IANAL but: derivative action against the association?
And don't look at the other's back yard.
Sounds like a fire hazard to me.
L
Here’s the plan, go to walmart and by an American flag kit. Sneak over about midnight and hang it on the side of his garage. In the morning call the HOA and tell them there is an offensive, racist symbol on flag pole next door. They will come right over and the see the mess for themselves.
Your HOA is more powerful than the federal government.
Get on the Board.
Read the bi-laws.
There may be a paragraph that addresses taking a question or motion to the membership.
Typically 10% of the members’ signatures are required to take a question to the membership and then get a majority in the balloting.
In any case, you will have to go to war.
My wife was elected to our HOA on the platform do it yourself and don’t ask me to pay for it. Her platform was “we don’t need no stinkin HOA” She destroyed it within 2 months and is one of the most popular people in the neighborhood up till this day.
Go talk to them. Be polite but forceful. If you and other neighbors dont like what they are doing then get legal help. Ridicule works wonders too if they don’t conform.
If they still dont conform, caltrops in their driveway a cpl of times a week may help. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9DhM6G-hzU
An HOA tyrannical enough to do what you want done to your neighbor, is tyrannical enough to do as much or worse to you.
I’m not a fan of HOAs.
They need limits, like governments. And for the same reasons.
HOA can levy a fine for violating by-laws. If the owner does not pay, it adds up as lien against the property. There is an empty condo in my building which is several thousand $$$ behind paying HOA dues. The owner (which is now the bank) is trying to sell, but no buyers with that bigly lien.
Be a good neighbor and not a dick and maybe he’ll ask you to help him clean up a few things
Devils Advocate: they might be reaction to have all these white peoples tells my my property - rights. I've heard d it based on race, origin, gender, age, disability and veterans.
Or you can try to diffuse the situation by asking with help and offering with landscaping, Sometimes they don't have the money or it's your option to take your path.
Has the Board Directors reached out to this matter?
Many HOA contract with one of a few big management companies to actually run things. Find out who the management company is, and start in on them.
Or run for a spot on the HOA board, and become the petty tyrant in charge.
Do the ladies and gentlemen of color own or rent?
First, have a lawyer confirm the other homeowners are in violation of the bi-laws of the HOA, legally adopted, etc.
If so, you have two avenues
1, against the other homeowner for reducing your “quiet enjoyment” of your home, reduced RE value at sale, mental anguish, social loss at not being to invite friends and/or business contacts to your home, etc, all sorts of other damages and potential damages a good lawyer can develop.
This would initially be a “hard” letter. A Notice to Cure letter
2, against the HOA for their failure to enforce their own rules, resulting in the same damages as shown above. Rules are rules, not suggestions.
This would initially be a much “softer” letter. However, if they do not act, then they get a Notice to Enforse / Notice to Cure letter.
BTW, Often directors of HOAs do not have personal Errors and Omissions (effectively “malpractice”) and can be personally held liable for their failure to pursue action against the violating homeowner.
Also check if such “junk” violates and zoning or health laws.
Yes, you will need a lawyer, but just for a few hours. Not a big deal. Less than $800, and demand other homeowner or HOA pays it. If HOA ends up having to go after other homeowner, HOA may retain/pay for your lawyer to do it, as he is familiar with case, etc. Avoid any lawyer who wants to talk you into “big case” from the outset.
I just sued my neighbor in small claims court over the fact that she was running a busy nonprofit organization in her backyard. I won.
You say you have an HOA and bylaws. Do you have protective covenants that are recorded against the deeds to your property? Those are legally binding and enforceable.
My HOA is inactive so was no help despite almost 2 years of trying to get them to do something. But in the end it worked to my favor to sue as an individual, because HOA officials are often on the hook liability-wise should a property owner sue. I think even if they were active they wouldn’t have done anything besides write a strongly worded letter.
The judge in my case ruled the way she did because the amount of people (often 30, 40, 50+) and frequency of their visits to the property (3-4 times per week) were considered a nuisance by any reasonable standard. I think for you that just having a trashed yard next door will be hard to do anything about.
Anyway, feel free to send me a message if you want to know more about my situation. It was an awful two years, and I know my neighbors would knife me in the back if they had the chance, but it was so worth it not to have to worry about how many people I can see out my window ever again!
The HOA.. they are your neighbors, right ?
sharing space with people is one of my favorite lessons from the bible.
There is no winning in a conflict against those who live in your proximity. The only reprive you will achieve without cooperation would be to move.
Seriously. This will never end well.
I’m forced to look at 7 foot tree stumps that they had a stop order on due to cutting them down illegally, commercial stoves from his food truck, chain link fencing just laying around and even a fence he decided to move in about 7 feet from his property line for some reason.
...
At least he didn’t move his fence 7 feet into your yard.
Just to let you know, a lot of people on FR think you are the problem, not the neighbor.
Laws vary from state to state, so you may need to check this on your own. In Florida you have to write a certified letter to the association via the management company advising them of the violation, what you’ve done previously to notify the association of the violation, and demand an answer for why they haven’t enforced the rules. In Florida they have to answer if you’ve followed that procedure. Sometimes that’s all it takes. They know that until you’ve gone through the correct legal procedure they don’t have to do a thing.
You really need to get with your neighbors in force to change the way the community is managed. If not, it will only get worse. If your neighbors are apathetic, put your house up for sale now.
Pull a LaBeouf.
set up a video camera and stream the yard 24\7 to utube
1. You are on solid legal ground to pursue legal action against both the HOA and the neighbor over this.
2. It will likely cost you a fortune in legal fees, and will only result in both of them doing what they're legally obligated to do.
3. Your best course of action might be to get a group of like-minded neighbors to band together and get yourselves elected to the HOA board at its next election. At this point you'd have all the authority you need to enforce the bylaws of the HOA.
4. Barring that, you might want to do some surreptitious research to see what opportunities might be there to get government officials or law enforcement involved. Environmental hazards, injuries to children or pets, or similar things might get them involved.
5. As a last resort, it would be fantastic if some dangerous condition on their property caused your house to mysteriously burn down ... after you've mysteriously removed all valuables from it, of course.
OK, Before you spend any money on lawyers, here’s what you do...
1. Get all the names and contact info of the people on the HOA and as many and as high up in the home builder company.
2. Read up on legalize wording from the web and get as much info as you can on HOA.
3. Document the fire hazards...pics, etc.
4. Email AMD send a certified letter to as many of the contacts as you can.
5. This is the most important...your key word is “LIABILITY”...use it in every letter and email you send out. The idea is to place the burden of a catastrophic event(injury, death) squarely in their laps.
These people hate the “liability”,it scares them to death. Use it liberally!!
Sorry bud but I don’t think I’d live under a HOA if you gave it to me.
After spending a few years on the front lines explaining to homeowners that neighbor business is a civil matter, and my prosecutor was kept plenty busy enough with criminal matters. Of course, I had to validate their upsettedness by listening to their story and commiserating with them...
Having said all that, did I miss the part in your post where you put on your best city slicker smile and took some cookies next door and asked your neighbor about his plans for his yard? Have you told him, in a friendly way of course, what about his yard bothers you? C’mon, you can find a tactful way of doing it the way our parents used to do it: Neighbor to neighbor first. If that doesn’t work, and after kindly explaining what your next steps will be to neighbor, then go to the HOA.
Fences do make great neighbors (I know, you live high and he lives low....) how about some Thuja evergreens? They grow fast and tall.
And yes, I know he’s pissing you off and I’m putting it all on you to fix it....but, like I say, I like the civil (property) cases to fix themselves before they become criminal cases. I am really not sure what a flaming bag of doo-doo on their front porch is considered...but a good lawyer could talk it down to MDOP (malicious Destruction of Property) and then get it thrown out.
Do you yell at kids when they touch your lawn?