COVENANTS OR HUD IN LAW SUIT

IrvinS (Texas)
Posts: 3

Posted:

WE are HUD 55 ASS. Owners own a lot with land and mobile home. A lot is owned by a religious missionary org. the family living there is under 55 with a 6 year old child. The presidient does't want to have them moved out because of religious concerns. The ASS. went to lawyer. The lawyer wanted ASS to produce papers saying we have contuned to meet HUD requirememts since 1992 with out papers lawyer turned down case. The president says that we can't sue because HUD. is nunber one over what covenants says. IS Covenants or HUD Nunber 1? This is only lot not in conplance with 55 or older requirement . I should add the president is doing the talking to lawyer it should be more than one person !!

BruceF1 (Connecticut)
Posts: 2,535

Posted:

Irvin,

The Fair Housing Act states:

"(2) As used in this section "housing for older persons" means housing --
(A) provided under any State or Federal program that the Secretary determines is specifically designed and operated to assist elderly persons (as defined in the State or Federal program); or
(B) intended for, and solely occupied by, persons 62 years of age or older; or
(C) intended and operated for occupancy by persons 55 years of age or older, and--
(i) at least 80 percent of the occupied units are occupied by at least one person who is 55 years of age or older;
(ii) the housing facility or community publishes and adheres to policies and procedures that demonstrate the intent required under this subparagraph; and
(iii) the housing facility or community complies with rules issued by the Secretary for verification of occupancy, which shall--
(I) provide for verification by reliable surveys and affidavits; and
(II) include examples of the types of policies and procedures relevant to a determination of compliance with the requirement of clause (ii). Such surveys and affidavits shall be admissible in administrative and judicial proceedings for the purposes of such verification."

Basically, this means that as long as at least one member of the household in at least 80% of the units (mobile homes) is 55 or older, you meet the requirements of the Act to be deemed "housing for older persons." However, your covenants may be more restrictive (ie., require that all occupants be 55 or over in 100% of the mobile homes. In that case, your covenants apply. However, you can't sue based on the fact that your status as a 55+ community is in jeopardy, because by the FHA standard, it isn't. (I am concerned about a child under the age of 18 living there, though.)

What your lawyer was looking for was some evidence that you have taken steps over the years to insure that you are in compliance with the FHA requirements. You are supposed to obtain some proof of age of every new occupant (driver's license, birth certificate) and keep a copy on file. You are supposed to periodically review your records (ie., at least every couple of years) and update them to make sure you are still in compliance. Without that, the lawyer has nothing to show that your association as tried to maintain it's status as an adult community.

SusanW1 (Michigan)
Posts: 5,202

Posted:

Bruce has given you a wonderful, factual answer.

However, your president and the board need to enforce all CCRs and rules EQUALLY to all residents. So the fact that a home is owned by a missionary (or the devil) is irrelevant.

Try to be objective about this situation and deal with the facts as they are presented without regard as to the holiness (or lack of) of any owner.