ACC Additional Guidelines

Got a situation with our Declaration of Use Restrictions (our CCR). Our HOA has been in existence for almost 14 years and we are still using the original Use Restrictions created by the home manufacturers when the subdivision was created. These, of course, leave a lot to be desired as they are totally outdated and the majority of the information doesn't really apply anymore. Because the rule to revise the Use Restrictions are so strict, we are fully aware we will never be able to achieve a 90% approval from all homeowners and the document is basically valid forever and ever! Anyway, we are trying very hard to identify valid restrictions for the homeowners to follow, but finding without them being in a valid document they can not be enforced. In Section 5 (Procedures of the ACC), a statement is made that we hope can be an out for us with this issue. The statement reads: "The Committee may establish and publish from time to time reasonable administrative procedures and separate building guidelines to supplement these restrictions". Could this be our out? Good example -- we published a HOA Handbook last year with a full section of restrictions for homeowners to follow. Can we legalize that portion of the handbook to meet the criteria of the Use Restrictions? Any other HOA out there experienced the same issue?

Thanks

Why did the board print them if they didn't mean for them to be "official"?

Your board is within its power to adopt rules and regulations that supplement the CCRs.

Now, if you have created NEW categories or changed the wording to the orginal CCRs, then you need to go back to your documents to follow how to do an amendment or addition to the CCRs.

SusanW1 -- When I took office over a year ago, the HOA needed a document that would provide all required information for the homeowner/renter. The majority of information contained in the handbook was not outlined in other HOA document. No established procedures exisited to tell the homeowner how to process an ACC request, nor did any of the declarations tell the ACC what they were supposed to do. None of the previous boards were really concerned as the last management agent really "pulled the covers over the eyes of the board" and not a whole lot was done correctly. Good example -- no edit trail exists on what the ACC has approved or disapproved in the past 13 years.

We are going to pursue with our current management agent on the legal process to supplement the Use Restrictions correctly. Six years ago, I headed a team to rewrite the Use Restrictions and another team was able to get 90% approval by the homeowners. Upon taking office, we found the previous management agent failed to take action to make the updated Use Restrictions legal and all our work was apparently thrown in a trashcan. So we are back to the start once again in trying to get something to our owners to work with. Please note that our Declarations were written by the home manufacturers and really applied only to the time period when the subdivisions was being constructed and prior to turn-over to the HOA.

Elby,

Just remember that the rules and guidelines supplement the covenants by clarifying sections of the covenants and typically do not create new restrictions.

For my organization, rules are typically for the common areas (pets must be on a leash, etc.)

Guidelines are used to define what will or will not be approved in a design change. Typically the Covenants require an approval Guidelines specify to the Committee approving the design change what should be considered when granting an approval/disapproval (paint color, size, locations, etc.). These guidelines are then published to the membership for their information so they know what typically will or won't be approved when they submit their request. If someone does something that the guidelines say shouldn't be done - that individual is not in violation of the guidelines, they are in violation of the covenants for failure to submit a design change for approval.

Guidelines can also clarify an existing broader covenant, as Susan pointed out. IMO the covenants say no personal property can be left out when not in use, we have guidelines that help clarify what personal property is. Again, if the guideline defines sporting equipment as personal property and the owner always leaves the soccer goal out front after a game is not in violation of a guideline, they are in violation of the covenant that says personal property can not be left out when not in use.

As a side note, if your Association doesn't have one, they should develop a clear enforcement policy that allows for due process.

Hope this helps,

Tim