HOA nightmare

[Vonnette]

I live in Colorado. We have lived in our home for 13 months with no problems. Recently our HOA changed management and the new manager did an on site inspection of our yard. She sent us an e-mail complaining that our back yard had two holes, dog poo, and our dog barked at her and seemed "aggressive". I replied and said we were filling the holes and putting our puppy through training to try and stop the digging, and told her we picked up the poo several times a week and always before the landscapers came (lawn mowing is included in our HOA fees), and I said that any dog would bark if someone comes onto thier property uninvited and unannounced. I suggested that she should call us the next time she enters our back yard so that we could be sure the dog was in to avoid any future problems. She responded by saying "she could tell where this was going" so we had to apply for approval for our invisible fence AND if our dog continued to show signs of aggression "they" would take steps to have him removed from the property.
Since I was told by the old administration I didn not need approval for the invisible fence, and I deemed it a serious issue that she labeled my dog as being aggressive, I contacted a board member and asked him to review the communications because I felt she was being both "vindictive" and "threatning".
The respons to that was the board member came to our house without telling us and inspected our property again and mailed us a complaint about the following issues: our son's car tire was on the grass, our son's car was missing a hub cap, my garage door was open, there were packages on my door step, and my dog was not allowed outside unless we were with him or they would have him removed from the property.
I must mention that we live on a corner lot and our back yard is totally private and can not be seen by anyone. There is a 5 foot wall around the corner of my yard where the dog is, so he can't be seen. He is never outside unless we are home. The board member did not see my dog, so the assertion that my dog is aggressive is based on one persons opinion. My neighbors have since written letters attesting to the fact that my dog is never off the property, he is not a nuisance, he is not aggressive, and we are good neighbors and keep our yard in good condition.
The garage door was open, but I have been painting the garage and have to leave the door open for a few hours after each section for ventillation. There may have been packages on the door step, but they are always removed in a timely manner.
We did ask a lawer about the privacy of our back yard and she said it was our private yard and did belong to us and the HOA should tell us when they are going to inspect. The HOA says this is not true.
My husband is retired military and we are used to living on military installations and following rules and regulations. Do we have any rights here? We keep our yard clean and our dog is under control and spends 70% of his life in the house. I feel very violated and am extremely worried about my dog. Can you give us any advice? The old maintence (landscapers) even helped us resolve and issue with the invisible fence company and now we are supposedly breaking rules. I feel like they are harrassing us just to make a point.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

[private_person3]

Check your Rule and Regs, as well as your By-Laws. See what it says about "your" yard and what you can and cannot leave outside.

Most likely you will find that it is not "your" yard and that there are rules to what can be left outside. If you are violating any of the rules, then you obviously are in the wrong. If you are not violating any of the rules, then tell them so (politely at first).

From my experience though, the complaints they filed are valid. At my HOA, dogs cannot be left out unattended. Tires can not be left outside. And we certainly cannot leave dog crap out overnight or tear up the common grounds.

Lastly, new on-site PM's never know the old ways. It makes for a rough transition.

Good Luck!

[Vonnette]

The tire wasn't left out. It was on the car. The car was parked in our driveway and a small piece of the tire was accidentally touching the grass. Our bad. I admit that, but it was a one time thing he happened to see on one day. As for the dog poo, it is not in a common area. It is in our back yard where no one can see or access. We are backed up against a pond and there is a 5 foot wall surrounding our back yard. We keep our back yard clean, we just don't clean it as it comes out. We paid for a house with a yard (purposefully picked a corner lot with privacy because of the dog). I don't live in an apartment or a town house where I am sharing my land with others. I would never expect anyone to put up with my dog's mess. Thanks for your input, just had to set the tire issue straight.

[Vonnette]

Oh yeah, the holes were not on common grounds. Again, in our private back yard which no one can EVER, EVER, see, but they have long since been filled. Which was my point. We agreed that they were our responsibility and we fixed them. We don't want holes in our back yard either.