MUD accounting details breakdown availability

Background - I'm in central Texas and live in a MUD district. Sections of the MUD are covered under MUD covenants, others are covered under one HOA, and others under another HOA. I live in an area covered by the MUD covenants.

I help friends and neighbors with car work because I'm mechanically inclined. I'm not a professional, and don't do it for profit. My neighbor, that we have always had issues with (ever since she started mowing her lawn at 6 am on Mother's Day about 9 years ago while my wife was pregnant and sick), reported me as running a business from home with photos and videos.

I got a cease and desist letter from the MUD's attorneys saying stop any home run business for profit, AND to cease any any and all trade, business, professional, commerce, industry, or professions from being carried on in the property or any part there of.

I went to the MUD board meeting and asked them to clarify. I'm a software engineer so working from home is in fact a trade that occurs on my property. In that case, they said out of sight, out of mind (which in my eyes basically says it's ok to break that covenant). I then told them the car work wasn't for profit. They said, it is still considered a trade. Legally, it isn't. A trade is a business or occupation for profit. They argued it was. They also asked how often I do this. It is 3-4 hours a couple Saturdays of the month on average. Depends on who needs help. Keep in mind, we have never gotten a violation from the MUD, always had a clean yard, etc. I don't have cars on cinder blocks, don't have mufflers around in my hard, no lift in my driveway, etc. The only way you'd even know I was doing something is that I have a hood up on a car in my driveway (or in my garage). Said neighbor has stopped her car on the street to take pictures of me doing car work (when her home cameras couldn't see me doing it). Our houses are staggered, so she can only see when I'm doing car work from her driveway when I'm in my driveway.

In the meeting, the president and vice president both said they had no idea a certified letter was being sent, and hadn't seen the evidence against me. There is no evidence of me doing it for profit, because I'm not, but I never denied doing car work. I had neighbors in the meeting stating I was helping them save hundreds, even thousands, because I'm mechanically inclined and over the years have had to rebuild a motor on my toy car a few times so have the know how. Those same neighbors have home run businesses, and even stated so in the meeting. One is realtor that works from home all day unless he's showing houses, and the other runs his own construction management company. They did state, we have home run businesses. The board knows this, they never got a notice in the last two weeks so in their cases, the board doesn't care about their businesses?

Now that the back story is out of the way, I have a few questions -

1. Can I see the legal budget detailed enough to know how often people get a cease and desist letter when the letter circumvented the process of having the management company notify the resident they have violated a covenant?
2. Is it normal that the attorney for the MUD/HOA spends budget money to create this letter and send it certified and the president and vice president have no idea it was even done?
3. This sounds like selective enforcement, so should I be hiring an attorney to go after the MUD for not enforcing the social contracts we all agreed to?

I can easily find 100 cases of ac units not covered, 2 trees minimum not planted in the front yards, fence pickets missing, etc which are all violations yet never show on the meeting minutes regarding the current status of violations. I know we have one lady that patrols twice a month, but it really gets under my skin that this one thing I'm doing to help my neighbors was worthy of a cease and desist, but the house with a car with a flat tire in the driveway has been on the agenda for a year without resolution. Also, my "business" was never on any agenda or discussed. As noted above, the president and vice president both claimed no knowledge of it and had never seen any evidence.

Thanks, and if you need more details/etc, please ask.

? PRECISELY what covenant or restriction was violated ?

? PRECISELY what local, county, or state ordinance was violated ?

(the fact that your wife was ill has NO bearing on the issue)

IMO: you broke hers, now she is breaking yours

Thank you Douglas, this helps.

I will ask since you are an ex-treasurer. If someone requested that break down was it available to them, or only general spending such as $1,231 on legal expenses vs $1,231 on legal expenses with $540 spent on attorney fees for certified letters to residents, and the remainder spent on pending litigation against there residents?

Legal expenses could include the actual time put into the case, which may include legal research, writing letters, talking to various people, including your neighbors, and there’s nothing dictating how much those expenses should cost. The association can (and should) get a breakdown of those expenses because it had to pay them – you could ask for that, but it won’t get you out of paying it because that’s what the attorney charged the association and it has to get reimbursed for that expense. That’s what happens when the association takes action against a homeowner – he or she has to pay the association’s legal fees incurred in pursuing the legal action against them (unless a judge says otherwise or you’re able to negotiate a lower price).

As Douglas said, you need to focus on the question as to whether you’re running a business. If the president and vice president didn’t know the letter was being sent, you should ask for a formal appeal hearing where you can present your side. This should include all those people whose cars you’ve worked on and other neighbors who can testify that you’re not loud, there are no parking or traffic issues created because of it, etc. As part of your appeal, you can ask that the legal expenses be waived because you didn’t get a chance to explain yourself from the beginning.

If that doesn’t work, you will need to talk to an attorney about your options – you can always sue the association if you can prove selective enforcement, and then get YOUR costs reimbursed by the association if you win

ps. good luck PROVING in a court of law any sound level violation

pps. you just admitted on the WWW to repairing OTHER PEOPLE's broken cars USING YOUR PROPERTY

ppps. 'neighbor from hell' rings a bell

or

live and let live

Thank you, Douglas. I appreciate the info. I'll email the treasurer and go by the management office after talking to an attorney about it.

So, they have a covenant against changing your own oil? That seems extreme. Thankfully nothing like that here, however if you read and follow my covenants they say you can't practice any trade on your property. Legally a trade is a business or occupation for profit, so you can't work from home even. That would never hold up, and from what I'm reading and hearing neither will them saying I can't help my neighbors with a hobby. Thankfully in my section I only have 68 houses so I only need 45 to agree to change the covenants.

Sue, you said especially a vehicle you do not own. How is that worded so you can't work on any car, especially not your own?

That leaves a lot open to interpretation. To some people, an oil change might be their limit for "minor repair", others might feel that an alternator or water pump replacement is "minor repair", still others might think a valve job and head refurbishment is fairly "minor".