Ambiguity and Vagueness in CC&Rs - North Carolina

Location, outside city limits, Orange County North Carolina

We recently bought a new property, and our first with a property owner's association. It is a 10 acre lot, and all other lots are also on the larger side. It is all about privacy and personal freedoms in the community, houses are not even visible from the road or other properties.

The CC&Rs are very limited, not saying much and not being overly specific. I'm curious about how things not mentioned, or very vague are handled legally in POAs. Not that I intend to try to loophole my way through anything, just curious.

For instance the animal restrictions, no other section covers animals at all:

3.7 Animals: No more than four commonly organised adult household pets including but no limited to dogs and cats may be kept on a lot. Household pets shall be (1) kept within the boundaries of the lot, (2) kept under supervision so as not to cause any nuisance to other Owners and (3) not be kept for commercial purposes other than occasion showing, breeding and sale of offspring.

Does this read as if it only places limits on typical household pets? Such as to deter puppy mills and the ilk, or is it saying only house hold pets are allowed. Could a member have laying hens, or goats, or a horse under such a clause?

Thank you. I'm not interested in more than 2 dogs and 2 cats, or anything to stir feathers. I'm just curious about about the ambiguity in general. I haven't lived in an HOA before, so I'm just trying to figure how people actually interpret the vagueness of these rules. Not even specific to the HOA we just bought into.

Most legal contracts I've dealt with have either highly specific language, or have general catch all language, these CC&Rs have neither, is that normal? After money is built back up from the move, I'm tempted to try and sit down with a real estate attorney, these CC&Rs seem really poorly written and confusing.

If something is not specifically mentioned, does it fall into banned by default or allowed by default. Your take would seem to say since it mentions household pets, but does not mention non household animals, then livestock would be banned.

The CC&Rs go into detail about outside structures, and landscaping but do not mention pools at all. Would that imply pools are not allowed (they appear to be, as 1/2 the lots seem to have judging from satellite photos).

John,

O I'm not looking to get anymore animals than the 2 dogs and 2 cats we have, been there and done that with livestock, not happening again, kids get bored, and then its YOUR cow. That isn't happening again lol.

My question only comes in because of how vague the rules are. To me, these read solely as a limit on household pets, such as to prevent a puppy mill. I'm more worried about one of the neighbors getting the idea of bringing in a chicken farm (Which stink bad), to me it really doesn't read like it bans livestock at all, it actually makes no mention of livestock anywhere.

I agree. No chickens is covered.

No chickens what about a duck in the pond??

Cindy, $300 a year, road upkeep. Benefit of hopefully avoiding reckless gun fire, and chicken farm.

I've spent my entire 50 years living in the country, and have twice been bitten by water moccasins. Your concerns about emergencies are dramatically overblown. Most rural areas in the NC have medical care within reasonable distance, with the research triangle having some of the best medical nation wide.

I just finished a conference call with a real estate attorney experienced with HOAs in North Carolina. If any of your HOAs use similar language and you think it prohibits live stock, you may want to try to rewrite that section.

As written, the animal section in our covenants are only limit the number of household pets. It does not have any limits on livestock, at all. If a neighbor brought in 100,000 chickens, it would be in compliance. Vagueness in covenants fall in favor of the property owner.

Hi Jason,

That is a very reasonable price
You definitely don’t want to be in chicken & roosters territory because they are messy and rooster crowing at 4 am is very disruptive to one’s sleep. Although you might get some coyotes howling.

That is cool that you have experienced the bite of water moccasin. so glad you are 911 plated.

We had a house that was in a newish conspicuous community off a major road and a family member had a serious accident and we had an incredibly difficult time getting 911 to come out there.

Enjoy your serenity.

Orange County (NC) county ordinances prevent any public nuisance created by animals or animal ownership on private property. Puppy Mills, especially in a politically liberal county like Orange, would be addressed. Your county ordinances also appear to separate the term "pets" from "domesticated livestock." Yes, a cow can be a pet but a cow/horse/goats are livestock by definition.

Also, people wishing to breed commercially (puppy mill fear) must obtain county permits and subject to government inspection.

https://library.municode.com/nc/orange_county/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=PTIGEOR_CH4AN_ARTIIANCO_DIV1GE_S4-45PUNU

That said, owning 10 acres in Orange County is terrific but rural Orange County also features many tiny farms and is "rural" by spirit. Your CC&Rs, in my opinion, are tapping into that spirit by setting clear limits on animal ownership to "pets" and not "livestock" while allowing for the legal handling of puppies and kittens, which wouldn't be allowed to stay because it's "adult household pets" that ultimately can be a permanent fixture on your lot.

For those of you outside NC, you expect a household pet to be:

Dogs, cats, pot-bellied pigs and fish. In Orange County, on a ten-acre lot, you might could squeeze in a pygmy goat or two.

Above, nothing can be a nuisance. Nothing can violate existing animal control ordinance of Orange County.

I think you're in good shape.

The first thing to remember is that HOA bylaws and CCRs usually don't cover everything in HOA land - they can't because times change and the documents should be flexible enough to evolve with the community without being too overbearing. Besides, no one would read them - most people don't bother to read what's already there, which is where a lot of confusion starts.

The next thing to remember is that the documents are usually written by the developer, who typically use some sort of boilerplate template to satisfy legal requirements. They don't always get down and dirty in the details because they'll be gone by the time the homeowners take over, so what do they care? Unfortunately, homeowners aren't told this - they're told this community is in a HOA, here are the documents. No one reads anything and the developers don't do much of anything to prepare homeowners for what HOA living may or may not mean in the future.

In this case, it sounds like you MIGHT be able to have some sort of animal other than the usual dog and cat, but not necessarily a zoo or puppy mill. Section 3.7(2) and (3) read: "kept under supervision so as not to cause any nuisance to other Owners and (3) not be kept for commercial purposes other than occasion showing, breeding and sale of offspring." That sounds to me like someone in a 4-H club (are those still around?) who raises a pet goat for a competition. So, if the maximum number of critters you can own is 4, that could mean Fido, Fluffy, Sally the milk goat and Billy D. Goat.

You may also have county rules coming into play - you may have 10 acres, but that may not mean you can have a herd of goats. You may want to read the county rules first regarding livestock and compare them to your documents. The HOA may have said a maximum of 4 so the neighborhood wouldn't be overrun with sheep, chickens, really loud roosters and maybe a python (because some people roll that way.)

If you still aren't sure what can and can't be done, you could ask some of your neighbors, especially the ones who serve on the board of directors. Good luck!

As Shelia touched on, Covenants/Bylaws cannot cover every possible scenario. Some docs were written even before now common things like satellite dishes, electric cars, etc.

If one wants to do something they feel is not addressed in the docs, then they should protect themselves and ask for permission. I am not saying they cannot fight a decision they do not like but at least get an answer before proceeding.

A lot of people post here asking "what ifs". Though other poster may give opinions, what matters is what your BOD thinks/says and what you can live with.