lochmere Homeowners Association could have placed a lien on their home. "That freaked us out," said Preethi Thomas, 30. 'Dry reading' Homeowners rarely take the time to read 40 or more pages of covenants before closing on their house, Chapel Hill lawyer Michael Levine said. "It's kind of dry reading, and everyone focuses on the house and the neighborhood and feeling good about owning 'a piece of the rock,' " Levine said. Developers insert most of the covenants to make their neighborhoods as attractive and marketable as they can, Levine said. "They want to give people assurances that this is what they can expect when they move into the neighborhood," Levine said. "These mini-mansions are for people who have an appreciation for the uniform." Bill J. Gabello, 39, said he and a small group of other Hampton Oaks residents have been trying to revive their homeowners association. But they were motivated primarily by a rash of break-ins and vandalism in their North Raleigh neighborhood, not imposing stricter appearance standards. "No one has brought up uniform appearance," Gabello said. "These are blue-collar working homes, not $300,000 or $400,000 homes." Enjoying uniformity The houses in Morrisville's Breckenridge neighborhood fall more within that upper price range, with some of the larger homes selling for about $300,000. Jeff T. Bond, 40, said the idea of a homeowners association enforcing strict appearance standards didn't bother him. A network engineer, Bond lives in a five-bedroom, two-car garage home in The Preserve section of Breckenridge with his wife and three children. Standing barefoot on his front lawn, watching his sprinkler work, Bond said that the last thing he wanted to see was a neighbor paint his or her house pink. "And I don't want to see people breaking down their engines in the front yard," Bond said. A couple of cul-de-sacs over, T. Bryan Alexander said he expected that the small East Carolina University flag he had attached to his mailbox probably wouldn't pass muster with the restrictive covenants. But a little uniformity doesn't hurt, said Alexander, a Morrisville firefighter. Alexander and his wife, Wendy Alexander, said that their new surroundings were a welcome change after living in a Zebulon neighborhood where chain-link fences, brightly colored houses and untidy lawns were common. They frequently volunteered to cut their neighbors' yards and trim their trees, he said. They don't expect that to be an issue in The Preserve. Wendy Alexander, who works for an IT consulting firm, said there is only one thing she will miss, and that is the ability to hang a clothesline in her yard. That is a no-no in The Preserve. "I love the fresh smell of clothes on a line," Alexander said.
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