Re: HOA giving grief about fence

Typically HOAs require that external modifications to your property be 
approved by a 'design review' committee. This usually requires you to 
submit plans that include drawings, dimensions and color schemes for 
fences, etc. It sounds worse than it is -- in my case our association 
wants drawings, dimensions, and color schemes (3 copies so they can file 
one and give the others to the committee for review.) There is no charge 
for submitting plans for approval and the committee typically gives you 
a decision very quickly.

If you already got approval then you should be ok, but if you didn't 
then you may have to file for approval after the fact and make the color 
changes they are asking for unless you can get the committee to sign off 
on the color you prefer. The committee is probably made up of homeowner 
volunteers from your community who have been appointed by the HOA Board 
of Directors. I am afraid that there is typically no 'statute of 
limitations' in these matters, so the fact that the fence has been up 
for 2 1/2 years probably won't offer you any relaxation in what ever 
rules may be in place.

If there is no committee then I am not sure who you should talk to at 
your HOA to resolve the issue -- I hope this is not the case.

I don't see the need for a lawyer here. The community CC&R's probably 
give the HOA complete power to rule on this kind of issue, and at any 
rate the cost of the fence is probably less than what you would end up 
paying to litigate the matter even if there was a case.

Try to keep things friendly with whomever you communicate with, it 
maximizes your chance to get a good result.

The color scheme you used for the fence sounds very nice to me -- I hope 
you are able to work things out. (Heck its not like you painted the 
fence 'hard rock hotel' purple!!!)

Best of luck in resolving the issue,

steve




ted wrote:
> Hi,
> Please help us in our new 'situation'. Our HOA is giving us grief over
> our fence color. We painted our fence a light oak color stain TWO AND
> HALF years ago. The HOA sent us a notice yesterday saying the color is
> unacceptable. Our brick color is gray. They said the color of the
> fence should go with the color of the brick. And they suggested GRAY
> color for our fence.
>
> I think this is ridiculous. First of all, why should I paint my fence
> gray and make it look hidious.
>
> We painted it oak color because that matched the original color of the
> wood closely and we liked the way it looked against our brick. We
> already told them why we chose the stain but they still want us to
> change the stain to gray.
>
> Can they wait until two and half years to complain about the stain
> color of our fence? Do we have any rights over this? There are dozens
> of houses in our neighborhood that didn't stain their fences and let
> them rot for years. I don't know why the HOA targeted us. We are very
> quiet people and never butt in anyone's business.
>
> Please suggest what we should do. Thanks.