Posted on 03/20/2012 11:26:44 AM PDT by grundle
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (CBS) – Kimberly Bois’ tiny front yard garden isn’t much to look at right now. But in a few weeks, it’ll be in full bloom, and every blossom will cost her dearly.
Even though she says her builder gave her permission to do a little planting, the current condo board now says she’s in violation.
They’re charging the Portsmouth, New Hampshire homeowner $50 a day for being so petal pushy. That fine has reached close to $6,000, plus the board’s legal fees.
“It’s just not a happy place to live anymore for me,” says Bois, who planted the small flower bed with the help of her mother, who has since passed away.
She says, “It just feels like we’ve been bullied and really all we wanted to do was have a conversation to figure out how this can benefit all of us.”
A new certified letter arrives every month, ordering Bois to uproot her garden and keeping track of her fines.
It got so bad, she contacted a Realtor friend of hers to talk about just selling the place that she has owned since 2008.
That’s when she got the real shock: the board put a lien on her townhouse for their fines.
Bois says the whole situation has, “gotten out of control.”
She even offered to pull up the flowers and pay part of the board’s legal fees a couple of weeks ago – an offer she says was refused.
The association’s bylaws don’t expressly forbid planting flowers on your property, Bois explains, nor do they explicitly allow it.
Board members have told Bois they just want all the units to look the same.
“Now we’ve gone down a rabbit hole that I just can’t seem to get out of and it’s very sad, and it’s upsetting,” she says.
WBZ reached out to the attorney who represents the condo association, but he did not respond our request for comment.
If she lives in a condo, chances are that's not her property.
Board members have told Bois they just want all the units to look the same.
If that's the case, then they should settle.
HA...I can top that story....near us is a Golf Course and the homes around it are part of a HOA....well...one guy got a note in the mail telling him he was NOT to walk to the mailbox in his bathrobe again....soooo...the next time he walked....in the nude! True story.
Amen. There is no way that I could ever again live in an urban or suburban environment.
Love it! HA! Hope some busybody got an eye-full and spun out hard ;)
I hate people...they suck to live around. ;) My current next door criminal has the County SWAT at her door fairly often. Walked outside one night to see a cop in full body armor standing in the bushes telling me to get the hell back in the house and duck. The judges just let her off with warnings about discharging firearms in the home...at her brother...and the dog....no joke.
And I live in a very small town in the boonies.
I’d love nothing more than a cabin atop Mt. Everest, a Phalanx weapon system and Satellite internet as my only companion ;)
I walked out the door to go to a project site at 5:30 am a few months ago, and there it was: a news cam van with lights and whatnot, a reporter with a mic, and the hum of the generator to run everything. It brought me up short. He saw my expression and said, “Yeah, it’s not what you see everyday, is it.”
From script-o-rama:
“Let’s go. Let’s go.
This is a good pIace.
Separate water source.
Stocked grain.
OnIy one possibIe approach.
A man couId, with the proper defenses, hoId off an entire battaIion.”
(”The Prophecy” Great flick)
Yikes.. Be careful!
If people like your wacky neighbor would go off and live in seclusion the rest of us would be fine!
It’s incredible. Multiple weapons charges and she is out on bail. She goes in for a few months, Meths up again, repeats, and the wheel goes round and round.
None of us understand it. She does not fit the bill of the type to be granted special protections. In any capacity.
Yet the cops keep arresting her and the courts let her slide with a fraction of the punishment anyone else would get.
So we haZ a ...slingshot...that’s it, a slingshot! and she is well aware that small round objects can fly both ways.
I’m not sure but I think I had a dream one night that some guy in a spiffy suit said that bad things happen sometimes and to make sure that if they do, that they never happen again...or something. Oh well, dreams are funny like that.
Did anyone tell you that you could post that 3 times?
Is the association aware that the rule against outdoor antennas violates federal law? Someone ought to get a Direct TV account and erect a receiver in the back yard. The association will have lots of fun interacting with the FCC.
Of course the rules covenants and agreements say that if one thing is against the law, only that thing is negated. I’m seeing more “amendments” these days. People are becoming aware that THEY can amend these “rules”.
My kind of man...Hope his wife gave him a big big hug before he went out.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.