Re: update to "HOA fence problem"

In my state (Nevada) the law says that if the HOA doesn't say anything about
the violation (and it isn't hidden, which I doubt your fence is) within a
period of time (I think a year) then they can't do anything about it, it
becomes "grandfathered" in, so to speak. Can you imagine buying a house and
then potientally having to repaint the house because the old owner painted a
"not allowed" color and the HOA didn't catch it before the sale, that kind
of thing could happen if they don't have any accountability to bring things
up within a reasonable period of time.

If I was you, I would go talk to the board and see what they have to say,
they are usually people who live in your community and are generally
reasonable people. You might end up having to ask your surrounding neighbors
if they mind your fence color and sometimes the HOA's will let it go. In
Nevada if you have a problem with the HOA you can appeal to a county HOA
"manager" type person, who around here is very friendly to the homeowner. A
friend of mine was adding two blocks worth of height to his fence to keep
his dog from jumping over, and the HOA gave him a hard time. He spoke with
the county HOA person and he simply told him "Tell them you spoke with me
and I said it was ok, if they don't like that, then tell them to contact me
directly" and that was it, never had a problem after that.

I hate associations, but definitely go meet with the board and see what they
have to say. I don't think by any stretch that they should be able to
enforce that type of violation when it existed for 2+ years already, and of
course always have legal recourse (I'd paint the fence first though!).
Whatever you do, DON'T stop paying your monthly association, or they can
take your house from you. In Nevada (again) they cannot forclose on your
home for not paying violation fees (they can lein it though), but they can
forclose your house for not paying the monthly base dues.

-Jeff

"ted" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Hi,
> Today while driving through the neighborhood I found another house in
> exact same brick with fence in exact same stain. Is this going to help
> us at all? I'm posting my earlier message below for those who don't
> know the context.
>
> TIA.
>
> > 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.