Into the fray, I leap…
It is wonderful to hear a calm, logical response from someone who understands the root of the deed compliance issue (which is actually as simple as a homeowner not being compliant😁…duh).
Compliant homeowners will have no issues. Non-compliant homeowners may or may not have an issue. But the people reporting non-compliance are definitely NOT the issue.
And yes, NORMAL deed restricted communities do in fact have people responsible for making sure homes are in compliance. We pay for Community watch to drive down every one of our safe, sleepy streets every day of the year. It is a no brainer for them to simply snap a photo of a home that isn’t in compliance and once a day download those pics and address at end of each shift. Perhaps a total of 10-15 minutes of their shift would be doing a valuable task that would protect our property values and keep the minority that are CONSTANTLY squawking on every forum QUIET.
We initially bought in the area near Savannah Center. We were under the impression that ALL of The villages had deed restrictions. We found out within a year that all manner of yard junk and poor maintenance was starting to pile up in yards surrounding ours.
We sold and moved to the Village of Largo which thankfully DOES have deed restrictions, and when you drive through THIS villages, as opposed to our old village, those restrictions show in the form of a mostly very tidy, well maintained set of homes. It is worth noting that property values are significantly higher per square foot in our deed restricted villages than they are in our former unrestricted village. No coincidence.
So, if you want to live in The Villages and “express yourself” via your yard art, you are certainly free to move to the mobile home section or the area around Spanish Springs where there are minimal restrictions. Fortunately there are still villages in the Spanish Springs area that are nicely maintained because the owners care about the look or their community and their home values. They are voluntarily keeping their villages nice.
Quote:
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.
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