HOA covenants were mistakingly left off of deed recently sold

Several lots were recently sold in my neighborhood. They were owned by the original developer. I am the President of the HOA. The new owner of these lots is ignoring our requests for him to submit building plans, etc. The neighborhood is demanding that I do something. However, the deed for these lots do not include or mention our restrictive covenants. I spoke to the seller (original developer) of these lots and he said he did not exempt these lots. When I told him the deed did not include our covenants, I have got no reply for the past month. I've listed what I believe my options are below. I am also awaiting legal consul from a lawyer.

1. I will pursue notifying the state general contractors investigation board. This new owner is listing his sister's and brother's names as general contractors on his building permits. Neither of them are licensed contractors in this state. Neither is the new owner. However, the new owner is renting these houses. It is NC state law that if a house is built by a non-licensed contractor, the house must be lived in by the owner/builder for 12 months before it can be rented or sold. The investigation board should be able to put a stop to his renting for at least 12 months.

2. I will pursue having the title agency who signed the new deeds update the deeds to include our covenants. I believe they made a mistake in their research and missed the fact these lots are within an HOA controlled subdivision and plat. It is my understanding if the owner does not like his new deeds, he can file a title insurance claim and back out of his purchase of these lots free and clear.

If option 1 and 2 don't work, I will pursue option 3.

3. Our common road is owned by the HOA. It is also listed as a private road on our street signs (PVT). I will pursue restricting access to our private road.

In most places, the developer file a plat with the recorder of deeds (or whatever that office is called) when the declaration is filed. That plat identifies all the lots that are subject to the declaration.

Your first step should be to check with the recorder of deeds to make sure that what the developer told you is accurate.

1. If you want to stop them from renting, you will probably have to sue.

2. Don't think they will have the option to back out of the purchase. They may be entitled to some compensation, but that battle is between the owner and the title insurer. What the title insurer has an obligation to do is to defend the title against a legal challenge. So, here again you will probably have to sue.

3. You probably can't restrict access. But your state law may allow you to charge them for use of the roads. Once again a lawsuit may be your only remedy.

BrentS4 N Carolina : Good advices above. You labelled your topic "HOA covenants were mistakingly left off of deed recently sold". But was it really an oversight ?

1- Respectfully it's worth considering that some disputes have arisen & been litigated where associations MISTAKENLY believed that - within their vicinity - development sales by their same original Declarant or its assignee were lawfully subject to the same CCRS/title restrictions.

Your legal counsel should be able to clarify such after reviewing the boundary documents, actual transfer documents and registered environment.

Further, unless your jurisdiction unusually follows the Positive Covenant Rule ( where financial and/or labour burdens must be expressly chain-transferred from transferor to transferee or else remain with the transferor ) the duty obligations might not have been jeopardized by something believed omitted within a specific agreement of sale/purchase.

2 - The advice about NOT even considering a blockade is particularly good, as witnessed by police interventions here where unilateral shutdowns of SOLE ACCESS were attempted as part of boundary encroachment disputes.

3 With counsel you will have some weapons to discourage mortgage lending, put the heat on title integrity etc . . .

Good for you for picking this up. Good luck