Amending Restrictions in Louisiana

In 1999 the Louisiana legislature promulgated The Louisiana Homeowners Association Act(R.S.9:1141) which states in part: "Building restrictions affecting association propery, including lots or common areas, or those imposing an affirmative duty may be established, amended, or terminated in accordance with the terms of the applicable community document..." In our community we have five differnt sets of Restrictions pertinent to the lots in that section. Residents want the Restrictions amended for various reasons. All of the Restrictions were written after the 1999 Act. The next three sets of Restrictions state that the Architectural Control Committee has the right to amend these restrictions ... upon developer's approval. The third set states that the developer's ACC, by majority vote has the right to grant variance at any time ...upon developer's approval. The last three sets of Restrictions do not mention amendment of Restrictions.

All of the Restrictions have language stating that "These covenants are to run with the land and shall be binding on all parties and all persons claiming iunder them for a period of twenty-five years... This has been interpreted to mean that no changes can be made to the Restrictions for twenty-five years.

Any advice as to how to sort this out? JeanI

Jean,

With the expectation that control of the Association has been turned over to the membership, if your governing documents are silent on what is required to amend the document §1141.6 would be applicable for the CC&Rs. Per that statute:

B. In the absence of a provision for the establishment, amendment, or termination of such building restrictions in the community documents:

(1) Building restrictions may be established by agreement of three-fourths of the lot owners.

(2) Existing building restrictions may be made more onerous or increased by agreement of two-thirds of the lot owners.

(3) Existing building restrictions may be made less onerous, reduced, or terminated by agreement of more than one-half of the lot owners

To see about amending your bylaws, if they are also silent on how to amend, it's likely corporate law would apply (if your Association is incorporated).

Hope this helps,

Tim

Well I see a couple of options:

1) form a committee (1 from each section) to look at rewriting the documents for a vote to the membership.

2) Depending on the size of the sections, have each section run their own area and create a master association to maintain the amenities and the areas common to all sections (entrance, roads, etc.).

Then use option one.
You should also contact an attorney to advise you as the best way to do this (amend each set individually so they all match or do a complete rewrite to make a single set). Based on what you decide to do, the attorney will be able to advise you on how many votes are needed.


You will need to consult an attorney for this one as it will require amending existing CC&Rs and creating new deed restrictions for the master Association.

Thank you. Our situation is quite different. We are a 55+ senior community with our own Articles, Bylaws and restrictions. Nearby is a larger development of single family homes also with their own legal documents. Each developement has an elected Board of Directors so there isn't really a master community. We have an indoor pool and exercise room while the larger community does not have any amenities. We pay a portion of our dues to them for general liability insurance on the entire development, officers and directors insurance and a few other items. Otherwise we finance, through our dues, the upkeep of the common areas. JeanI

do you know of any firm in the Louisiana area who has this expertise? JeanI