Villa gate security question

[mtoneff]

We are new to The Villages. We have a Villa in the Mallory area. As some of you know. If our neighbor or a their contractor wants access to a portion of their villa they need to come through our gate. My question is .... do we have the right to put a lock on this gate? We dont mind letting our neighbor or their contractors in when they need something done .. but we also dont want it wide open to anyone. Is there any regulation preventing us from securing our gate.? Thank you in advance.

[John_W]

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[JimD215]

Lock it up. People need permission to enter your property. But you will have some people here thinking it is ok to trespass

[Two Bills]

No don't lock it.
People may need to use it when their dogs want a Poop.:icon_wink:

[New Englander]

Put a lock on it. If they need access, let them ring your doorbell.

[villagetinker]

I would ask community standards, the property lines and the fence lines are not the same for villas, so by putting a lock on this gate you may actually be limiting access of your neighbor to some of their property. I found the whole arrangement of the villas to be very confusing, we did not buy one because of that.

[John_W]

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[dnobles]

I was told no by someone who lives in a court yard villa. She was told no by community standards. The neighbors need access to that side of the house. I’d be interested to know what you find out from the real authorities.

[CWGUY]

:ohdear: Been in a CYV for almost 15 years. Have 2 gates. Both are locked and keyed alike. One on the inside and one on the outside. Neighbor has a key and calls before using it. She has a "bug guy" and a "house wash guy" and we do too. All 4 companies know they have to call the day before or they will be making another trip.

Took me 10 seconds to figure it out but ...... I'm NOT an engineer! But I do talk to my neighbor. :ho:

[Brawnwy123]

[QUOTE=mtoneff;1619591]We are new to The Villages. We have a Villa in the Mallory area. As some of you know. If our neighbor or a their contractor wants access to a portion of their villa they need to come through our gate. My question is .... do we have the right

We found a guy in our back yard that was not supposed to be there. We have a Villa, so maybe your layout is the same. We now lock our gate and our neighbor did not like it. It is locked and will stay locked. Safety here is going to be very important if you look carefully about where we are going, seriously. If any one wants to go in our back yard , to service anything nearby, they can ask or they can stay out. PERIOD, We found the "Villages" office was no help here, we KEEP IT LOCKED.
:ho: :pray:

[DangeloInspections]

Whenever we have to inspect a Courtyard Villa, we respectfully ask the owner to contact the adjacent owner to get permission for us to access that area. We need to inspect that side of the home also. We are only over there for a few minutes and never pay attention to that adjacent neighbors area....we are focusing on the house we are inspecting.

There have been times when we find this gate locked with no access....we then need to disclaim that area of the home. We can sometimes see defects, etc, from just looking over the gate.

It is a unique situation that we try to handle the best we can.

Frank D.

[CWGUY]

[QUOTE=mtoneff;1619591]We are new to The Villages. We have a Villa in the Mallory area. As some of you know. If our neighbor or a their contractor wants access to a portion of their villa they need to come through our gate. My question is .... do we have the right

We found a guy in our back yard that was not supposed to be there. We have a Villa, so maybe your layout is the same. We now lock our gate and our neighbor did not like it. It is locked and will stay locked. Safety here is going to be very important if you look carefully about where we are going, seriously. If any one wants to go in our back yard , to service anything nearby, they can ask or they can stay out. PERIOD, We found the "Villages" office was no help here, we KEEP IT LOCKED.
:ho: :pray:

I agree! We had 2 bad experiences before locking.

One morning let the dogs out and they ran out the open gate and one morning just as I awoke I saw a figure walk past the bedroom window. When I met him in the back yard in my tightie whities holding what must have looked like a cannon to him..... I decided to put locks on the gates here. No problems since. And the best part is the bug guy that sprays the house across the street is still alive and I'm not in jail. :coolsmiley:

[mtoneff]

See Attachment ---- OK. So here is the legal language The Villages uses. The question is - The language of ( reasonable time) can be interpreted differently. IE: My (reasonable time ) is when someone gives notification before entering. Please chime in and let me know your thoughts.

[Topspinmo]

As a CYV owner for almost 8 years, I usually enjoy all your comments and agree with everything you post except this time. CYV's have privacy fenced backyards, it's their main selling point. Telling a homeowner their enclosed backyard is not all theirs, would open a large can of worms. Yes, my previous neighbor use to ask a couple of times a year to go in the backyard so he could paint the side of his house or spray for bugs. He asked, he wouldn't just open the gate and go in, what if you have nude sunbathers in the backyard? What if you had a pool and they fell in and drown? Everybody I know has a lock on the gate, if they need to get in, they can ask and say why.



The way I read and understand the guidelines in the CCD site for CYVs the neighbors just can’t Walt’s in,. they need to come to front door and ring the doorbell. You can lock you’re gate especially if you have pets. they need to ask for access if they need to do maintenance on wall of their house. IMO everybody that live in cyvs need to go to site and read the rules especially easements.

On the other hand you can’t plant anything that touches there house or lean anything up against their wall or hang anything on it. I think there is one foot rule of nothing within foot of structure, which included you’re access property out you’re front doorPlus you’re irrigation can’t spray on their house and cause water damage. Lucky for me I live on corner and my yard has no neighboring property.

[Brawnwy123]

we are new to the villages. We have a villa in the mallory area. As some of you know. If our neighbor or a their contractor wants access to a portion of their villa they need to come through our gate. My question is .... Do we have the right to put a lock on this gate? We dont mind letting our neighbor or their contractors in when they need something done .. But we also dont want it wide open to anyone. Is there any regulation preventing us from securing our gate.? Thank you in advance.

we lock ours, always and will unlock if needed by maintenance etc.

[collie1228]

We keep our gate locked, but use a key clip instead of a lock. I don't have to look for a key or remember a combination, and it secures the gate very well.

78335

[Brawnwy123]

We are new to The Villages. We have a Villa in the Mallory area. As some of you know. If our neighbor or a their contractor wants access to a portion of their villa they need to come through our gate. My question is .... do we have the right to put a lock on this gate? We dont mind letting our neighbor or their contractors in when they need something done .. but we also dont want it wide open to anyone. Is there any regulation preventing us from securing our gate.? Thank you in advance.
ANSWER

Reply, it is your yard, your gate, lock it for security, notify your neighbor and be willing to unlock for maintenance.
:bigbow:

[Serenoa]

As a CYV owner for almost 8 years, I usually enjoy all your comments and agree with everything you post except this time. CYV's have privacy fenced backyards, it's their main selling point. Telling a homeowner their enclosed backyard is not all theirs, would open a large can of worms. Yes, my previous neighbor use to ask a couple of times a year to go in the backyard so he could paint the side of his house or spray for bugs. He asked, he wouldn't just open the gate and go in, what if you have nude sunbathers in the backyard? What if you had a pool and they fell in and drown? Everybody I know has a lock on the gate, if they need to get in, they can ask and say why.

This may just be a popular daily activity for CYV dwellers, who knows? On our first Lifestyle visit in 2012 we were staying in a very nice CYV at Creekside Landing at Lake Sumter and just happened to strike up a brief conversation over the courtyard wall with the neighbors to the rear. They were quick to tell us that they bought a CYV for the privacy and freedom to be without clothing if they so desired. No, we didn't peek over the wall so I have no idea what their state of dress was as we spoke. But as for the main topic of this thread, I think all it takes is a little common sense & common courtesy to work out the gate lock situation. Common sense tells you that a neighbor does have the right to access the side of his/her home that is in your courtyard, but they should also display the common courtesy to ask permission to enter your courtyard. It shouldn't be that difficult to arrange to satisfy both parties.