Community Rules and Regs.

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

SF VIP
Location
The Sticks, Northeast PA.
My ex-girlfriend lived in a "retirement community". It was not a happy experience for her. There were way too many rules and regs. You were allowed two cats or one small dog. She had 2 cats. Came home and there was a postit note on the door. A postit note meant you had to do something about it. Well, her cat was seen looking out the window. Horrors!!!! Come on, really? Then she put a window air conditioner in her back bedroom. Unseen from the street. She was told she couldn't have a naked exposed air conditioner, she would have to build a trellis to hide this offensive machine. Of course it had to be an approved trellis that cost $200. You could be fined if your grass was too short or too long. This is just a few of the hundreds of rules in this community. I could not have lived with all those kinds of rules. When I bought my place I made sure there was NO community association. Maybe some like having those kind of rules, I didn't. That's why cars come in all colors. What do you like?
 

Oy, fuggedaboutit!!!!! I wouldn't last there a day. My Dad's apartment building is like that. It's gotten a bit more lax about pets but so very many rules. The communal hallways are all painted beige. The carpets are beige. All apartment doors are beige. Anything like a plant outside or a wreath on the door is discouraged. Even the balconies have restrictions for appearance. Over seventeen stories up the biggest concern should be plants and all not blowing off.

I enjoy a neighborhood where people are free to show their individuality. What if I want a blue door and a pretty welcome wreath, a few potted trees perhaps?
 

You may not like some of these rules but with out them you could have people parking their cars on their front lawn, erecting a five foot statue of the Virgin Mary on their lawn, leave dog crap on the sidewalk instead of picking it up or deciding to paint their house chartreuse.
 
There is reasonable than there is ridiculous. While there may a need for rules, no one should have to read through pages of them! If you passed through our town, you would see a zillion room AC's in windows-- hey, it's hot and not everyone has central air. Nothing pretty about trash cans either but we all have them.
 
I couldn't live there. I see the need for some rules -- don't play heavy metal music so loud it rattles people's rib cages, don't put old washing machines on the porch, etc. -- but rules about minutiae, no.
 
We spent some time in an over-55 RV park in Arizona once that had the longest and most Byzantine list of rules and regs I've ever seen. People were offered free nights for ratting out their neighbors. There were the usual rules about dogs, noise, etc. and then there were the really off-the-wall ones like the prohibition against blowing your nose in the shower. Really? You have to have a written regulation about that? The list went on..
 
I could never handle living in a retirement community or HOA with a laundry list of strict rules. There's only basic rules in the area where I live, no cars parked on front lawns and no yards with 6' high weeds. No back yard fences over 6' high. No rules that I wouldn't do voluntarily anyway.
 
ALWAYS get a copy of the HOA, COA, covenants or rules and regs BEFORE you sign a lease or buy in. We didn't even make an offer on this house until we had read them. Thank goodness there are very few enforceable rules but they help keep the neighborhood safe and tidy. Even the few rules are a challenge for some but I don't understand why anyone would buy in without understanding what is expected. Be smart!
 
Read them first and if you don't like them, don't rent of buy is wise advise.

I once lived across the street from folks who thought purple was a neat color for their house. Then came Christmas and up went the lights. They liked the lights with the purple house so much they kept the place lit all year.

Yep, they "expressed themselves".
 
We have lived in 3 different condos, I was on the board of 2. In all three the grounds were community property. A chronic problem was that people wanted to treat the community property as their own. They would plant things where they caused problems and otherwise want to mess up an attractive property. One owner planted a tree so close to his townhouse that as it grew the roots broke his foundation.
A crew came in every week and cut the grass, trimmed the trees and bushes. One resident had a fit because they "cut them too much". Hibiscus is a very prolific bush, it would be big again in a few short months.
In addition to landscaping, the association took care of painting, the pool, roofing and the streets which were private.
 
I think that's the difference. If I were in what we call an apartment village around here then yes uniformity. But in exchange the grass is cut and snow plowed for the whole development. Not a whole lot of rules. You can hang clothes if it's a removable pole. You can put out flower pots or saints. You can even pick a unique door color. When you move out everything plus door must be beige again. Dogs and cats and long as they don't disturb anyone. That I could deal with.
 
I prefer neighbors who mind their own business. For that to happen, you in turn have to do the same. The folks across the street had their Christmas lights burning last night. Sometimes the next door neighbors leave their trash cans out on the curb all week. Occasionally there are loud parties, but parties always end. There are more important things to worry about, imo.
 
NancyNGA said:
I prefer neighbors who mind their own business. For that to happen, you in turn have to do the same. The folks across the street had their Christmas lights burning last night. Sometimes the next door neighbors leave their trash cans out on the curb all week. Occasionally there are loud parties, but parties always end. There are more important things to worry about, imo.
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I agree.
 
At first my ex rented the house. Then she bought the place when the owners got the approval. It wasn't bad back then. When the community was opened, mostly all the homes went up at the same time. They all had kids at roughly the same time, and the kids moved away about the same time. This group got control of the place. That's when they decided to make it a "retirement community". People got stuck with their homes. Nobody wanted to buy an 8 room house with 3 bedrooms, 2 and a 1/2 baths in a RETIREMENT community. Then ( I called them the old biddies) made up all these silly rules. My ex got fined $25 for using an electric lawn mower at 11:45 AM. On Sundays you can't use a lawn mower till 12:00 PM. She didn't know about the rule. One guy had his roof redone using the same colored tiles as before. But when his roof was originally done, there was no rule about color. His old tiles were not an approved color, but grandfathered in. His new roof was not an approved color. He had to redo his roof with the "approved" colored tiles. Now, there's lawyers involved with people suing one another.
 
When it comes to communal living I like rules. They prevent the little ole cat lady next door from having 5 cats, a bad back and a small liter box. If you don't like living in a community then don't torment the community and board members... by all means move, everyone will be happier that way.
 
This is why I would never live in an HOA. Lon you would really hate being my neighbor. and the more you hated it the more I would enjoy it.

My father screwed up 40 years ago during a down period and sold two building lots on our frontage. One place has never been a problem. The other place has turned into a rental house. Lady of the house got into the habit of calling the Sheriff when we were running equipment during hours she felt wasn't appropriate. We have what is known as the "Right to Farm" law which cements our right to conduct any generally accepted farming or animal husbandry activities with immunity from harassment or lawsuit.

Sheriff has informed her several times that she is wrong but to no avail. Should have heard her scream when the gate on the manure spreader broke open and dumped 20 tons of political promises just on my side of the property line.
 

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