Enforcement of Covenants

Part I of our Covenants is entitled "Covenants, Restrictions and Affirmative Obligations Applicable to All Residential Areas". Does this give the Master Association the authority to enforce the restrictions in this section, such as, Par. 7 under this section states "It shall be the responsibility of each property owner to prevent the development of any unclean, unsightly, or unkempt conditions of buildings or grounds on such property which shall tend to substantially decrease the beauty of the neighborhood as a whole or the specific area." We are discussing adding specific regulations to our R&R's with regard to over-night parking of certain commercial vehicles which tend to decrease the beauty of the neighborhood but have been told there is no corresponding provision in the declaration and therefore it is only enforceable as to the common areas but not the driveways on private lots. Although there is no direct reference to commercial vehicles in the declarations doesn't "unsightly....conditions of buildings or grounds on such property....etc." give the Master Assoc. the authority to determine and interpret "unsightly" in the residential areas.

It sounds like you are trying to be the authority and interpreting the master documents that commercial vehicles are unsightly. That is not your job. Your job is to enforce the covenants not your interpretations.

If you have already been told that it commercial vehicles are to common area's only, then what answer are you looking for from us?

You can certainly send a violation for "unsightly" but if you continue down this path, you will end up in a lawsuit and you will lose since the court will favor lack of specific wording in the covenants. If you can't find the words "a commercial cannot be parked overnight on an owner's lot" then you should try to find a better solution like perhaps magnet covers for the commercial vehicles.

Catherine

You would have to modify your Covenants concerning commercial vehicles and more then likely have to Grandfather existing homes thus the trucks will not go away overnight.

We have a similar situation with commercial vehicles parked in the subdivision and our CC&Rs are silent on the topic. Fortunately, our city code prohibits commercial vehicles from parking in residential areas for more than two hours unless they are working on a project that includes a city P&Z permit. And our city code enforcement department will handles that problem for us when we submit a complaint.

You may also want to look up the legal definition of nuisance. Idaho statute defines public nuisance (which is listed in the crimes and punishment section) as follows:

Public nuisance defined. Anything which is injurious to health, or is indecent, or offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property by an entire community or neighborhood, or by any considerable number of persons, or unlawfully obstructs the free passage or use, in the customary manner, of any navigable lake, or river, stream, canal or basin, or any public park, square, street, or highway, is a public nuisance.

Read that again. "offensive to the senses" and the big five sensory perceptions (senses) are sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. Right? So... "unsightly" is considered a public nuisance and our CC&Rs also address several things that "... interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property by... a neighborhood..." and I think "unsightly"
(with corroborating pictures)could be successfully argued in our court system.

You may want to check this out in your state laws and city and county ordinances.