Originally Posted by Sharonenright (Post 1670155)

My husband and I are very impressed with the Villages and would like to become Villagers. The problem is that we have three dogs. One of the sales agents told us that you are allowed to move in with three as long as you downsize to two when one crosses the rainbow bridge. One of our dogs is near the end of his journey and won’t be with us much longer.

I would hate to buy a house, move in, then have to sell and move out because we were reported for not being in compliance with deed restrictions.

What are your experiences with this situation?

Maybe someone would like to “adopt” one of them with the understanding that we will dog sit them continuously and pay for all food, vet bills, and any other expenses? (“Adopt” in name only.😉)

Thank you.

Originally Posted by biker1 (Post 1670238)

I believe having three dogs is an "inside the house" issue and not enforceable by community standards. I believe it would be up to the Developer to enforce this.

Originally Posted by GrumpyOldMan (Post 1670178)

Sadly, that was snarky even if you didn't mean it to be.

We are NOT trying to move some place that has restrictions we don't like. We were told it was OKAY to move in with three and then when one died we could not replace it. That we are fine with.

We have been told this has happened thousands of times here in the Villages. If that is the FACT (which we are trying to determine) then we would be fine with agreeing to limit any future pets to two.

We also KNOW that deed restrictions are enforced on a complaint basis. So, assuming there was a complaint, then we would want to know what our recourse would be if any.

We are here asking questions so we can understand how this situation has been resolved in the past.

Also, if it turns out that the verbal contract between us and the employee of The Villages has no weight, then maybe we would not want to trust anything else The Villages told us. Or if it is common practice to grant a variance on this particular restriction, that would be good information.

So, asking questions of the people that live here and have lived through this seems to me to be a perfectly reasonable approach as opposed to just throwing our hands of and leaving.

Originally Posted by GrumpyOldMan (Post 1670239)

That is an excellent idea! Thank you, we can certainly look into that with a lawyer, to see how that would work.

Originally Posted by Biker Dog (Post 1670287)

Call Candy at the Community Standards office in LSL. She is the one person who can give you the correct answer. She's the Boss.

Originally Posted by Mleeja (Post 1670235)

The deed restrictions also state dogs shouldn’t be over 40 pounds.

Originally Posted by JSR22 (Post 1670310)

We moved here with 3 dogs with the understanding when 1 crossed the bridge we had to stay at 2. Never had a problem. WE do not allow then on anyone's lawn and walk the down the street 4 times per day. I have never heard complains about too many dogs. People complain about dogs using their lawn to potty or excessive barking. What made it easy for us was they were the same breed and walked them 2 at a time.

Originally Posted by Sharonenright (Post 1670198)

You misunderstand. My situation is not that I want to live in the Villages and own three dogs. The situation is that
I want to move to the Villages and will own three dogs until one crosses the rainbow bridge. At that point, and going forward, I will own two dogs. The sales agent told me that many people do this and that it is unofficially tolerated. Before I take the step of buying a house and moving, I need to be confident that I will not have to immediately sell and move out.

Originally Posted by pacjag (Post 1670358)

Read and heed the deed restrictions. You legally agree to comply when you purchase and they are totally enforceable. If you choose to ignore them, don’t complain about the consequences. It is that simple.