Neighbor Wars·
HOA JURISDICTION JUMBLE
An HOA pesters a non-member homeowner with cross-referenced rules, exposing tangled CC&Rs, dissolved associations, and competing jurisdictions that may complicate what governs a single townhome.
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The HOA kept sending "friendly reminders" to a house that wasn't even in the HOA.
In a neighborhood where only a few homes belonged to the association and most did not, the poster says the mail kept coming anyway: notices about rules, sent to people who had nothing to do with the group. After enough of that, the poster emailed the HOA and told them plainly to stop. The address, they said, was not part of the HOA.
The reply came back with a twist.
"[Your address] is not part of the HOA," the email began. But that didn't mean the rules stopped there. The sender said the address was still subject to rules found in the "Townhome Rules document," because the previous owner had accepted them and they still applied to the property now owned by the poster.
The poster wasn't convinced. They said they didn't know if they were missing some law, especially since the homes were townhouses. So they pasted the HOA's email into the thread, and the document only made the situation murkier.
The HOA framed it as a matter of coordination between separate groups. Under the heading "Consistency Across Separate HOAs," the email said that in 2018 the HOA and Summerhaven Condominiums crafted CC&Rs to mirror the Condominium Rules and Regulations in the Public Offering Statement, so the development and community would stay consistent despite the separation of the two HOAs.
It went further. "[Previous owner] accepted these restated rules and regulations as applicable to his property - now yours - at [your address]," the email said.
Then came the warning language, under "Impact of Rule Deviations on the Community." Any deviation from the rules, the HOA argued, affects every homeowner and the entire neighborhood. The email said those impacts are "widespread," "quite significant," and can affect "every property, your home included." It added, "Adhering to the guidelines, it ensures the preservation of values, standards, and the continued well-being of the entire community."
Attached, the HOA said, were the Townhome Rules "that pertain to the condominiums of which [your home] is a part." It also pointed to a lawyer's letter sent to every property owner on August 25, 2020, and suggested speaking with a neighbor for more clarity. One line in the email ended, "I trust this is helpful."
The poster had read that older lawyer's letter too. It said the association had dissolved, but that rules were still stated in the dissolution letter. It also said the letter was not a full statement of the association's rights or legal remedies, though those could be pursued if needed.
By then, the poster had a new idea: maybe it was time to draft their own rules for the people not in the HOA, rules telling them to mind their own business and not mail neighbors unless there was a legitimate reason.