Quote:
Originally Posted by villagetinker
Yes, unfortunately the BUYERS did not do their due diligence it is the BUYERS responsibility to check this. I do feel sorry for them, and I really would expect the title company to actually complete this as part of their services.
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What are you asking the buyers to do? Someone from out of the area is presented with an acceptable inspection report and a completed title search as part of a large stack of papers to sign. They don't know the area, they don't know what a CDD is or how they are put together, they don't know about ARC, they don't know about Community Standards, and they don't know about the complaint process. To me, it is asking too much of them to know to read the deed restrictions in detail and research what has or has not been approved for their house.
What I would like to see:
- Prior to closing, realtors advise buyers of the deed restrictions and the need to ensure there are no violations on the property they are purchasing
- Home inspections include a section covering deed compliance for the particular District
- Community Standards review the exterior of homes being sold and alert the seller, buyer, and realtor of any compliance issues
- Anything that exists when the home is sold is grandfathered as if approved and not subject to a complaint in the future.
Yes, there are problems with this, but it seems more reasonable than asking an unsuspecting buyer to do in-depth research or ask an owner to spend thousands to fix a violation that was present when they purchased the home 20 years ago.