HOA enforcing rules 30 years late

Hello,

My wife and I bought a house almost two years ago. Last month (and again today) we are being served with notices from the HOA saying our house is not in compliance because previous owners enclosed the garage.

I have talked to my neighbors who have lived here a very long time, and they have said that work was done 30 years ago or more when their children (who now have their own children) played in the house.

My wife is worried that they will somehow force us to tear apart the living room (formerly a garage 30 years ago) in order to comply with the rules. The way the house is laid out, it would be nearly impossible to add a new garage without some major work, and reverting the living room back into a garage would require an almost equivalent amount of work given the upgrades I have done to the room over the last two years. In no way is this not going to cost thousands of dollars to bring into compliance for something they really should have caught 5 owners ago (which is how many owners the house has had in 30 years).

When we bought the house, neither the realtor, title company, nor anyone else mentioned the house was in violation of any covenants. When I contacted the real estate agent, she seemed as surprised as we were, but doesn't seem to be doing anything to help us, either.

Bottom line, I am curious as to what our options are. Does anyone have any advice here?

Thank you.

Do try to plead your case to the Board. Put your deals in wiring and address it to the Board care of your property mgr. or board president. Also sate that you'd like to meet with them t discuss it further.

If they won't cooperate, you probably will need an attorney's advice. In many if not all states there is a legal term, "the doctrine of laches." It basically says that if the bord doesn't take action after xx numbers of years after noticing a violation, that cannot force you to correct it.

But I'm not in the legal profession nor in your state, so you need professional advice if your Board won't cut you some slack.

Douglas gives good advice. Considering the potential costs involved, your first stop should be at your attorney's office.

Because of this issue, it is highly recommended you find an attorney who specializes in HOA law - especially MRTA. While it may seem like an obvious thing to look out you would be surprised how many attorneys overlook this matter in Florida. That is because most HOA attorneys do not represent individuals. Probably because there is not much money in it for them. Also, MRTA is commonly misunderstood - even by attorneys - and if this matter were to advance to court and your representation failed to make an argument using MRTA you could end up losing despite being in the right.

For example, my neighborhood is older and had C&Rs expire due to MRTA. The HOA attempted to enforce the covenants against me. My attorney notified them of the law. I stopped paying and I was sort of left alone (this is an ongoing matter). My neighbor stopped paying around the same time. The HOA took them to court. They did not argue MRTA. Instead they discussed an economic hardship during a foreclosure case and the ruling ended with the HOA winning.

Check the county for permits on your property. It may show when the garage was closed in and converted.
This will tell you when it happened and, perhaps, give you a better basis for a defense of Laches.

Now that you have a date when the conversion was made (which you got from the permits), ask the Association for copies of all Board meeting minutes and Architectural meeting minutes for 1year proceeding the permit and 1 year after the permit. You should also ask for a copy of any file associated with your Lot.

Additionally, go back through all the paperwork from when you purchased and see if there is a statement from the Association saying that there are no violations on the property. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not.

Then, take all of this information to an attorney, along with a copy of the governing documents and the letters you have received, and have the attorney write the response for you (sending it to the registered agent, the MC and each Board member).

Then, see what the Associations response is.

We had a situation like this. I am in Florida. Our HOA attorney said we, the board, have 5 years from the date that the violation is know to us to enforce the covenant. After that it becomes unenforceable against that house.
Did you get request an estoppel before you closed on the house? If you did that should have had any outstanding problems with the HOA.

Click on the word laches in my previous post and it will link you to the legal definition.

Before you do some digging, I think you should make the board suffer a bit.

While others have suggested that you ask for meeting minutes from the date the construction was made, I would start with minutes for the last two years so that you know when this first came up and for minutes for the time period the condo was on the market before you sold it. You'll want to find out of the minutes list the voting patterns of the directors--it should but it usually does not. Ask that the minutes begin to have a voting record.

Depending upon when the time that the condo was on the market, also look and see if this issue came up at that time.

Basically, while you are doing your homework (as others have suggested), you can make the board do their own homework. You might want to see if this was at all an issue with the last owner.

I raise this issue because:

1. You don't want the board to be doing nothing while you are scrambling around looking for records.
2. You want to know why this suddenly became an issue
3. You want to know who took the lead in this issue

It could be that you have rubbed someone the wrong way and that person decided to target you. It would seem likely since this is an issue that is very, very old.

If this is the case, you want to begin building up records and a case for harassment and discrimination.

It doesn't matter if the records are old; if they are lost, then that leaves a lot of holes in the arguments of the directors. The main thing is to hold the directors accountable for their actions and to protect yourself when there is a sudden change in attitudes.