Rule conflicts with CC&R

Can they - yes. Will they prevail - that's the $64,000 question. If the paint has been on your house for 30 years, I doubt it is the same color it started out, the sun tends to fade paint over time. How different is the new color palate from what you have? Are we talking about different shades of the same color or a radical change say from blues & greys to browns & reds?

The same color has been on the house for 30 yrs. It's repainted every 7 yrs. My house is a soft green - new colors; grey, tan, blue. I have expressed my views. Most members are new this year and agree that the prior board was wrong but, wait for it...still want to enforse the "rule change" & say I'd be causing trouble since they made others change their colors. How can they enforce a rule that directly conflicts with the CCR's? Will it matter that other members didn't read the covenant & complied?

TJ as I said there is no guarantee either party will prevail but they can cost you time and money arguing it out. You are 100% correct in my nonlegal opinion, you cannot write a rule to change a Covenant. I would notify the ARC & the BOD that you filed the application for a variance in error and that you intend to follow the Covenant on file with the county that allows you to re-paint without approval, and cite the Covenant specifically. Painting will begin on, unless the ARC or the BOD has proof that this Covenant has been rescinded by a valid homeowner vote and filed with the county.

IMHO the only recourse they are due is that the next time they paint, they can change back to the original color if they want.

It's definitely in the CCR's, Article 6.2, C - Exterior Surfaces... It's also repeated in the policies & rules. Maybe that's where they are confused?

TjJ:
This might be more benign than you think. My townhouses rules specify colors which are no longer offered by the company and we started having a lot of variation in color as homeowners tried to match the colors on their own. So the association now species modern colors that are available.

So my question is, is the 30 year old paint color still available?
Jeanne

We had to change our colors because the paint industry about every 7 years or so changes their color formulas. So the paint colors originally planned for no longer exist or have to be customized. So we had to updated the color scheme to reflect the current availability of paint schemes. It is still in the "old shipping town of New England" color pallet. It's not like we changed them to "Miami downtown".

This is why a HOA needs to update their documents. Things like paint, construction, green energy, and technology changes. Satellites were banned because the disc were as big as a house. Now they fit on a tiny corner of your home. Without updating the documents, it makes people believe that satellite dishes are banned. They were banned because of their size almost 20 years ago. Not the case anymore and laws even allow one to install satellite dishes in HOA's/Condos.

Your paint scenario is more of an ACC change than a CC&R's change. The board can decide to adopt a new color scheme if voted on. We even started allowing to have vinyl siding made available. Although vinyl siding has it's own acceptable color schemes as well that have to be close to the existing paint schemes. Our Masonite siding homes were part of a lawsuit about Masonite and thus the vinyl option has been allowed.

So yes your HOA board or ACC can change your paint schemes. Mostly due to the fact that paint manufacturers don't keep the same formula and can be difficult to even have a copy of the original formulas on hand. Sounds like your HOA has discovered this and is now trying to just update to make it easier on everyone to purchase paint now and in the future.

Although it's true that the paint manufactures will stop producing one color or retire a series of colors, if the manufacture is still in business, they can still produce that color for you in one of their stores (providing you know what the exact name, series and/or manufacturer number of the paint is).

Our Association goes through this all the time. We do approve new colors. However, even with being 30 years old, the manufacture's paint stores have always been able to reproduce the original color when asked.

Follow-up question: the same language that allows repainting homes the existing color is also in our Rulles & Regulations. I know the board can change a rule if it complies with the Covenants but our rules are also filed with the county. So, when the board changes a rule, does it also have to be filed with the county or is a letter notifying owners sufficient to update the rules?
Thank you, you've been a great help!

I'm not an attorney but I would say that any rule change would have to be filed with the county, until then the rule on file would be valid. They would also have to mail it to each homeowner, I believe following the D-S statutes. There is usually language in the CC&R's that if a rule or a bylaw conflicts with a Covenant, the Covenant is the ruling article. You also have the power to veto rules in CA if done in a timely manor.

Thank you. Yes, that's been my point all along. Rules cannot conflict with Covenants. Our Covenants don't include specific colors, the board specifies any changes to color palate in the rules. However, the CC&R's and Bylaws AND the rules say the homeowner does not require permission to repaint the existing color. I joined the board a few months ago to try and fix this misunderstanding because many owners had been forced to change their propr approaved colors but to deaf ears and a lot of "but we've already been doing it this way..." Even when the error was pointed out.

Now, the other board members have agreed in a flurry of emails, that did not include me, that they want to bring me to a compliance hearing - our property manager called to tell me she this but she had not sent me the letter yet, I told her to wait until they received my letter citing D-S, Ca civil code, our CCR's & current Rules which all show they do not have authority to make an owner change the existing color on their house (if it was a prior board approved color as mine was). Oh, and I also resigned from the board but will be very active in notifying members of any further "rogue" activity by the board. Again, I believe they thought they were right, but once the error was pointed out, they should have stopped the practice.