HOA out of compliance question
We have a doozy here. I live in a 20 lot community that has a board president who is just a control freak. Long story short, we bought our home on Zillow in June 2021. We did not build our home. There was no HOA at the time because all the lots were not sold. So our backyard plans etc was approved by the declarant, who was the DRC ( design review committee ).
We recently got a letter with friendly reminder of our of compliance issues. The DRC was re-instituted with a new election of a board in April of 2023.
One issue is the LRV (light reflective value), it appears to be out of DR guidelines.
So our declarant approved our the plans and the paint etc back in 2020. How can the DRC come back Now and try to force us to paint our house when it was already approved 3 and 1/2 years ago?
Respectfully,
Kyle Cullen
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Kyle,
The association has no authority to change their mind on this issue. If your paint scheme was approved by the declarant-controlled association, once the community is turned over to the homeowners to manage, they cannot undue that approval. By the way you always had an HOA just the Declarant controlled the board and the HOA prior to the transition. Once the period of declarant control ended the association board was elected by the members and run by the member elected board. The Board has no greater understanding of the intent of the Declarant on the design criteria for the community then the declarant himself. If the board has changed the design or paint requirements, then if you paint your home in the future you will have to comply with the then currently approved pallet. An approved design review is approved and cannot be reconsidered after the fact by a different board under any circumstances. Hopefully you have a record of the approved paint scheme from the declarant.
Dennis
Thanks for the feedback Dennis. We bought this house in 2021. I am assuming the declarant has records of it; however, he did 3 houses that were built before any new builds came in. I mean 3 homeowners bought homes from him and no other home other ours were on a list with LRV issues. Not sure why he is singling out ours .
Is their AZ case law to prove this ?
Kyle,
Who painted your house originally? Has it been repainted since it was initially built? What I’m saying is that if a paint scheme was approved by the then current Architectural committee or under the then current architectural guidelines, the association cannot change that approval after the fact. While I know of no specific case law ruling on this issue this is simply common sense. If your house was painted outside of the then in-place architectural standards without the specific approval of the Architectural committee at the time, then you are clearly in jeopardy. The specifics of what actually happened in your case is very important. If the declarant painted your house and you bought your house from the declarant directly the association has no right to challenge that decision by the declarant he wrote the architectural standards and provided it for the entire community. If you painted your house since you bought your home without the approval of the ARC then you are in jeopardy if challenged by the association now.
Dennis
Thank for the reply Dennis. We are on the same page . The builder of the home was not the declarant; however. The declarant controlled association did approve all paint colors and plans. I mean this occurred way before we bought the house in 2021. The house has not been painted since we bought so we should be in any violation of the new board.
The Architectural guidelines have not changed. even if the LRV was higher at the time, it was at his discretion and made a variance for approval. Would we still be in the clear ?
Kyle Cullen
I’m sorry but I don’t understand what you are saying in your last sentence? Do you have a variance approving your color?
Dennis