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AlyS (Tennessee)
Posts: 6
Posted:
I've searched this topic. Posts related to my question are dated so thanks in advance for any advice.

There's a homeowner in our HOA who purchased an adjoining lot. His home is on a corner facing NE and the adjacent lot is in a culdesac so any structure built on the vacant lot would have to face SE.

He requested to fence the lot and his back yard together. The ARC and the President of the board approved the request with no conditions. I had brought it up that, since fences must begin at the rear of a structure, having this fence going across the front of the vacant lot would not be acceptable, even if there is no structure. He is a celebrity which may be the reason for the lenience but I digress.

The homeowner now wishes to merge his two lots before listing it on the market. His Real Estate agent told our management company that the homeowner's attorney told him that he has the right. I can only assume that he wants to merge them so he can sell it with only one HOA fee. I know that the lots cannot be merged or, at least the association fees cannot be reduced to one fee because the number of lots were considered in assessment of fees per lot. However; I don't have specifics in our Charter or Declaration. I will upload a page in which I copied a few paragraphs that may be pertinent.

What I want to know is if this type of request must be presented to the ARC or to the board and if it can be voted on by the board. And, if the fence was approved without conditions, can the board go back and require that the fence now be removed from the second lot, assuming that we are able to reject the request to merge the lots.

Again, I appreciate any written evidence I can provide whether it be in our HOA docs or Tennessee HOA law to support the board's declination of this request. I hope I'm on the right track with my attached doc that includes smatterings of the HOA docs. There is no definition of lot that I can find.
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📄1617523643271.pdf(90 KB)
DouglasK1 (Florida)
Posts: 2,046
Posted:
I checked my CCRs and it says lots can't be divided, but doesn't say anything about combining. There are a lot of references to "65 lots" and "as defined in the original plat. I would take that to mean that even if an owner combined two lots with the property appraiser that they would still be considered two lots as far as the association was concerned (two lots of assessments, two votes, etc.)

If you think this is an issue that could end up in court, it might not be a bad idea to talk to the association attorney to get their thoughts.

Escaped former treasurer and director of a self managed association.
KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550
Posted:
We're a condo building an owners can combine two ondo "lots." But they still, as with Douglas's HOA are considered two lots by the tax assortment, your HOA assessments, and for Owners to vote.
AlyS (Tennessee)
Posts: 6
Posted:
Hi Doug, thanks for your response. My CCRs also state that lots cannot be divided and nothing about combining. I'm gathering information to have the management company send to the property owner. If there is any pushback, we will send the research to our attorney. I don't think it will end up in court because, if the property owner wants to sell now, it would only cost him money and time. Thank you again.
AlyS (Tennessee)
Posts: 6
Posted:
Kerry, thank you for your input!
JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265
Posted:
Alys

I have see this come up before and the general consensus has always been it is still two lots, dues paid on each lot, and one vote per lot. I do not know how a sale would/could be handled.
KellyM3 (North Carolina)
Posts: 2,239
Posted:
I doubt the lot can be "merged" into one larger plot whereby the HOA loses the dues collections on the second lot.
My inclination is that the property owner can install a fence to encompass both lots if the HOA approves it.

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