Common Ground Responsibilities

[alligatorob]

Florida
I own a house with a piece of common ground attached to it. The common ground is equally owned by me and 5 other homeowners, the deed for this is a part of the deed for my home. There is no homeowners association, no contract or agreement between the owners concerning anything, and nothing in the deed about upkeep or anything else concerning the property. And this is a rural area, most of the surrounding land is just wild, no upkeep, and no local requirements for upkeep.

Some of the other owners are pushing for a shared maintenance deal with each of us paying an equal share. They want to do things I don’t want done. I really don’t care what they do with the common ground, but I don’t want to pay for something I don’t want done.

Do I have any legal obligation to participate in this? Do I need to do something to protect myself, like writing the other owners a letter saying I do not agree or something?

[FarmerJ]

Just curious , what is it they want to do to maintain it? Is is something simple like mowing ? or do they have grand ideas ? ( does your city or county have a local ord that requires something like mowing ?) If your homes deed has no legal ties to any kind of home owner association with by laws written for that common area you should be able to stand your ground by having a atty draw up for you a letter to address them. Living with the expense of having a atty do the letter for you would tell the others you mean business about no change to the area. ( which may just encourage them to drop the whole thing)

[alligatorob]

Originally Posted by FarmerJ

Just curious , what is it they want to do to maintain it? Is is something simple like mowing ? or do they have grand ideas ? ( does your city or county have a local ord that requires something like mowing ?)

Thanks; Yes right now it is just mowing, but the area they want to mow is currently wild unmowed and I like it that way. There are no county requirements to mow and much of the adjoining land is unmowed so not mowing is consistent with much of the area. The other owners have set something up so that both the common ground and their lawns get mowed as a part of the package. This is a rental property and under my contract the renters are responsible for mowing, so it even gets complicated to figure out how I would participate if I wanted to.

The other owners have talked about things like landscaping and even a pool, not things I want or want to pay for.

[FarmerJ]

Maybe the best thing to do is get a letter from a atty stating what potential risk they will be creating by having the area developed and what could happen legally to them when a outside party decides to play/ use the area if it does become ( dressed up ) and is injured, Include that your not willing to accept any additonal risk because of it , and to notify them making it clear that you do not want to see the area mowed down , because not mowing permits it to blend in with the undeveloped character of the area , as well as reminding them there is no contractual obligation as a group to mow the area. Using the services of a atty for the letter may well get them to back down .

[latigo]

I don’t blame you for being sore!

Isn’t there enough development in Florida as elsewhere that the residents can’t leave one small parcel to the pleasures of Mother Nature?

As a cotenant they only way the others could force you to contribute to any expense associated with the parcel is if it were necessary to preserve and maintain it. And it doesn’t appear that any will ever be required.

If they start some pet project effecting the natural state of the property, speak to an attorney about getting an injunction against them.

Some people just can’t leave well enough alone.