Submission of ARC Forms

This may or may not be addressed in your State statutes or within your governing documents.

Virginia, at one time, said the approving authority had 30 days to approve. As our documents were written when that law was on the books, it was echoed in our governing documents. That law was amended to remove that section. Fortunately, our governing documents have not changed and within my Association a request must be approved or denied within 30 days or it is automatically approved.

Typically, most Associations and most laws do not address this.

For me, I would think 30 days would be plenty.
My suggestion, contact the ARC to see what the status is. Perhaps even offering to attend the meeting so the committee can ask questions of you if needed. Be polite, these are volunteers and time to do the work may be an issue to some of them.

I know two vastly experienced HOA attorneys where I am. From them, the two main rules for boards are (a) to follow your governing documents and (b) to be "fair and reasonable." When I skim the case law on HOA X v. Member Joe Schmoe ARC disputes, I see the courts expecting exactly these things time and again.

The courts seem to favor HOA members who try over at least several months to get ARC approval, dotting all i's and crossing all t's, documenting everything. If a HOA ignores the request; the request is reasonable (based on certain evidence; what the CC&Rs say, and so on); and the member has sincerely tried to get approval and tried to avoid a legal dispute, then the courts tend to side with the member.

What is "fair and reasonable" here? I agree waiting 30 days is fair and reasonable. (I think the CC&Rs for one of my former HOAs specified 45 days.) In California, for one, statute requires that HOAs set architectural request and approval deadlines that are "prompt." If at some point the HOA gets stupid and takes you to court, then to really ensure the court is on your side, right now keep asking for a response from the HOA. I would say do not go ahead and do what you requested for at least six months and at least one request for a response each month. This is so you have the judge on your side if the HOA takes you to court (after ignoring your requests for a response over many months). I know six months is long. HOAs can be a challenge.

From my reading, the courts are more interested in whether the request is a violation of the covenants or deviates from what the HOA has done in the past. Do you think what you are requesting is reasonable?

John, was this at the trial court level? Either way, I'd have to know what exactly the covenant said on the topic of garages before I could opine intelligently on the outcome you described. Also I do see trial courts often getting the law wrong and being overturned, on appeal. A poster here said not long ago that it's 50-50 when one goes to court. I'd say, "It depends, but a 50-50 chance of winning, regardless of the facts and law, is far moreso at the trial court level."

I went thru our various documents again word by word and could find nothing on a time limit when an ARC must be approved...Maybe we will just have to make it a rule ourselves and put the limit at perhaps 30 days....

I had posted it out here once. Thought I kept a copy but cannot find it. If one would care to search the fellow was an orthodontist, or a periodontist or a chiropractor. It took place in Columbia SC. It was a brick garage.

It should also be pointed out that this was a settlement (agreement between the parties involved) vs. a court ruling.

Tim

Do you think he would have caved in without his lawyers advising the HOA could win?

The bottom line to me is do not go ahead with a project without specific ACC/BOD approval or you are asking for expensive trouble.

I have no idea.

The article doesn't go into a lot of detail.
We don't know if the garage was a covenant violation.
We don't know what his personal finances were like.
We don't know what his, or his family health were like.
We don't know how much stress this put on him or his family.
There are simply too many unknowns that can factor into making such a decision.

I would also note that this was within a small HOA (9 lots if I recall correctly).
Therefore, once assessments raised to cover legal expenses, I'm fairly positive that it wasn't a great place to live as everyone divided onto sides and it became the talk of the block.

I know ours says 30 days, and if you don't get a response then its considered approved. This is why with every approval or disapprove i try to get a signature. And if they don't want to sign i just make a note of it.