Fence Rules

Debbie the first place to start is by applying to your ACC or BOD whichever handles architectural requests, cite exactly your reasons and see what they say. If you are refused, get the exact reason why in writing, then go from there but don't assume over what someone told you.

Debbie we don't have access to your CC&Rs so I don't know exactly what they say but a HOA can have more restrictive rules so if the city says six feet the HOA can have a more restrictive guideline of four feet. Now you're going to do, what you're going to do but you will save yourself a whole lot of time, money and aggravation if you do it in the right order.

We have just always heard it from other neighbors and street reps. I never really thought anything different that they wouldn't be telling the truth. And to be honest I didn't realize to make an adjusment to my current fence I would need a new permit. I did call the city this morning and he told me it's not that big of a deal that I was backwards. I submitted the paper to him by email this morning and he told me he will work with me. I should have double checked before we changed the fence out back. But for two years I have tried to get the HOA to help and you would think they would have said just submit and we will approve for you. I just kept getting pushed off. I can't afford to be sued because people want to reach over my fence and I didn't know what else to do. I attached the only piece of paper about the fence from our bylaws and as you can see it doesn't state anything about what the height can be.

Debbie

Are you saying you erected a fence without the HOA approval?

Are you saying you knew there might be a 4 ft limit in height but you said the heck with it and went a put up a 6 ft fence?

First suggestion: ignore Mike

Second, ask about rules (other than the deed restrictions). Generally, a HOA can establish rules that are "consistent with the intent of the bylaws" or something like that. So there may be a written rule of that nature.

The good news is that if it's just a rule, the board can override it and grant a waiver, or change the rule to accommodate your situation quite freely, whereas if it was written in the bylaw as 4' max, they would be powerless to legally grant a waiver and the bylaw would need to be changed to accommodate.

Thank you all for your feedback.
Mike - I am on the board as a street rep.

We had our HOA meeting last night to go over everything. Instead of going in ready to fight I went in humble and told them I should have followed rules of getting permit first. I already have city permit. Everyone backed me and decided not to just approve my fence but my two neighbors because of the playground behind us. I did point out that some of the rules they are trying to enforce were not written so it would be hard to enforce certain rules. And not just the fence. I am going to review again and let them know what is missing and they are going to have the lawyer look at it and see if the way the by-laws are written covers the you can or can't do certain things. The president did say it was stated 4' because they want to be open to allowing approvals for cases like mine.

John - yes I went against HOA and put up the fence regardless because of the playgroud. Parents not supervising their kids turned into damage to all three properties, abusing our dogs by throwing things at them in the yards and damaging the playground. I am not a babysitter of everyone else's kids because they are too lazy to do it. We also now have a sign up stating playground rules and one was kids under 12 must have adult. To protect my property and my dogs I would do it again.