About Compliance Rules: Please tell us WHY!

[Rana Goodman]

About Compliance Rules: Please tell us WHY! 

 With the flurry of one thousand compliance letters being sent around our community, it was not hard to understand the e-mails flying around telling friends and neighbors about the violation notice many had received. Here are some of the items that were related to me and it caused me to do quite a bit of searching through our CC&Rs and the Nevada Statutes (NRS116)

I have often said that my mind always seems to work on a path of logic, if there is no logic I want to know WHY.

Here are several things that received violations;

1:  A home with three large metal wall plaques adhered to the front of the home (at the approach to the front door) The rules say you can only have 2, I’d like to know why, what is the difference 2 or 3 and if they are an artful set, WHY?

2: A home with a stunning front yard had a trellis with climbing night jasmine rising toward the roof line. The rules say it must be metal therefor remove it within 30 day. Perhaps the compliance committee is not aware this is the winter time and removing those plants at this time will kill them. They must be removed from the plant container to change the trellis and then replant the jasmine.

3: A home with fabulous carved “Flintstone stone chairs,” these are not to sit in, but to admire. They have been at the home 15 years, weight several tons each and are bolted into the ground. Compliance ordered them removed. The cost to do so would be prohibitive and again WHY?

It reminds me of something my father used to say each time I asked why, “because I said so!” was the constant retort.

This is what the Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS116) has to say about RULES;

NRS 116.3102

3.  The executive board may determine whether to take enforcement action by exercising the association’s power to impose sanctions or commence an action for a violation of the declaration, bylaws or rules, including whether to compromise any claim for unpaid assessments or other claim made by or against it. The executive board does not have a duty to take enforcement action if it determines that, under the facts and circumstances presented:

(a) The association’s legal position does not justify taking any or further enforcement action;

(b) The covenant, restriction or rule being enforced is, or is likely to be construed as, inconsistent with current law;

(c) Although a violation may exist or may have occurred, it is not so material as to be objectionable to a reasonable person or to justify expending the association’s resources; or

(d) It is not in the association’s best interests to pursue an enforcement action.

As discussion continues to fly around the community, an associate of mine was told, by a member of the ARC Committee that the reason these violations were sent out was due to a law that had been passed in the legislature.  I do know there were quite a bit of HOA

Issues discussed at the last session, however, I have a habit of tracking almost all bills concerning seniors and HOAs, but I could not recall anything like that.

Friday morning, I placed a call to the Legislative Counsel Bureau and got hold of an attorney I had worked with many times before. I told her what I was looking for and she offered to research it and get back to me.

The report was interesting since this attorney went through the last four legislative sessions and found nothing that restricted what could be placed in front of our homes. Her closing comment was “someone is either blowing smoke at you or those rules are in your CC&Rs but they are not law.”

 Therefor I would like to ask anyone reading this to let me know if YOU might know any logical reason to ban;

1:  A chair in front of our homes, after all you might want to sit while you wait for a ride, the mailman, or simply to watch the sunset or sunrise….. What is unsightly about that?

2: A pot or large vase holding silk greenery or flowers to add color that won’t die to the entry …. What is unsightly about that?

3:  A small shed like storage container, lower that your block wall, in the rear of your home to store lounge pads, etc. If it is not visible from the street, why should compliance be concerned with the rear yard so long as no neighbor complains?

I have written before that our community is overwhelmed by rules that seem to change with each new board of directors. Of the comments that have come back to me, one is repeated many times over; “we came here to retire, have fun, and enjoy what is left of our life, why do we have to be stressed out by so many rules and regulations that really are meaningless”?

Saturday, while the Poker Club was knee deep into their games, a member of the staff came in interrupting them all and asked to see each SCA membership i.d. Once in her hand she scanned each and one member who was not carrying his, but is very, very well known by almost everyone in this community didn’t have his card with him. The attendant continued to interrupt the activity by insisting that he take time out to fill out forms insuring that he was a guest of the club.

Personally, I find it rude and offensive, to monitoring our activities, unless members complain that non-residents are “invading or clubs and activities.” To treat us like a compliance squad is now not only verifying our right to be in club houses we are paying and is cruising our homes to find a “violation” that no one ever complained about, is another way to suck out all the joy of living here.

[Margot Werner]

It seems like people have nothing else to do but ride around and pick apart what their neighbors do. Get a life people. There are enough problems in families and the world without worrying about what is on your neighbors lawn.

[Martin Teixeira]

Rana,

Thank you for the time and energies put into these issues.  This is very important to all of us and we are very interested in the  remedies for these problems.  Please continue to post on your discoveries.

Sincerly,

Martin

[alan h]

i guess this compliance is what the board warned us about about 3 months ago. a year ago we got a warning about having 4 chairs and a 3 person covered swing in our front yard with out the required wall of blocks or shrubs. they had only been in our front yard for ONLY “14” YEARS. i know they dont want junk cars in the yards but give me a break. now we have shrubs growing. i am waiting for a letter because they are not to big yet. yes get a life.

[Anonymous]

I can’t understand the objections to lawn chairs in the shade of the front yard trees. My home, in particular, has no good view of the street or neighbor’s homes. I would have to stand in the front yard to participate in our village’s neighborhood watch. Without a chair in front, I cannot participate in the watch or even enjoy a nice day under my shade trees.

I have lived here for over 12 years and have never thought I was living in a Nazi state such as now. The rules need to be re-evaluated and changed where necessary to allow us to live out the remainder of our lives in peace and harmony, not a Nazi or Communist style state dictating how we are to live and decorate our houses and yards.

The current regime needs to be impeached and thrown out, starting at the top and working our way down until we get to a reasonable governing team which allows us to live our lives as comfortable as we can in our remaining years.

R. West

[Leo Kensil]

Here’s one for you. Two small pots on each side of garage door for 16 years with flowers each year so I get a notice no pots in the front yard.  Get a life HOA they made the front of the home look nice so out goes the pots and the flowers.

[Rana Goodman]

I also received one Leo, for a potted plant under the front window. At a neighborhood watch meeting a while ago, a Henderson police officer recommended that we plant cactus or something similar under street facing windows. I’m waiting for warmer weather to do that. I placed a large pot with a thorny flowering plant there in the interim, but so that the rabbits, if they try to get the blossoms, won’t get hurt by the thorns.

That pot cannot be seen with ease driving by my home which means the compliance police had to be REALLY looking to spot it. I and many others in SCA would like to return to the system we have had for years, blue cards (now cream colored).

[Author]

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