Entry Doors

In 2001, the former owner of my townhouse performed all of the steps (ARC approval, etc) to replace the entry way door with a white door. In 2014, the BOD came in during the week without notice and painted almost all of the doors blue, orange or green alternating. Recently, I received a notice that I am required to paint the entry door to match those colors.

The BOD has published nothing about the colors nor made any change to the bylaws. The bylaws, in four separate sections state that entry doors are the sole and complete responsibility of the homeowner. The door was paid for by the homeowner, maintained by the homeowner and has been white for 17 years.

Can they force me to paint my door?

Thanks!

White beats the babycrap green, orange and awful blue they want. As an additional fact, they already went after another homeowner over the door colors and lost.

Usually it wouldn't be in the bylaws, but exterior painting and who's responsible would be in your CC&Rs and/or some sort of architectural guidelines. Make sure, John, that you know about any other documents that discuss this topic. Rules & Regs, maybe? Meting minutes of the board of directors?

I'd ask the board or property manager to show you in writing the documents that give the Board this right.

(Imo some of Melissa's remarks are way out in left field.)

I did, by the way, explain to the BOD's lawyer about the four sections denying all responsibility for the doors and asked for clarification on what part of the bylaws state they can dictate the color of my privately owned property. No response yet.

If your Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&Rs) don't give the HOA the authority to control the color of your front door, then they don't have it. If it's not clear, I would ask them which section gives them that authority. CC&Rs often have general terms like "harmony" and "uniformity" which HOAs use to control things like color. Whether or not that is legal probably depends on your state. for example, in Texas the rule is that if the CC&Rs are ambiguous, the court must rule in favor of the owner.

Also, CC&Rs and bylaws are two different things. The bylaws generally define the operation of the HOA and implementation of the CC&Rs. They cannot create restrictions on private property that are not in the CC&Rs.

I am not sure about CC&R, what that is or if we even have that. Everyone here goes by a very thick set of bylaws provided by the Developer in 1985.

My door was in total harmony for 15 years. Almost all of the doors were white since that is the most common door color at Home Depot or Lowes. The door was white from 2001 through 2018, but in 2014 is when they painted everyone's door. They couldn't paint mine because it is inside an enclosed entryway.

I have asked the attorney to specify their right to touch my private property. The truth is that this HOA has been to court once and lost big time. They bluff and attempt to intimidate, but I don't intimidate.

What you call the CC&R, we call the bylaws. It is the covenant documents. Specifically denies the HOA any responsibility when it comes to entry doors. The only exception is that if I replace the door, I have to go through our Arch Review Committee, which was done in 2001.

Our bylaws specify all of the details for the creation, management and rules of the Association and of the homeowners. We have a single large bylaws book and I am pretty sure that is all there is for the Association. It includes all of the articles of incorporation, etc.

Great quote, Geno!! Our newish PM is wonderful, but calls everything by their wrong names! Bad training in her previous assignment.

Yes, I was trying to advise John44 to START with his Covenants, CC&Rs or whatever. The reason is, John, that they trump everything else.

Btw, curious as to why your front door is enclosed and most or all others aren't?

In 2001, the townhouse I am in was owned by my handicapped Mom. Under the old management company, I submitted an ARC request for the door which was approved. At that time, ALL of the doors or at least the vast majority were white doors from Home Depot.

Some of the units like mine have the entry door recessed about 2 foot in kind of an entry way and I noticed another unit that had theirs enclosed. Again, since my Mom was handicapped, we saw the added security with adding a storm/security door in an enclosure. In 2014, my Mom's house was transferred to a living trust for which I was designated the trust attorney/agent. That same year, I submitted an ARC request to enclose the entry way identically to the other unit, which was approved. We had a contractor build the enclosure and storm door. When you open the actual entry door, there is a small gap about 2' deep and probably 2' wide where you can stand before opening the storm door. All of the other units in the community, you have to open your entry door and someone would be standing right in your face. In 2014, there were a series of home invasions of the aged in Tampa and this precludes or at least minimizes that.

Legally, the things that we in this community traditionally call the bylaws are the CC&R. If I were to call them anything other than bylaws, nobody else here would know what I am talking about. The bylaw book contains everything. The developers articles of incorporation, filed deed, plat crap, taxes, rules of the operation of the BOD/ARC, homeowner rules, rules about what is the responsibility of the Association, what is the responsibility of homeowners, designation of common areas, requirements for insurance, etc.

In 2014, the BOD sued one of the homeowners who refused to paint her door the awful color they wanted. She prevailed on one key issue. The Bylaws/CC&R repeatedly deny any responsibility/ownership by the BOD for any glass and specifically entry doors. The case did not appear before a judge but rather a mediator. The homeowner's lawyer flat out told them that they had no legal right under any Florida law to touch the entry doors and according to the community rules, had no rights regarding exterior doors. This is simply a private property issue that the rules defer entirely to the homeowner.

We have another homeowner in the community right now whose door is white. Unfortunately, she purchased her unit two years ago, installed a new white door and never applied for approval. She does not have the same case that I do.

I did, as my Mom's agent get approval for the door in 2001. The door has been white since 2001. In 2014/2015, when the BOD painted the doors hideous colors, I did not change the door from white. Again, a big pause from the BOD and then they came again about colors in 2018. The door is not currently white, but the same beige that the doors were originally installed as.

I just don't think that the Association can utterly deny all responsibility/ownership of a door, but then come in 17 years later, after two approved ARCs and change the color.

It appears that the BOD has changed their mind and is going to ignore my door. While I have the strongest case, there are two other units who really don't have a defense. Neither of the other owners sought approval for their doors, the doors were installed AFTER the BOD painted doors and the installations were pretty recent. I don't think those two owners have a defense at all.

I spoke to the BOD's attorney and she had no defense in my case. The only argument that they can make requires completely ignoring US property rights law and our own bylaws (CC & R).