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Ok, so I know that HOA's can be an absolute pain in the arse. Mine used to be quite diligent in annoying us for every small little thing. However, lately they have gone in the absolute opposite and basically letting everything go.
This would be fine but I'm trying to sell my house, and my neighbor believes in parking vehicles in various orders of disrepair in the backyard. Cool for the first 4 months, not cool now that it's literally killing the grass under the vehicles and looks like hell in the backyard which is adjacent to my yard and in clear view of anyone wanting to buy my house. Also, he has a broken window facing my house as well.
So, HOA said they put in a formal complaint letter to the neighbor, if it's not corrected at some point in the future, they will consult a lawyer. So my question is what exactly can a HOA do, I've heard they can put a lien on the property or force the repairs on the house, but is there anything I can do in the meantime if this never happens?
I basically cannot put my house on the market until this is corrected, otherwise, I wouldn't really care. Any ideas?
You may want to...
1. Review the HOA's Covenants and Restrictions
2. Talk with the neighbor
I've done both, he's in conflict with HOA Covenants, several actually, and I've talked to him several times to help, assist, etc. and he always says he will take care of it, because I did not want HOA involved. It's been 6 months, he knows I would like to sell my house and really can't do much until this is corrected.
If your neighbor is a d**k, and someone is looking to buy a house, and they look at a house that is next door to a d**k, then your house is worth exactly what his presence brings it down to. Sorry.
HOA's are bull**it. If I buy a home it is my property, not anyone elses. If I follow city, county, state and federal law, everything else is no one's business.
Those are his cars, and his grass. Not yours. If it affects your home value...then guess what? The home is worth exactly what that value is, because whoever buys it will oneday have to deal with something else he is doing.
I had your same problem over a year ago. I was trying to sell and my neighbor had crap all in his yard and was running a business from home (which wasn't allowed as he had tons of traffic coming and going throughout the day). Between his traffic and trucks parked around his house during the day and junked up yard, no way would anyone want my house. He also had a huge hole in his garage door. It looked awful.
HOA, after a lot of complaining from me, finally sent him a letter to clean up his act. Neighbor ignored the letter and 2 more were sent but he would just ignore. I kept on the HOA even though they acted like nothing they could do. It's sad I had to keep on them.
I was aggravated with the HOA because they were unable to get the situation fixed. Come to find out, they were unable to enforce the rules and penalize someone in any way. Ok, then why do I pay HOA fees?
Anyway, I decided since HOA wasn't doing anything that I would call the code enforcement office because he was not to run his business in a residential neighborhood. This was a zoning issue as was proven with all my evidence (pics and videos). Again, he was written up, but he ignored their letter. Second letter said either you come to our office and pick up your 1,000 ticket or we'll subpoena you. Well he went to the code enforcement office and picked up his ticket for 1,000. He didn't pay it but got an attorney and requested a trial jury. As it ended up (almost a year later) he pled guilty and got a suspended fine. It took a long time to go through all that but I was determined to see it to the end because I knew I was in the right.
It was me that had to take pics and videos and get all evidence to prove my case. It wasn't fun.
The traffic finally stopped and he somewhat cleaned up his mess. Either he do that or he knew he'd go back to court.
I fought him for over a year. I had also kept at the HOA. I told them that I pay my fees and surely they can contact their lawyer and get him to fight this guy. Again, finally they did contact the lawyer and he wrote a letter to my neighbor and after getting no response, they subpoenaed him also.
I had the code enforcement and HOA after him but I had a long long hard fight.
I hope you have better luck though and don't have to wait over a year. Good Luck!
ETA: Are these abandoned cars out in his backyard? If not in running order, they may be considered abandoned if not in a garage. Call the sheriff's dept. and ask. My neighbor had a broken down car sitting in his front yard and he was forced to get rid of it or put it in a garage.
It's sad we have to be like this with neighbors, but you'd think they would have a little respect for those living nearby. What I don't understand is why people like this choose to live in a HOA.
Last edited by diddlydudette; 01-17-2013 at 08:30 PM..
So, HOA said they put in a formal complaint letter to the neighbor, if it's not corrected at some point in the future, they will consult a lawyer. So my question is what exactly can a HOA do, I've heard they can put a lien on the property or force the repairs on the house, but is there anything I can do in the meantime if this never happens?
I basically cannot put my house on the market until this is corrected, otherwise, I wouldn't really care. Any ideas?
It depends on how the contract was written at the time of the sell.
Most HOA neighborhoods have enforcement covenants including, but not limited to, fines and liens and those are legally enforced via the contract you sign when you buy the house in the neighborhood (you basically agree to abide by the HOA covenants and restrictions and pay any fines/liens that result).
If your HOA isn't fulfilling it's end of the contract, talk to a lawyer.
you're in a pickle - suggestion, although stinks, but may work......: make a deal. offer to pay off his HOA liens AFTER you sell the house, IF AND ONLY IF the yard is cleaned up asap, and stays that way throughout the sale....
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