K9Protector
Junior Member
HOA and Neighbors are putting my kids at risk (Fence not allowed by board)
What is the name of your state?Missouri
Note All other Threads have been closed relating to this matter....
We moved to our home in Dec. 2002. We had our first HOA meeting in Jan 2003. Since we have children, pets, etc., we wanted to erect a fence in the rear of our property (especially along the high-speed road behind our home). We had researched our restrictions prior to purchasing the home, we knew that a small fence already existed on our property and that other fences were present in our neighborhood. At this meeting, we asked what exactly needed to be done to erect a fence on our property. The Board and remaining neighbors basically said at this meeting that they would not allow us to erect a fence on our property.. The neighbors were adamant about not having a fence on our property even at this first meeting (puzzling since other fences existed in our small neighborhood). I got very emotional since all I wanted was to protect my kids, not divide our neighborhood.
I presented a written proposal to Board and it was rejected based on opinion (& not requirements in restriction).... We approached a lawyer to see if we had interpreted the restrictions incorrectly... He said no and he quickly wrote them a letter. This escalated into a lawyer versus lawyer confrontation, although their lawyer did not respond but threatened if we erected a fence they would sue us. We made mistakes along the way by listening to our lawyer.
Since a fence existed on our property prior to our ownership, our lawyer told us we had a right to reinstall this fence since it was taken down by the City during a street widening project (NOTE: our property backs to major street)... It was to be replaced but wasn't, per an agreement we find with the prior owners and the city.
The City agreed to reinstalled the fence (we paid half).... The HOA took us to court, we lost, we took down fence, and paid all lawyers fees. After considering appealing this decision and taking a step back, we decided that our lawyer was incorrect in his recommendations.
It was brought up at the court case that we did not submit more than one plan, thus after the court decision, we submitted over 50 proposals to HOA and even asked for them to put together a proposal that they would find acceptable.... All rejected.
The adjoining neighbor (whom is on Board) has verbally harassed me on several occasions (very careful not to come onto our property). She has flat out told me that they will not work with us, and they want us to move.
Also, we have had vandalism on our property. We have had hedges on our property destroyed, paint balls shot at our home, our Christmas Displays tampered with, our 500 lb dog kennel moved off of our property. We have been flipped off by our neighbors, we have been shunned and not invited or told of street gatherings, my young cat died mysteriously (poison?), neighbor dogs are allowed to wander the neighborhood. They enter our yard and have even caused problems with our dogs and me. Our neighbor allows their dog to use our yard as restroom (while on a leash)... I feel like a bad neighbor since I have had to call and have these neighbors spoke to by the police and by animal control. In a neigbhorhood of 8 homes, we feel like the outcasts and our treated like dirt. (We do not play loud music, we keep our kids under control, we do not allow guns or illegal activity, we contribute to the community and even hold elected positions within the community).
Obviously moving would be an easy out but I would prefer not moving. Plus due to our community involvement, moving is not simple.... and the easy thing to do is just ignore them, but that does not solve the problem with protecting my children.
Do you see any remedy in getting a fence or some protection along the busy road to the rear of our property (without blowing my bank account again on a legal action)? Is there any support agencies or other pro-bono representation in matters such as this, especially for our children?
I feel threatened by our neighbors and fear that they may do more than verbally harass us.
Also, do our children have any rights to make their backyard a safe environment since we have tried and our HOA and neighbors will not listen? One of these days, more than our cat will be killed.
One note: Since moving to our neighborhood, the HOA has "superseded" our original and amended restrictions to better say no to us... We voted no on these new restrictions, since they did not seem to be looking at how this could affect all people living in our neighborhood... Other new or modified restrictions also were poorly worded.... There are also court cases showing that additional burdens in restrictions must be unanimous votes... not just a majority (Note we were the only home to say no, however, the day of the vote over 50 percent of the homes sent proxy votes, thus no changes could occur.... Although I do not think this would have mattered). These new restrictions were filed in the county records to override all previous restrictions for our neighborhood.
I am open for help and would be happy to fill in any blanks that I left out..... you can email me directly at [email protected]
Thanks!
What is the name of your state?Missouri
Note All other Threads have been closed relating to this matter....
We moved to our home in Dec. 2002. We had our first HOA meeting in Jan 2003. Since we have children, pets, etc., we wanted to erect a fence in the rear of our property (especially along the high-speed road behind our home). We had researched our restrictions prior to purchasing the home, we knew that a small fence already existed on our property and that other fences were present in our neighborhood. At this meeting, we asked what exactly needed to be done to erect a fence on our property. The Board and remaining neighbors basically said at this meeting that they would not allow us to erect a fence on our property.. The neighbors were adamant about not having a fence on our property even at this first meeting (puzzling since other fences existed in our small neighborhood). I got very emotional since all I wanted was to protect my kids, not divide our neighborhood.
I presented a written proposal to Board and it was rejected based on opinion (& not requirements in restriction).... We approached a lawyer to see if we had interpreted the restrictions incorrectly... He said no and he quickly wrote them a letter. This escalated into a lawyer versus lawyer confrontation, although their lawyer did not respond but threatened if we erected a fence they would sue us. We made mistakes along the way by listening to our lawyer.
Since a fence existed on our property prior to our ownership, our lawyer told us we had a right to reinstall this fence since it was taken down by the City during a street widening project (NOTE: our property backs to major street)... It was to be replaced but wasn't, per an agreement we find with the prior owners and the city.
The City agreed to reinstalled the fence (we paid half).... The HOA took us to court, we lost, we took down fence, and paid all lawyers fees. After considering appealing this decision and taking a step back, we decided that our lawyer was incorrect in his recommendations.
It was brought up at the court case that we did not submit more than one plan, thus after the court decision, we submitted over 50 proposals to HOA and even asked for them to put together a proposal that they would find acceptable.... All rejected.
The adjoining neighbor (whom is on Board) has verbally harassed me on several occasions (very careful not to come onto our property). She has flat out told me that they will not work with us, and they want us to move.
Also, we have had vandalism on our property. We have had hedges on our property destroyed, paint balls shot at our home, our Christmas Displays tampered with, our 500 lb dog kennel moved off of our property. We have been flipped off by our neighbors, we have been shunned and not invited or told of street gatherings, my young cat died mysteriously (poison?), neighbor dogs are allowed to wander the neighborhood. They enter our yard and have even caused problems with our dogs and me. Our neighbor allows their dog to use our yard as restroom (while on a leash)... I feel like a bad neighbor since I have had to call and have these neighbors spoke to by the police and by animal control. In a neigbhorhood of 8 homes, we feel like the outcasts and our treated like dirt. (We do not play loud music, we keep our kids under control, we do not allow guns or illegal activity, we contribute to the community and even hold elected positions within the community).
Obviously moving would be an easy out but I would prefer not moving. Plus due to our community involvement, moving is not simple.... and the easy thing to do is just ignore them, but that does not solve the problem with protecting my children.
Do you see any remedy in getting a fence or some protection along the busy road to the rear of our property (without blowing my bank account again on a legal action)? Is there any support agencies or other pro-bono representation in matters such as this, especially for our children?
I feel threatened by our neighbors and fear that they may do more than verbally harass us.
Also, do our children have any rights to make their backyard a safe environment since we have tried and our HOA and neighbors will not listen? One of these days, more than our cat will be killed.
One note: Since moving to our neighborhood, the HOA has "superseded" our original and amended restrictions to better say no to us... We voted no on these new restrictions, since they did not seem to be looking at how this could affect all people living in our neighborhood... Other new or modified restrictions also were poorly worded.... There are also court cases showing that additional burdens in restrictions must be unanimous votes... not just a majority (Note we were the only home to say no, however, the day of the vote over 50 percent of the homes sent proxy votes, thus no changes could occur.... Although I do not think this would have mattered). These new restrictions were filed in the county records to override all previous restrictions for our neighborhood.
I am open for help and would be happy to fill in any blanks that I left out..... you can email me directly at [email protected]
Thanks!
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