TommyH (South Carolina)
Posts: 2
Posts: 2
Posted:
I recently applied to my ARC to get a fence approved. As our neighborhood is still being developed the ARC is actually the developer, they still control the vast majority of the votes. The initial application was lost and we had to send a 2nd one. On Feb 15th the ARC met and we called the property management co on the 16th to ask what the result was. We received a call back from the property management company and they advised us that the fence was approved and we would receive the approval letter in a few days. We then called the fencing company and they came out a week later and installed the fence. This past weekend we received a letter stating the application for a fence had been denied and not approved. This is nearly 3 weeks later. After speaking with the property management company it appears that they know who the responsible person is that made the call advising us of the approval but have not completely come out and said so or accepted and formal responsibility. We have a bad feeling that they are rounding up the wagons and will pretty soon tell us too bad.
Obviously we are very distraught over this.
It appears that when we put a deposit down and signed contracts back in jan 2010 the fence would have been approved according to the old restriction. We checked because it was a factor we weighed when we decided to build. The builder sent us a copy of the restrictions to review at that time. We have 2 dogs and wanted the fence. Unknown to us the restrictions were changed in April of 2010 and the section on fences was made more restrictive. Technically the fence we built is not allowed. We did not close until Sept of 2010 and were never aware of the change until now.
I realize that the restrictions are what they are but it isn't there some recourse against the Property Management Company? Is is acceptable to wait 3 weeks to mail out a denial letter after an ARC meeting? Another issue is that the developer allowed my neighbor to build a fence on the side of her house (gave a variance) because of a steep hill into the common area she had concerns about. How can they give a variance to 1 and not another?
Any advice would be most appreciated.
Obviously we are very distraught over this.
It appears that when we put a deposit down and signed contracts back in jan 2010 the fence would have been approved according to the old restriction. We checked because it was a factor we weighed when we decided to build. The builder sent us a copy of the restrictions to review at that time. We have 2 dogs and wanted the fence. Unknown to us the restrictions were changed in April of 2010 and the section on fences was made more restrictive. Technically the fence we built is not allowed. We did not close until Sept of 2010 and were never aware of the change until now.
I realize that the restrictions are what they are but it isn't there some recourse against the Property Management Company? Is is acceptable to wait 3 weeks to mail out a denial letter after an ARC meeting? Another issue is that the developer allowed my neighbor to build a fence on the side of her house (gave a variance) because of a steep hill into the common area she had concerns about. How can they give a variance to 1 and not another?
Any advice would be most appreciated.