Property with trash allowed

Many possibilities.

1. The current or previous boards failed to enact regulations to prohibit it. Now the board must write, adopt and distribute the regulation.
2. A regulation exists, but the board doesn’t have courage to enforce it.
3. The board does not share your view the stuff is trash.
4. The board believes they lack community support for enforcing and regulation.
5. The board is lawyer aversive and fears legal bills.
6. No one has given the board a complaint and the board”s policy is not to take actions without one. Have you given a written complaint?

I have a question on the art vs junk comment. Is this a trash issue or someone displaying art on their lawn and you are objecting to it.

And don't forget homeowners can enforce CCRs against individual neighbors. The homeowner might also have other things going on (like major medical illness) that makes exterior maintenance. Have YOU even tried to approach this neighbor to see what's going on? It can be faster and more effective to resolve the problem that way - and if not, you've started the process of approaching the board, city, etc., on what you tried to do to address the problem (let the neighbor explain why he/she blew off concerned neighbors or has let the property turn into a mini dump).

Possibilities:

1.
No covenant that speaks to what owners may put in their front yards. If there is a covenant that speaks to front yards, feel free to quote it.

2.
The HOA Board consists of volunteers disinterested in enforcing any covenant concerning front yard appearance.

3.
The HOA Board has found its budget is so limited, and the cost of enforcement so expensive (often requiring an attorney) that it is not enforcing some covenants. Instead the HOA Board tells owners like yourself that you have a right to take a neighbor to court to enforce covenants. Owners can also sue the board for non-enforcement. The owners may or may not win the suit.

Best solution:
Get on the board with people who feel as you do.

Read your covenants (also known as CC&Rs; declaration; deed restrictions) to see if there's anything about the maintainance of front yards. If there is, tell us exactly what the words say.

Instead, your HOA might also have Rules or Rules and Regulations. THEY might say something about front yards. Tell us exactly what they say. Thank you Norman.

Some variation of this question gets asked frequently at community meetings. Owners assume that if a violation is present, it must be because the association allows it and has made no effort to resolve it.

The people who make this assumption tend to be the sort of people who respect rules and follow them. If they got a letter from their HOA, they'd go fix whatever the problem was.

The people breaking the rules are not like that. They don't care. They get violation letters and ignore them, assuming they open them at all.

If the association has the authority to fine, the owner might get fined. But many states don't allow foreclosure for fines, so there aren't any real consequences for not paying them.

The association can sue, and maybe even win, but that judgement is just another piece of paper for the owner to ignore.

Resolving violations requires the cooperation of the owner who committed the violation - the person who has already demonstrated that they don't care about the rules by breaking them.

We have traffic laws and people still speed and run red lights. Does anyone turn up at the police station and say "I saw someone speeding. This must mean that the police allow speeding!"

If that's not a nuisance, nothing is. Either via HOA docs or government enforcement. Preferably the latter.

What ElleN said. It IS tacky, but if there isn't anything in your documents that address yard appearance, you might not be able to do anything. You might check if the documents say anything about replacing grass (I would think that would warrant prior approval by the board). As for the rest, it does look somewhat organized - there isn't the type of clutter that might attract vermin (they might look at this, say "never mind," and keep looking for another home).
doesn't look so cluttered to attract vermin (the stuff's so ugly they might pass on it anyway). I wonder if your immediate neighbors feel the same way as you - perhaps if someone wrote a letter signed "your neighbors", noting the yard sticks out from the others - and not in a good way.

I Googled "how to tell your neighbor his/her yard is ugly and found a number of comments - this article looked like the most constructive place to start - https://www.wikihow.com/Deal-With-Your-Neighbour%27s-Unsightly-Property Good luck!

Are you serious? The resident is nuts, needs meds, and can’t take care of herself. And I can’t believe the comments here. It’s a nuisance plain and simple. Some people stack junk cars in their front yards. Others stack creepy mannequins. Check the city or county ordinances for nuisance snd the fire codes.

Every wig and every garment is material perfectly suited for rats’ nests. The poster said vermin were present.

Tim! I'm surprised that one as persnickety as yourself is defending this nuisance.

Whether or not it’s hoarding, I thought that website might help the poster. Of course we all know that 12 creepy mannequins on the porch is something perfectly normal.

Some might read more about the OP and say the same. Having done so, I am not surprised he has not posted a covenant that might apply here.

Maybe covenants are hoa-axes?

The gab.com link above has identifying information. I think Norm should ask the moderators to delete the link.

Norm, you can convert photos to a small pdf file and attach them.

Regarding defending the physical look:

As I posted earlier, art is subjective.
What the individual, the OP is complaining about, did is not something I like but it is likely the individuals own self expression.

I'm sure that some would call it art (as many things are called art that doesn't appeal to me).

Some may even call it a form of free speech.
One website gives the meaning of freedom of speech as encompassing not only the spoken and written word, but also all kinds of expression (including non-verbal communications, such as sit-ins, art, photographs, films and advertisements).

I do support the freedom of speech - even if I don't agree with it.

Now, what is being discussed is an issue for the Associations Board to address based on their covenants.
I have no idea what those covenants are.
I have no idea if the OP brought the issue to the board or, if he did, what the boards response and reasoning was.
The OP has not shared any of that.

One could argue the look is a nuisance.
However, nuisance is also a subjective term.

Based on the OPs statement that the Board won't do anything, It's possible that their board discussed the issues involved. Perhaps they even consulted an attorney or simply looked at finances and determined that legal action would cause more harm than good.

Again, I don't know.
I only know what I have seen which the OP posted.

Ellie quoted a post that is no longer available (at least I haven't seen it).
Perhaps my question to the OP (what did your board say?) was answered in that post. Perhaps not.

As I said, based on the photos provided through a link, it's not my cup of tea.

However, if I was on the board, I would:

1) defend the individuals right of expression vs. a subjective opinion (as subjective issues cause the most problems for Associations in a legal case)
2) do research to determine if what I see does violate specific covenants (vs. subjective covenants).
3) do research to see if the local authorities would be able to address the visual problem (health department, etc.)
4) recommend the board obtains a legal opinion on the issue and potential cost if it went to court
5) consider how this might affect the Association and members if legal action was brought and the media ran stories on it (as contacting the media would be the first thing I would do if I was that individual).
6) I would review finances and determine what might the Association be able to afford in legal fees.

This way, I could make an informed decision on what I would vote for the board to do.

Several Florida cities have ordinances prohibiting outdoor storage of indoor materials.

Norman my advice is to mind your own business. If you dont' like their art look the other way. They are not bothering you; it's all in your head. Also the world needs more snakes they are predators of real rodents like mice and rats.

If there is no covenant or city ordinance to address this, then the OP would have to claim that the display is a "visual nuisance" or "aesthetic nuisance" that falls into the common law nuisance category. From my reading of nuisance law in general and Florida nuisance law in particular, legally fighting mere displays of xyz in a front yard, where xyz is considered art by the owner and xyz is obviously not trash (nor emits odors, fluids or noise) would be a tough and expensive battle, with little available in the case law to help predict an outcome.

If you think this eyesore will not dissuade potential buyers, you know nothing about real estate.

I agree.

There were photos posted.

Real life court case from Arizona:

In 2006 an owner placed in his front yard, "a metal sculpture of a saguaro cactus wearing sunglasses and holding an electric guitar" that was over nine feet tall. In late 2008, the HOA started issuing the owner violations for this art. In mid-2009, the HOA filed suit. Sometime in 2010 the trial court heard the dispute and found for the owner. The trial court also awarded the owner his attorney fees. The HOA appealed. In 2011 an appeals court heard and affirmed in part, reversed in part and remanded. The appeals court awarded the HOA attorney fees for the appeal and reversed the order for the owner to receive his attorney fees until further proceedings et cetera.

The online history ends there. Perhaps a settlement occurred.

See

https://cases.justia.com/arizona/court-of-appeals-division-one-unpublished/CV100604.pdf?ts=1462295415

https://www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov/docket/CivilCourtCases/caseInfo.asp?caseNumber=CV2009-024476

Messy and expensive.

https://gab.com/1953buster/posts/112791849192936099