[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by Gladys Turnip

There sure seems to be a lot of people who are upset with the ability of neighbors to anonymously report (alleged) violations of our deed restrictions.

I think these people are missing the point.

Starting from the beginning, the purpose of the deed restrictions is to safeguard the long-term value of neighboring properties and the community at large. We all agreed to these restrictions when we chose to buy a house in The Villages.

Sort of like motherhood and apple pie, I don’t see how anybody could be against wanting to uphold the value of their home.

Next let’s look at the parties involved in a deed restriction violation. There are only two:

(1) The homeowner (who may or may not be in violation), and

(2) The CDD/Developer aka The Villages Community Standards Department (CSD), who has the power to compel compliance with and enforce deed restrictions.

A neighbor should not even be involved, but if he is, he has no power to do anything. All he can do is bring a potential alleged violation to the attention of the CSD. The CSD then decides whether or not to VERIFY the complaint (that is, to dismiss it or pursue it).

People worry that a person who files a complaint – a so called Troll – might be reporting in bad faith, and that the report might be frivolous or even vengeful. But so what? If the alleged violation has no merit, the CSD will simply ignore/dismiss it; end of story. On the other hand, if there is an actual deed violation, we should all want the CSD to take the necessary steps to correct the situation in order to protect the value of the homes in our community.

If people want to be angry with someone, perhaps it should not be with the people who report potential violations, but in fact should be with The Villages (the CSD). Why? Because they have completely abdicated their role in monitoring compliance. In most jurisdictions throughout the country, whoever imposes deed restrictions (the Developer/CDD/CSD in our case), is also tasked with monitoring compliance and enforcement. To monitor, most places hire someone to simply drive around the neighborhood, pay attention, and notice if any properties may be in violation.

But oddly, in The Villages, the developer, the CDDs, and the CSD (that is, the people who created the long list of deed restrictions in the first place) have all washed their hands of the entire process of monitoring compliance, leaving it up to residents to bring (even obvious) potential violations to their attention. By their own words in the CDD Community Standards FAQs: “…reporting potential violations will be a complaint-driven process. Potential violations are NOT reported by Community Standards, Community Watch, or any other District department."

This hands-off position is not only unique, but also seems to make no sense given that Community Watch drives around all day anyway. Seems goofy to instruct these employees to turn a blind eye to possible deed violations, even if egregious.

Back to the original point about anonymous reports ….. I don’t see how you can get mad at someone who is merely trying to protect the value of the homes in our community; that is, protecting the value of YOUR home.

A lot of people seem to think that CDD 5 has it all figured out because reports of violations can no longer be anonymous, and thus they now get a lot fewer reports. But of course fewer reports do not mean there are fewer violations. It most likely simply means that CDD 5 will begin looking like a run-down trailer park sooner than other CDDs in The Villages because NO ONE is taking action to protect the aesthetic values that we all agreed to when we purchased our homes.

Okay, thanks for listening. I need to go now to set up the new trampoline in my front yard, right next to the 1979 Ford Pinto up on blocks. I’m sure no one will complain.

CDD 5 to end anonymous complaints


So, did you miss this thread with108 posts covering your topic? Or are you just trying to stir the pot back up.
It was beaten to death on that thread and the duplicate posts will continue here.