Adopting New Covenants vs. Amending Current Covenants

Does anyone have any experience adopting a completely new set of covenants rather than amending the original document?

We're a fairly large subdivision, currently around 350 lots (the Master Plan calls for around 600 lots if the development is built out to completion). We're still operating off of the original covenants, by-laws, and articles of incorporation that were set by the developer.

There are some ticky-tack things that we, as a board, would like to see removed but one of our larger issues is the way the current covenants are written the ACC is made up solely of the developer (and anyone he appoints) and the ACC has the right to waive any violation of the covenants. So essentially developers can do whatever they want to and we don't have the power to enforce covenants on them. Another issue is the original developer isn't building houses any more but selling land to other developers to build on and us not having control of the ACC could present issues.

Our covenants require 2/3 of lot owners approval to amend the covenants. However, our by-laws state that 20% of members constitute a quorum and the vote required to transact business is set at a majority of that quorum. In my interpretation of the by-laws, we could theoretically vote to adopt a new set of covenants that would replace the current version with a simple majority vote at a meeting where a quorum is achieved.

Would certainly appreciate anyone's thoughts and past experience. Thanks!

Covenants are attached to a deed, you can't attach new ones without the property owner's (and possibly mortgage holder's) permission. If you want changes, you need to amend the covenants using the procedure they provide.

The covenants are usually attached to the deed when the developer subdivides a larger property into lots. At that point the developer still owns the lots, and most likely would not accept new covenants to be attached. When the lots are purchased by owners, they have the existing covenants, and again, an outside party (the HOA) can not unilaterally attach new covenants.

Hi John, Thanks for your reply!

Our By-Laws state quorum is 20% of members and the vote required to transact business is a majority vote with a quorum present. As far as our HOA is concerned the 250 some odd future lots are irrelevant because those lots have not been platted with the city and are not in the county deed book. Right now they're just a few large pieces of property that border the current subdivision but have yet to be subdivided and annexed into our HOA. So the developer, as it stands today, doesn't have much voting power at all. If he were to get those other phases all platted, then it would be a different story but then he would also be paying much more dues which I don't think he can afford to do right now.