child care in subdivision

The convenant in this subdivision states there is to be no businesses allowed on any property. But there is a renter that moved a daycare from one house to another just across the street from previous address and nothing is being done,and wwe have not paid our annual fee because of this, what is your advise, Thanks.

JohnB18,

I’d hate to be the bearer of bad news. However, NOT paying your dues is something you would NOT want to do regardless of what is or isn’t being done in your HOA!

Why would you want the association filing a lien on your property for NOT paying your dues? Whatever your reasons are, unfortunately they WON’T hold up in any court of law, I’m aware of.

If you feel strongly enough, NOT to pay your dues,then pursue it after you pay. I would highly recommend notifying your BOD, they may not even be aware of this violation. Perhaps, they will remove the late fee, which, may have already been assessed,depending upon your board and how money hungry they are.

You’ll attract more bees with honey than vinegar. Just keep that in mind when approaching your board.

Keep us posted.

Chuck W.

John:

As everyone else said pay your dues first. Then I would look at the business covenant in your documents...is it just a generic statement that says no businesses or is there more to it? We have the same language, businesses that cause extra traffic are not allowed, but it names a few exceptions and childcare is one of them.

Write your board and request action.

I have no idea about that, Jackie, but I DO know that in our neck of the woods, (i.e., our HOA and local municipality and state regulations), a DAY CARE Center, even a home-based one, is NOT allowed in areas that are not specifically ZONED to allow for day care centers.

We are in the middle of just that issue right now in ours. We became aware of a home day care, certified by the state for up to 6 children, in our subdivision after someone complained about her clients speeding and cutting off school buses in the early morning hours.

We have a CC&R restriction against it, so we notified her. They called and said they were not a "day care" and that she was "just watching a couple of her friends' kids free of charge because they were in a hard way right now."

We took her at her word. She was crying and everything.

Then, about a week later, someone else in the neighborhood was doing an on-line search for any nearby day care centers, and lo and behold, her address popped up, complete with a name and everything.

So. We contacted her again and told her that if it was an old listing and she was no longer "running a day care," then we needed her to contact the online database and have them remove her day care information.

Her reply? They stuck a "for sale" sign in their front yard.

Our attorney has no problem moving forward to compel them to shut the day care down while they are trying to sell (they sent in a request through a 3rd party to see if they could keep it going while they tried to sell their home).

However, since our subdivision is not ZONED to allow this sort of "business" then he suggested we turn the information over to the appropriate local agency for inspection and resolution.

We did. They inspected. They not only fined them but gave them 30 days to terminate the activity before incurring additional fines and/or litigation.

She's more than welcome to keep her day care center open in an area that is properly zoned for day care centers, including in-home day care centers.

"However, since our subdivision is not ZONED to allow this sort of "business" then he suggested we turn the information over to the appropriate local agency for inspection and resolution.

We did. They inspected. They not only fined them but gave them 30 days to terminate the activity before incurring additional fines and/or litigation."

It sounds as though local government is following up and you may not need to do anything.

I also think that the association should send a letter to the city outlining the steps that you all have taken to persuade them to discontinue the illegal business. They may be less patient if they see that these folks were made aware of this before the local gov't. became involved.

Just stay on local government and attend any hearings that may be set. We have been able to speak at hearings like this and it did influence the special master to have less patience for the excuses that were given by the offenders.

I wonder if Jackie is thinking of adult assisted living homes? We have two within our HOA and even tho they are businesses, we were told we could not stop them because the idea is that these people have a right and need to live in "regular" neighborhoods. The whole idea of assisted living is to maintain a home atmosphere. Actually neither one has created that much traffic or other problems. I doubt some members even know they are there.