Posted on 12/10/2003 6:02:42 AM PST by toddst
The $70,000 garage at Lexington's Stonewall Equestrian Estates must come down, the Court of Appeals has ruled.
That's the latest in a long-running battle between the neighborhood association and Carolyn and Don Colliver, who built the all-brick garage.
Nobody claims it isn't well-built.
Nobody disputes that the Collivers, who lived in neighboring Stonewall for 30 years, have put about $110,000 of improvements into their $265,000 house at Stonewall Equestrian, not including the garage.
Nobody disputes that the argument has gone on too long: The Collivers broke ground for their garage more than three years ago.
What has been hotly disputed is whether the deed restrictions for Stonewall Equestrian Estates -- a small neighborhood in south Lexington with large lots and lots of common space -- allowed the Collivers to build that mondo detached garage. Fayette Circuit Judge John Adams ruled last year that the garage must be torn down. Now the Court of Appeals has agreed.
In fact, the court included some language that may make some homeowners sit up and read their deed restrictions: It notes that even if past enforcement of deed restrictions has been spotty, you disregard them at your own risk. Your "improvement" may be a sitting duck based on how vigorously your neighborhood chooses to enforce deed restrictions.
What that means is that your storage shed, pool, swingset, satellite dish, basketball hoop or fence is only as safe as a court's opinion of whether it has changed the character of your neighborhood. Buyers beware: You're giving up certain rights to your property when you move into a deed-restricted neighborhood.
What it also means is that if a $70,000 garage can be ordered to rubble, any lesser "improvement" can also be ordered trashed.
"Arbitrary enforcement of covenants does not necessarily render covenants unenforceable," the appeals ruling says. "Although the (Stonewall) covenants have not been strictly enforced in reference to pools and fences, we cannot say that a fundamental change in the neighborhood defeating the purpose of the covenants has occurred."
Carolyn Colliver says she and her husband are devastated by the ruling, but haven't given up hope that their garage will somehow be spared. The couple are considering their options.
But the appeals court had no sympathy with the Collivers, rejecting all the couple's arguments.
"They took an unwise risk and expended a large amount of money in spite of this litigation and the Association's clear disapproval of their garage," the appeals court wrote.
The lesson of this bitter fight is that deed restrictions don't lose force even if homeowners find them unclear and their enforcement selective. And if you don't believe it, just remember that $70,000 garage.
They got what they deserved...ELRUDITE SNOBS...no basketball hoops.....REALLY!
Shrug... Nothing really special here. Read your deed when you buy a home. These folks were foolish to build this garage when the litigation was going on.
That being said, homeowners associations are home to some of the worst busybodies and tattletales you'll ever find. I practice RE law and my parents got into a dispute with their homeowner's association down in Florida over some illegally planted bushes. I had to write letters to all of the memebers of the board threatening to sue them personally if they didn't back off. Sure, we would have probably lost, but we could have made them spend tens of thousands of dollars defending themselves.
I would let the court enforce the removal. Sure judge bring your d-9 over when you are ready.
Uh, I'm pretty sure no association can outlaw basketball hoops here. We even have portable ones on wheels that youngsters roll out to the curb so they can play ball on a good surface (it's a cul-de-sac street, so no traffic BTW.)
You KNEW this would be the answer, right?
The court will simply charge you $500 or so every day that you defy the court order, garnished directly from your wages or taken out of your bank account. These fines aren't dischargeable in bankruptcy.
It's my understanding a detached garage is verboten. These people knew that and decided they surely could build a "proper" detached garage. They lost.
Of course...my siblings has one and a "Kentucky Sunflower"
The home I'm living in is likely my last, given my age and "lifestyle." However, if I did move I would choose a restricted neighborhood, preferably one that's gated as well.
Aside from the "slob neighbor" factor, property theft is going up in my area. I'm tired of waking up at night caused by sounds outside that concern me. While I'm fully prepared to "repel boarders" I am very tired of worrying about some slug breaking in or stealing my deck furniture, etc.
What would be interesting to hear on this thread is some posts from people who feel the same way as you, and then moved into such a neighboorhood. I'd like to know if their perspective remained the same, or changed.
Anyone?
In our old house, we lived between an old guy who kept goats and junk cars, and a little old lady with chickens and an acre and a half of kudzu. We still sold our house for substantially more than we paid for it. When things got REALLY bad - like the fellow who rented out to a really trashy couple who drank and fought every weekend - we all brought pressure to bear on the landlord. It worked.
Either you negotiate with your neighbors or ignore the temporary stuff, don't deliver your freedom into the hands of others. The price I would pay for giving a bunch of nosy neighbors the right to interfere in my life, and worse to bring the police power of the state to bear on me if I don't toe the line, is just too high.
I know some HOA have rules that forbid the parking of pickup trucks (even ones owned by the homeowners) in driveways unless they're there doing work on the house. It's based on the feeling that pickups are low-class, which is strange considering how expensive some of them are.
The problem is, the covenants and the leases/deeds lag way behind the current situation. Pickup trucks USED to be trashy, but now that you can pay $50K plus for one with a huge engine, crew cab, etc., that's really no longer true. In the 70s, we lived in an apartment where the two old guys who owned the building were still using a lease form from the 1920s (guess they had a bunch in a box somewhere). The two restrictions I remember were "no playing of saxophones or Victrolas after 9 p.m." and "rear entrance to be used by servants and service exclusively, except for nurses accompanied by child."
I don't disagree with you in principle. However, having a "slob neighbor" who listens to no-one, has out of control kids, barking dogs and a pigpen back yard, I wouldn't mind some legal power to restrict this guy's boorish behavior. If I had the financial resources I would buy this clown out.
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