When violations are found

Stan,
Every once in a while, a H.O. who must have his head burried or is totally oblivious to how the ARC approval system works, just goes ahead with a project without going the route of getting an approval. It happens and the ARC has to make the best of it. What we did was to send the H.O. an official Board letter and inform them that they must complete a request, pay the application fee and get the ARC to write an approval, They must be informed that this is per the Docs, and that they are required to have this documented within the ARC listings as being approved. Be nice and hope that he comples. If not, then you can start getting firmer and if all else fails, get the lawyer to send him a letter.

By the way, the contractors usually ask for the approval letter or at least they are supposed to. NO, do not force him to remove it. That would cost more money and time than it is worth. Just pray that he does the right thing but by approaching this positively, I hope he is reasonable and follows thru on this.

This sort of thing happens occasionally in our HOA.

What we do is submit a letter to the HO indicating that ALL projects need to be APPROVED PRIOR to construction.

"Since we did not receive a request for approval on the above-referenced project it is currently in violation of the XXX Deed Conditions, Covenants, and Restrictions.

In order to avoid the cost of removing the project, we respectfully request that the homeowner submit, in writing, the completed Arch Comm Approval Request form.

The committee will then review the application and inspect the finished project. If any portion of the project needs to be modified, then the homeowner is expected to do so within 30 days of receiving the modification notification. If the modifications are not made within 30 days, the entire project will be denied and will again be in violation and will need to be removed at the homeowner's expense.

As we would prefer not to expend association funds in legal fees to pursue the matter, your cooperation is greatly appreciated. However, if the forms are not received, and if any subsequent modifications are not made, we will have no other choice than to seek legal remedies. Please keep in mind that the CC&Rs allow the association to recover legal fees."

We've never had anyone fail to submit a form. In most cases, only minor modifications have been required, so we've never had to resort to legal action to have the project removed.