defunct association with board members

Steve first thing is never, ever believe something a realtor says, their only interest is moving the house so they can get their commission check.

HOA 101 - The Covenants or deed restrictions which are attached to your deed, these are the things that govern what you may or may not do with your property. An HOA is often set up to administer the Covenants and is usually incorporated as a non-profit corporation with the Secretary of State's Office, in a lot of states you can check the status of the corporation on-line. The by-laws are what each state requires a corporation to have, they are the operating guidelines of the corporation. The Covenants say what - the by-laws say how. For instance the Covenants require a Board of Directors elected by the members, the by-laws state the rules for the elections. In addition to the Covenants & by-law there are also often rules which further outline how things must be done.

Even if the corporation is defunct, which can happen in a myriad of ways the deed restrictions are still enforceable and any of your neighbors have the power to take you to court to enforce them. The place to start is by finding out when the meetings are and attending them. After the meeting get with a Board member or two and tell them what you were told and ask them about it.

what about rules not being enforced consistantly? I just had a pool put in without pre-approval from the board which they were fine with. Bylaws state any construction must have plans approved by board before doing so. The president of the board asked what kind of fence we were going to put up. we told him a rawd iron 4 ft high. no plans submitted, he just gave us the OK. Well, we changed our plans due to some unforseen financial issues and had to go with a wood privacy, cut to 4 ft high with 2in. spaces between each picket. That was not good enough. They dont want to see a wood fence in our yard because of our property being so visible. we are on a corner lot 1.5 acres and you can see our whole yard from all sides. Thier are 4 other houses in the sub with privacy fences (whether they are used as viewing barriers or pool fences) that are in the back of their yard so you cant really see them. Their are also quite a few other violations in the sub that get over looked for some and not for others - like having campers and trailers and boats parked on property-against the bylaws. some have been told no, some do it without question. no sheds or other buildings can be built on property that are not attached to the house-a guy in the back of the sub has a 10x15 shed in the middle of his back yard-no issue. can I fight discrimination because of where are property is or something about setting presidence with other homeowners? I have a meeting with the board in my back yard on Sunday and need to know how much of an argument I have. The only reason I agreed to move there is because I thought I didnt have to follow the bylaws to a T. I like having a nice yard like anyone else and am not going to have it all trashy. we have already done some outside work to the landscaping (supposed to have approval for that too) and made the house look way nicer than it had before we moved in and noone said anythng about that. Just want to know how much I should fight? Thanks for the replies!

As Glen suggested, NEVER go with a verbal ok. That's one reason to go through the approval process. You end up with a document showing that your proposed construction was approved. If you submit plans, make sure you get a copy back that's signed by an official board rep and marked approved.