Who Writes These Rules?

Have you wondered WHO actually writes these strange and sometimes unenforceable rules we are all saddled with? All I've ever been told is some anonymous attorney for the developer. But WHO tells him what to write? They don't copy from some "master" document because we know many CC&Rs are different from each other - some much more strict than others. If you've been reading here for even briefly, you have heard some pretty horrid "rules" - such as the recent one about being immoral or lawbreakers. There is a current thread on operating a home business which everyone seems to agree means only if it creates a nuisance - BUT that is not the way the rules are written - it states flatly NO home business period. So why are these kind of rules there? Who dreams them up to create chaos for the boards? SOMEONE has to be doing it. Harold

I just got a copy of our restrictions from an attorney that wrote them in May of 2002. I'm going to mass copy them and hand them to each homeowner as they move in and encourage them to read them and invite them to the next upcoming meeting. I truely think that the more you pay an attorney, the more crap that gets stuck inside those documents. I also know several attorneys and YES they do copy the documents from a master copy or pull it off their expensive software, but there are soooooo many different kinds of software and each state, county, and city has specific wordings to be added, thats why no two are the same, at least from state to state. In reference to the second comment.........ha ha too funny

Our rules for no home businesses was written 20 years ago, and I assume that most other CC&R's that were say no businesses were also written long before it was common place for people to have computers to operate internet businesses and to telecommute.

That's why I believe we must look at the "intent" of the rule, whether or not the covenent clarifies the intent.

Our association clarified the intent verbally by saying that it is meant to prevent excess traffic. This is an association of 2000 homes that has an in-house professional manager and staff that answers to a well experienced BOD.

Since home based businesses are commonplace in today's world then all CC&R's should be amended to reflect the true intent of the rule, which is to not create additional traffic on privately maintained roads, and to prevent a construction company from operating in front of your house.

When we take a common sense approach to the rules, and try to view them as a judge would view them, then I believe it's easier to say that an HOA should enforce no parking on the streets, but should not enforce a no business covenent against a person who has an internet business that is invisible, but does enforce the no - business covenent against a construction company that's operating in front of your house with truck traffic and construction workers that in the morning and evening.

I believe a judge would agree that this is the intent of the covenent in today's world.

By the LAW, in our state anyway, "prospective buyers" are supposed to be furnished a set of the CC&R's BEFORE they purchase in an HOA community. I know a few that bought in our community and got the CC&R's before...at CLOSING in the huge stack of papers one ends up signing at closing. They end up reading the CC&R's AFTER they close and THEN discover that, "WOW! Had we known THAT was a rule, we wouldn't have bought in here!"
Whose fault is THAT? Blame is plenty, but the bottomline responsibility is to the home buyer. IF YOU KNOW you are buying in an HOA community -- GET THE RULES WELL IN ADVANCE! The seller MUST supply you with a copy!
Then, if you don't like the rules you make a decision:
1.- Don't buy.
2.- Buy and try to change them.
3.- Buy and live with it.
Most people fall in love with a particular house/condo in a community and all they see and hear about during the "sales pitch" is all the "wonderful things" about that community. Then AFTER they buy in is when they discover that "paradise" isn't all it was cracked up to be! WELCOME to the REAL WORLD!
Get educated BEFORE you make a major purchase like a home/condo!
If the majority of HOA's were just "wonderful", sites like this one wouldn't exist!

Claude is right. In Arizona, the responsibility for supplying the bylaws/CC&R's depends on the size of the HOA. small ones require the seller/owner provide, larger ones require the HOA to provide.

I agree with claude, these are contracts we enter, and unfortunately, we spend very little time looking them over in our haste to secure funding, pay closing costs, get the movers going, etc.. I am sure that buyers going into the sunbelt states may have never heard of an HOA, and have no experience with such things. too often, realtors, HOA's, sellers, etc. are in no position or have no desire to educate potential buyers about the pros and cons of HOA ownership, whether the reason is intentional or unintentional. I wish I could do more to educate potential buyers about our HOA, but everyone's hands are tied by the system.

it's too bad, because i think if more folks were educated up front, there would be less problems one year, two years, etc. down the line.