Giving Land Back To HOA

I am a homeowner with a landscape buffer easement in my backyard. My plot line actually extends past that berm to the main road. Our HOA Declarations state that the HOA has the right and duty to build, repair, and maintain the buffer easement area except for the portion that extends from the centerline of the berm inwards to the homes.

My question as a homeowner is that I am paying taxes on land that I have no rights to and I'm wondering if I can make an adverse possession case against the HOA to basically force them to take my property. Sounds goofy, but I really can't do anything with that roughly 80x20 strip of land.

You're not going to force the HOA to take your land. HOAs are often stuck w/ pieces of land which they own but have zero control over due to easements, setback rules and other regulations beyond the community's control or input.

Talk to tax assessor and see what kind of response you get!

I truly gain no value from having that extra land under my ownership other than the fake number that says my lot size.

The HOA doesn't pay taxes on the parcels they hold, so if the land that they've maintained for 20 years is something I have no rights to, and I don't see why there would need to be a vote of the members to have it under HOA ownership.

I don't know what you are referring to. The HOA does not pay property taxes on open space parcels.

I don't understand the hostility. I'm not mad about the situation because it is a nice to have the trees blocking the road, but if I can't build or plant anything, then why would I have to pay taxes on it?

Here is what the Declarations states:

" The association shall have the right and duty to build, repair, and maintain the Common Area, the Landscape Buffer Easement area,......., except for that portion of the Landscape Buffer Easement Area that runs from a line at the top of the berm and extending inward towards the respective homes, which shall be the respective Owner's duty to maintain."

"The Association shall have the right of ingress and egress over and upon the Common Area and the Landscape Buffer Easement Area for any and all purposes in connection with the use, maintenance, construction, operation, repair and reconstruction of the Common Area and Landscape Buffer Easement Area including but not limited to maintenance of landscaping, monumentation and storm water management areas."

So based on that writing, I understand that they have the right of ingress and egress for landscaping, but if I have no rights to do anything with that land, it seems plausible that I can make a case to cede that over to the HOA (along with the other 70 homeowners on the buffer).

In my experience, the law of covenants is what is standing in the way of your 'ceding' the land to the HOA. Respectfully, I suggest googling and studying this law.

If it's on a recorded deed or plat then there's nothing "fake" about it. Just because you think it's "fake" does not make it so.


That's the case in Florida, too. Typically HOAs don't pay tax on common property because the value of that land is already considered to be apportioned to the individual owners who collectively DO pay tax on it. Our county tax assessor told us, in person, "If you took your HOA home and lifted it up and placed it down in another area of the county where there's no HOA, you would pay less property tax."

Having said that, the value of owning real property is measured in more than just the need to pay taxes. A vote of the homeowners would most assuredly be required and they'd most likely ALL need to approve the change.

I really don't have any rights to that land past the topline of the berm as I mentioned above. Heck, even if I tried to build a fence up to that top line, the board would veto the plans. Out of those 70+ homes along the berm, not a single one has a fence going up to the top of the berm. But I get why - aesthetically, it wouldn't look nice when driving along the main road.

So all I'm saying is, they Hoa is very restrictive on the land use surrounding the berm.

You can offer the easement land to the HOA and see what they say, if they accept, great. If not, I don't think there is any way to force them to accept it.

The bottom line is that you bought property subject to at least one easement, and you're probably stuck with it/them. It is also common to have utility easements on the front, sides, or back of a property, so you might have one of those too.