No HOA, Yes CC&Rs, devoloper dissolved CO, one dead, one in 'retirement' home and one living ACC person

We are being sued by a neighbor for having our new RV sitting on our driveway, as opposed to behind a fence that is no further out then the garage. Impossible on our lot. Our driveway is three times longer then any other in the neighborhood. We have no HOA, CC&Rs were written in 1995. Three people were appointed to the Architectural Control Committee: the developer who is now deceased, his wife who is now in a 'retirement' home and a son who is retired but still in the area. The Development LLC was dissolved many years ago. Should I email the son and ask permission to park our RV on our driveway? That way if he doesn't answer in 30 days it has been accepted, as per the CC&Rs. There is no mention in the CC&Rs how to contact the ACC, no phone numbers, no addresses, and the same for the development LLC. If there is no one to send an application to then what do you do? Send it to the LLC without a proper address and when it gets returned that would imply acceptance of our request?

I have been reading old posts about counter suing, which was something we had thought about, the neighbor's fence is 3" too high in some areas and 12" in others, as per the CC&Rs. What type of lawyer should we seek out? Seems to be a big difference of opinion on that!

Thanks to all who will post helpful answers.

John,

This sort of thing happens all the time.

If you have deeded CCRs and both you and your neighbor are connected by them, then you are in violation and must move your RV.

While you didn't ask, I will offer, that if I was your neighbor, and had moved to that location because it had CCRs, I would also sue you to move your RV - I would, of course, ask you to do so first, but if you told me there was no HOA, then I would go to my CC&Rs, find that component, provide it to you and ask you, again. If you told me you weren't going to do so, I would have an attorney write you a warning letter (this is cheaper than going to court). If you still did not comply with our common CC&Rs, I would, assuming I had the money, sue to force you to comply with those CC&Rs.

He never ASKED us to move it, just demanded a couple of times. That's part of the problem, had he been civil from the start things would be different. He is also singling us out among the 22 houses in the development, there are plenty others not in compliance with other sections of the CC&Rs. Like the awful purple/blue house they just painted two houses down from him. It's a real eyesore and will bring down property value!! He has gone to a lawyer who sent us a threatening letter and gave us less then 2 weeks to comply. Don't know if he has the money to take it further, probably. Thanks for your input.

KerryL1,
We pay no dues as there is no HOA. The Development company that wrote the CC&Rs dissolved many years ago. The owner of the company is deceased. He, his wife and son were the Architectural Control Committee. One is dead, one is in a 'retirement' home and the son hadn't heard the name of the subdivision in ten years, he said! So it seems there is no longer that committee to go to. No new committee members have been named.

Thanks for your input.

Irrelevant.

As long as they are RECORDED they are enforceable.