Rules for Thee: The HOA and Applying to Modify Your House
When you want to modify the exterior of what you thought was your house or your yard, you have to apply to your Homeowners Association Architectural Committee. Per my neighborhood, it is as follows (emphasis mine):
Listed here is an abbreviated description of the application process. ACC will only process completed applications, including signatures and accompanying plans and specifications, lot plots, colors, pictures, drawings, etc. Applications must contain all the information necessary for the ACC to make an informed decision or it will be denied.
Within thirty (30) days after receipt by the ACC, the ACC will act on the submission. After review, the original submittal will be retained by the ACC for their files. The ACC will give one of the following responses to each application received:
•“Approved” (project approved as submitted)
•“Conditional Approval” (subject to conditions noted)
•“Denied” (reasons noted in the meeting minutes)
Try not to image the Architectural Committee as a panel of intelligent persons convening in some democratic process for homeowners. Imagine it more like one power hungry capitalist running a business on a typical United States’ reading level of 6th grade but also with an IEP for SLD because no child gets left behind (iykyk). This, and the attorneys that back them, is what homeowners pay for with their fees.
Your HOA, using your neighbors as snitches, can decide that you need to submit to the Architectural Committee after the fact—meaning after you have already modified your home and even though you didn’t know that what you did was indeed a “modification” that required “approval”. And so you believe, in good faith, that the HOA is helping you to follow the process.
Don’t get it twisted. The HOA is not here to help homeowners. They are here to help with the visual aesthetics of the community, people notwithstanding. This is all about “property values”, not human beings.
For further reading and examples, try