I live in a fairly wealthy neighborhood. We have an HOA. They're pretty benign, and are responsible for maintaining common areas, like the entry to the neighborhood. Their most serious responsibility is maintain a couple of green spaces to comply with city regulations.

Some of the owners bought property backing up to a green spaces. Some of those people decided to extend their fence over thirty feet into the green space, building patios, grills, and in on case, and in ground pool. Now the HOA has notified the owners that they must move their shit back to the property they own. They have refused. Now this has to go to litigation.

Why are "decent" people such thieving, corrupt assholes? This is keeping the HOA from its responsibilities, costing money which will eventually be passed on to us.

Where is that bag of doorknobs? I think I have a use for it.

Question... What and why did it take the HOA officers so long to respond ??? This was done over what time period ?? Decent people would Not have done such selfish and dispicable act... Seems like a new board of directors needs to be installed so they can go to work for the good ones that follow the rules and by-laws. And if possible hold the previous directors accountable for not tacking action....... And for the ones that have encroached into areas that do not belong to them then hit them where it hurts == IN THE WALLET.... ........... drill sgt.

Wow! I'm surprised they initially got away with these infractions. I don't know about yours but in our neighborhood, you have to submit detailed plans for items like that and you have to show exactly where on your property it will be located. This sounds as though your HOA doesn't require it, the homeowners never submitted plans, or they did submit and lied. In the end, it doesn't really matter. Those folks are going to find out the hard way that you can't build on property that doesn't belong to you. I'm also surprised that the HOA or management company didn't see these being built during drive-throughs and stop it right then.

Sucks to drain resources from the HOA but you can't let them get away with that. I wonder if the HOA can recoup legal fees from them either as part of the litigation process or in fines to the homeowners?

The HOA that deals with our neighborhood would charge legal fees to the offending homeowners and if necessary, place liens on their (offending homeowners) property. The cost would not be passed on to other HOA members.

30 feet of land you don't own? Wealthy people stealing? Maybe that's how they got wealthy. Yeah, HOA dropped the ball on this one.

Our HOA (and previous ones I've been in) have a clause stating that the HOA can recover legal fees from the offending property owner.

A home we were looking to buy was in a nice neighborhood with an HOA. But the HOA somehow let its registration with the state lapse for a few months. In that time period an owner got city building permits for an obnoxious house and started construction. The HOA couldn't do anything about it, so the home was completed and is an eyesore for sure.

Burn them out.

Yeah, who would encroach 30’ into land they don’t own & expect to keep it?

Of course, ideally it would have been mentioned early on. I think they have something in common with ‘squatters’.

I also think since it’s ’common green space’, they feel it’s sorta public. It would be fun to set up a picnic table on their front lawn.

My next door neighbor tried it with the trail behind our properties. They planted grass on the trail and built a tetherball court at one end to make people not want to cross. Our HOA was lax, let it be. Then the owner wanted to sell and the HOA stepped in and had the infringement documented so the new owners would not think it was their property. Really strange what people try to get away with,hope your HOA gets it worked out.

While working for a water utility and driving our easement, a resident put in an inground pool. I first informed the resident that it was our easement and our trucks need to drive it. I was asked WTF could I do as he laughed at me.
He is not laughing any more, pool is gone, he paid our lawyer fees.

Like I said, the board is pretty laid back. They have taken action on a few things (one resulted in them being threatened at gunpoint.) Mostly, they bitch about cars on blocks, people parking Winnebagos on the street, the little stuff. As far as the modifications, it looks like several owners conspired to move the fence at once, all adjoining houses. Over a weekend, they moved a 6 foot fence to contain the greenbelt. After that, short of going onto people's property, it would have been hard to see much. And yes, modifications need to be approved by the board. They are amateurs, though, and sometimes do stupid things. They once published a newsletter with the names of all the property owners in arrears on their annual fees. For 130 bucks a year, I'm pretty satisfied. And I read the HOA documents thoroughly, all the stuff you all mentioned is in there. I still find it annoying.

No need to deal with the courts at all.
The HOA would just be better suited to rip it all out themselves that is across the line.
Adverse possession is 15 years in KY and one has to pay the annual taxes for 15 years consistently before having a claim to the property.

Folks leave stuff or build on your property you can dispose of it as you see if.

The fence happening over a weekend is one thing, but an in ground pool doesnt just appear over night. There's all sorts of stupid going on there.

I live in a condo (hopefully not much longer) and the "board" and all the bullshit that comes with it was one of the factors that made me want to move. I dont envy your position, Fredward.

Thanks for the tip. I'll pass that along to the board. I also assume the expense of removal can be extracted from the homeowners. Now, all I need is to get the board members a testicular transplant.

June 2006 bought a house in a HOA. But thourghly researched the deed restrictions / covenants for some thing specific because it would be a deal breaker for the sale.. No specific restriction listed against what I wanted to do so after moving in within 1 month this action was taken to complete my project ..........1 1/2 years later the HOA tried to enforce something that was not in the rules/regulations at time of purchased.. When pointing this out to go backtrack dates they started to get pissy so told them to get a lawyer versed in federal court and they deceided to immedately leave my property.... That was late 2007 with nothing more heard about this action but they did change the rules /regs allowing what I had done but now someone would need HOA Board approval.. So the rules/regs can work if you know how to play their game... Use their rules /regs to your benifit. ................................... drill sgt.

When you say green space is that referring to what is common grounds, and the property belongs to the association?

Same for our HOA, you cause legal problems, you are the one responsible for the HOA legal fees.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeGLI:
The fence happening over a weekend is one thing, but an in ground pool doesnt just appear over night. There's all sorts of stupid going on there.

I live in a condo (hopefully not much longer) and the "board" and all the bullshit that comes with it was one of the factors that made me want to move. I dont envy your position, Fredward.

My field crew had seen it and never mentioned it. They would go up the block to get access. The reason I came upon it was I had taken a ride down the easement to check on flow meters that were giv8ng me gallon totals that seemed way off. Sewer flow data.

Wouldn't a pool require a building permit of some sort?
I'd take a look at it that way too.

Ok, the way I read it is that they own the property. They just didn’t move on.

There might be a chance that since the association no longer owns and has control over those parcels, the homeowners are in the right and the HOA needs to be put in their place.

If they bought the property the HOA no longer controls it. The homeowners have a right to use the property they own.