Quote:
Originally Posted by Villager1234
The whole system seems to be unfair. If the Villages can issue summonses they should have some way of checking to see if a house is in compliance. Is a copy of compliance requirements available?
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It's a question of proving a negative. It is simple to point to something that is not in compliance but it is not so simple to look at everything and declare that nothing is out of compliance.
The officials that issue the notifications of violation do so after visiting the home and observing the specific deed violation noted in the complaint. No one (except the rumored clipboard ladies or an irritated neighbor) is looking at homes and trying to find violations.
Homes are required to comply with the deed restrictions which can be found on districtgov.org. It would also be useful to look at the
Architectural Review Manual for the particular district. This manual is the guide to what will be considered a violation and what requires ARC approval. If there is something unique about exterior of the home, this manual will help you to determine if it required ARC approval; then you would ask Community Standards if approval was given.
Some potential violations could be difficult to determine. I am not aware of a good way to recognize if these things are in compliance:
- Shingle color. It would be out of compliance if it was changed from the original without approval but you wouldn't know just from looking at it what the original color was.
- House and trim color. Again, you don't know from looking at it whether it was changed without approval.
- Shrub bed size.
- Driveway width. It may look good but if the previous owner had it replaced and it is now 3" too wide then it is out of compliance.
- Stones in place of grass. If the stone in front of the home looks like the stone in front of all the other homes then you assume it is okay. Unfortunately for some, that is not always the case.
Any deviations from the as-built configuration need to have been approved to be compliant. I don't know if there is a place to find the as-built configuration to compare it to the current configuration.