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Does anyone else find this entire covenant issue to be just a complete waste of time and effort, not to mention money.
The laws of the City of Littleton seem more than adequate when it comes to issues such as home businesses, etc.
The enforcement of the existing covenants over the last 4 years appears to have been extremely random.
There seems little point in changing one set of unenforced covenants for another.
It seems to me that those people paying the annuals dues are simply handing over money for lawyers.
The whole issue of dues is something else that is confusing. The realtor whom we purchased our house off some years ago told us there were no dues. We have never paid them. There seems to be nothing to be had for paying them. Threatening to put a lien on my house in order to get me to pay them is definitely NOT the way to acheive my cooperation.
Anyway, food for thought.
By Andy Jagger
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I have asked the board members
I have asked the board members to come to this site to post a response to your message!
By Karen Walczak
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Covenants and dues
Sometimes I would agree with the "complete waste of time and effort" but, I am coming around to see the benefit of covenants. When we moved to Southbridge in '97, we were told that there were no covenants and we were impressed with how good the neighborhood looked. After we moved in and I got my first notice of covenants violation, I got a copy and read the covenants very closely. They seemed reasonable. I actually moved out of Southpark because the covenants there are so strict.
Now here we are at the end of 1999 and I have been on the HOA for a year and I think I see some benefits. It HAS taken way too long to revise these covenants but, making everyone happy is hard. A final? draft is done and being reviewed (I hope) as we speak. I am in favor of the new covenants if only because, EVERY report I read says that communities with covenants do better than those that don't have them. Take a drive down W Long Ave., things are starting to look a little run down and trashy. That's what we need to stop and turn around.
The old covenants are BADLY out of date. My favorite is that Trucks are not allowed to be parked outside of your garage. In 1980 not many folks owned trucks but, in 1999 51% of all new vehicles sold are trucks, I think the new covenants need to take this into consideration and they do.
I have taken the time to go to the library and look up the City of Littleton rules and they just don't go quite far enough, that is why I think we can benefit from the new covenants.
By Bill Gerblick
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Covenents and dues
Bill,
Thanks for your reply. I appreciate your response.
Overall I can see why covenants are in theory a good idea. Maybe my problem is that historically the enforcement has been hit and miss, and thus I see little ACTUAL benefit from having them. We used to live in a development with strictly enforced covenants and it did help keep the place looking good. However, they were strictly enforced - all the time.
Here it has seemed to us that they were rarely, if ever, enforced and thus I strongly object to simply forking over $30 a year or whatever the amount is for no apparant reason.
My main problem with the proposed new covenants is the threat of lien. I would see that one of the few ways that the
"masses" can show their displeasure at any future lack of enforcement is to withhold the dues payment. Otherwise it is simply a license to tax - with no responsibility on the part of the enforcers to get the job done.
It may seem like I am quibbling about a small amount of money, but it is the principal rather than the actual amount I am concerned with.
By Andy Jagger
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