I reside in Ashburn, VA. I have a pool in my fenced in back yard that meets all of the safety requirements listed on the states website. I recently received a letter from my HOA stating that the pool is a violation. I have reviewed the HOA docs that I received when I moved into this house 17 years ago, and there is nothing in there that states that no one can have an above ground pool in their yard. I have looked everywhere and do not see anything in the virigina laws that states that you cannot have a private pool. My HOA states that this is against the va law. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Quite possibly, you will find that the recorded CC&R's are rather arbitrary and do not outline all the specifics in detail----rather, they may just stipulate the HOA's authority regarding situations and issues in general. The HOA Board, then has the authority to modify, amend, pass rules as "guidelines"....which detail the specifics---and, which are easily changed from time to time without the need to re-record--because the authority is already in place.
These guildelines then become the "rule". I know when I was a Virginia HOA board member, our recorded documents also did not specifically address "above ground pools"...yet, our "guidelines" prohibited them. (same for on street parking, basketball goals, etc.) When you received the original recorded documents at closing, they may have only been the recorded documents and not the "guidelines". It is not a state law about "no above ground pools"---it is the HOA restriction.
I would find it very odd that in 17 years, there have been no changes to the rules ?
I hope this is helpful.
