The Villages - Understanding Your Restrictive Covenants
 

It seems as though a week does cannot go by that I read a comment/question on TOTV related to what can or cannot be done to one’s home here in The Villages. For those of you who are looking for answers to these types of questions I offer the following simple two word response that you can apply to just about any issue you can bring up ……….”It depends”. Can I paint my house pink with purple trim? It depends! Can I remove all my grass and concrete the entire area? It depends! Can I have 5 cats, 2 dogs and 2 sheep? It depends!

Each and every person or entity who owns a home within The Villages is legally bound to comply with a set of covenants, conditions and/or restrictions which are tied to your specific property. Depending upon your county of residence, your district and even your unit/house number the answer to your questions may be different. Guidelines for designer homes are different from patio homes or courtyard villas. A courtyard villa located in District 7 may have different rules than the same model villa located in District 10 and so on. Even if you are willing to state the location and type of home for which you are making an inquiry the chances of getting an accurate response from your fellow readers are probably less than 50% even from the best hearted of those that reply. Add to the mix the trolls who love to stir the pot with comments like “Do whatever you want. After all you are the one paying for the home” and the accuracy percentage is probably even less.

Why take a chance without first doing your homework. Just because your neighbor did something does not mean that it was in compliance. Just because your landscape contractor says you do not need ARC approval does not mean he is correct. More importantly understand that you as the property owner are the one required to sign any ARC request forms and you are ultimately responsible for making sure all work is done in compliance with any covenants, conditions or restrictions.

One simple phone call to Community Standards can put you in contact with a staff that can provide you with accurate, up to date (yes, sometimes the rules change) and helpful information. Are you 100% certain whether your property contains easements and how far they extend? How often have you read about someone deciding to remove all his grass and installing stone because they no longer wanted to keep cutting the grass only to end up paying someone to come back and remove the stone and install new sod? How about the poor folks who spent significant funds landscaping their property only to be told that the area was actually a special easement and everything must be removed? Guess who ended up footing the bill for all the rework? Certainly not the contractor and most certainly not your fellow TOTV followers! Many folks try to transfer the blame to the complainant when confronted with a violation and potential fines but I have never heard of the complainant having to pay to fix the problem either! Be smart and be safe. Understand the rules and save yourself the aggravation.

Now before the negative responses about the unfair reporting systems or the “I never agreed to any restrictions” group start to chime in think about these issues:

• Where is it written that we are a 55+ restricted community?
• Where is it written that we agree to pay amenity fees?

The answer is these issues are also part of your Declaration of Restrictions. Surely you read and understood those parts of the agreement. You cannot cherry pick the items you agree to and those you do not. It is an all or none. You live here so obviously somewhere along the line you signed a legal document that said you agreed to abide by these rules and regulations. Otherwise, you would not be the legal owner.

Just to be clear, I am not an attorney nor am I an employee of the developer. I am simply a fellow resident of The Villages and one of the main reasons I moved here is because I liked what I saw and how things were managed. Having lived in other areas where such rules and regulations did not exist and seeing the what can happen minus reasonable controls no longer agrees with me or my pocketbook. Do I agree 100% with everything? Of course not, but if it really bothered me that badly I also know there are proper ways to try and incorporate changes. Obviously, ignoring the current rules and regulations is not, in my opinion, an option.

Time to fight and end these restrictive deeds issues.

Great for the esteemed, honored, all saintly Developer...praises and blessings be upon him....but....
That still sells houses to the cornhuskers who need to see the same thing over and over.
Sorry, place is getting too big to still cater to people from Mayberry.

Its a city now..

We need diversity

My eyes glazed over half way through , some people have lots of time on there hands

LOL I cannot disagree with Charlie however my strong feelings on this issue overloaded my sense of brevity. Hope this helps those with sleep deprivation issues.

Picture a community without these rules and regulations and step outside TV.
I think you will be happy to honor the system we have.

Like I wrote many times before: "Old Florida and New Florida"

Lot of thought went into this post………..

Yes, but he is right!

sarcasm ??

yes he is , when I’m living in a city I enjoy the chaos when I’m in villages I enjoy the order

When we bought here, we were presented with the covenants/restrictions which we CHOSE TO READ before we signed on the dotted line. There was no one with a gun to our head, nor were we given 5 minutes to review the paperwork-our obligation before signing a legally binding document was to read and understand, and if we didn't agree, then JUST SAY NO to buying here.

There were no guarantees anywhere in the documents that The Villages would stop building, nor was there an exclusion based upon race, creed, political affiliation, or sexual orientation (throw in any I may have forgotten since I would have remembered them HAD THEY BEEN LISTED). The restriction that we were presented with was that this was an age restricted community (55+) and that people under 19 could not live here. So what diversity is needed?

One always has the option to sell their home and move elsewhere if one finds these deed issues too restrictive, since there are people, myself included, who moved here in part BECAUSE OF these covenants.

I approve this post

the villages
 

The day that all the restrictions are removed we all lose $100000. in the value of our house. They need to have stronger enforcement not less.

Even most townships and counties have zoning laws and many special laws restricting what you can do for your property, most people would not want to see as an example of commercial dump truck opposite them every single day parked in front of their house. Many years ago I lived in New Jersey where my neighbor across the street stored his sailboat in his backyard and he was unfortunately sued by his real neighbor. There are also many cases of Long haul truckers parking near rigs in front of their homes. Of course the villages is very strict for a good reason they wanted controll totally, so whether you live in a town home a villa an apartment or a million dollar home you are restricted here for very good reasons and I don't understand people who don't research before they buy here and then complain

Sometimes I don't think they are restrictive enough. Neighbors across from us have three vehicles and a construction trailer parked in their driveway all the time and a motorcycle on the front porch. Legal ? Yes !

There's always those who want to change the rules to suit their likes etc. Up North we called them NIMBY's (not in my back yard). They moved into a community because they "liked" what they chose to see but didn't want change to come that would alter that. We've moved a fair amount of times and always, depending on the community, there were restrictions and rules. I think there will be folks always wanting to press against that and see how far they can get. We all moved here because we were attracted to the area for one reason or many. Early on.....there were some naysayers on ToTV that sounded much like the ones here (against the developer and such). The question was put to them, "so why don't you move?" The answer came back, "because I like the life-style!" Really???!!!! The Life-style is what brought us here along with the ambiance of the place. It's NOT a city as someone said and not set up as that, though the size is increasing. Just by living here we ALL are contributing to what we see and experience (traffic etc.).

We bought here BECAUSE of the deed restrictions. We like a nice, tidy neighborhood.

Deed issues
 

For the people who want to end these restrictive deeds issues, moving is an alternative.

smh

Are you kidding me??!

No one forced me to move here and if I don't like the conditions, no one can force me to NOT move.

Ocala, Leesburg, Orlando, and others are near by for your ‘diversity’.

If you don't like the restrictions, which you knew of before you closed, or should have, LEAVE. You came here for a reason, thus you made a decision to move here. If you now don't like your decision, admit you made a bad decision and MOVE. Do not try to make it what you want it. Most here like and will fight you all the way. At the rate it is growing, one can assume it is a popular idea. If it is not yuor ideal, MOVE.

These sort of issues are everywhere. Through business I met a German guy. He is married to a Duchess. They live in a castle on a huge piece of property. I don't recall why it came up in our lengthy conversations but he has a dispute with a neighbor about a tree. If, I recall the tree has been there for centuries. He directly told me he is stalling.
Under German law in another 20 years the tree is grandfathered and his neighbor can no longer do anything about it.

I am amused. Foreign country, the guy is married to royalty, they live in a castle and have the same issue we fight about.

For us add to the confusion that the rules are not the same in all villages. Unfortunately,
you the homeowner is caught up in this. Not all contractors are legitimate. Do they know the regulations? Reminder they are not the same in every village. Have they, if necessary filed plans and had them approved.

We keep hearing about the trolls. Do they truly exist or is it one villager? I wonder what happened to the tattle tale in third grade? I expect like the rest of us they got one day older each day of their lives and moved to the villages.

Read the papers that YOU signed

I detect a strong odor of............ bait!

Frankly, I agree with the OP and further might suggest that all new homeowners read this entire thread...������

I find this amusing, perhaps ironic. Not is my back yard is not a northern thing, it is a world wide thing. Probably exists on the space station as well.

Law, rules some trying to see how far they can push things, that too is a world wide thing that probably also exists on the space station.

Nothing anywhere is perfect and that is true here as well.

There are posts from people who chose to live here seeking diversity. I also find that amusing. I don't know, I assume they are talking about race an endless issue. Am I a racist-no I am not. Yet I am white so some scream I am a racist. Truth if I simply don't care what they think they have zero power.

In terms of diversity. Hum you need to be 55 to buy here. Diversity, could we get all to agree to let kids in? These posts. Could we get everyone here to agree on anything?
is that not the definition of diversity?

Is it growing or am I just more aware, and less tolerant of it. For far too many people they think I am right so anyone who does not agree with me is wrong. Condi Rice says,
if all your friends agree with you you need some new friends. Where we have allowed ourselves to sink. I have an e-mail-all my friends agree with me so I am unfriending you.
That is truth. That is not the only one-just the clearest simplest example.

Restrictions
 

Think boat on trailer that may or may not ever move, parked on the grass next to your neighbors driveway. A truck to pull it parked in the driveway because it won't fit in the garage. A basketball hoop and stand next to the driveway. A commercial work truck in front of the house restricting easy access to and from your driveway etc & etc. The list could go on and on. Do you want any or all of this on your street or next door. Rules are always hard to except but within reason they are necessary to preserve what we have and stop the degradation of our neighborhoods.

Outstanding Post. I would love to see it reposted every month for those new to the TOTV.
Again, well done!

My view, you can be happy or miserable anywhere. No place is perfect any yet people expect and demand perfection.

Alternatives. Posted elsewhere. I met a guy who lives in a castle in germany on a huge piece of property. Never came up. Who do your call for plumbing a castle? Water heat etc. Besides my finances would not cover it.

Before moving to the villages perhaps just to annoy my wife, I saw an ad for an island for sale. We did not look. One house on the island, you could buy your own kingdom with a herd of wild horses. Iisted at around 10 acres price a million. A former business associate bought 140 acres in North Carolina with his brother. He is normal, far as I know or knew.

There is no shortage of alternatives.

Just stirring the pot, he/she isn't that ignorant.

Read The Documents You Sign
 

If you’ve already closed on your Villages house or villa—it’s too late.

Even if you didn’t read the restrictive covenants, it wouldn’t make any difference. They’re the same for everyone and are ‘non-negotiable’. It’s either agree to the covenants or go find another house in Florida to buy.

But it is important to read and understand the restrictions of the covenants. If you violate them, you will find yourself either paying a hefty fine and/or being required to ‘undo’ any construction or improvements you’ve paid for, putting your home and property back to a condition which satisfies the covenants you agreed to. The Villages is well known for enforcing the deed restrictions ‘to the letter’. Getting the Developer to agree to variations to the covenants is as impossible as negotiating changes before you close on your house.

I moved here because of how The Villages looked - first and foremost. I saw a community with mowed lawns, beautiful landscaping, clean, the fact that most of the people who live here are retired or near to it and they are nice, that I have a community with rules to keep everything beautiful INSTEAD OF a community with no room to walk on the street or drive a golf cart because the streets are flooded with vehicles, many inappropriate for a neighborhood street, sofas on the front porch, weeds three feet tall in the yards, golf courses, trails, nature areas, and the area in general destroyed because the community is filled with people who don't care about anyone but themselves (me, me, me). Why do I paint such a picture? Go to any major city in the US and that is what you will see in areas that don't have some type of rules and regulations. I don't care how big this place gets. I care about the place I live. I didn't move here to be surrounded by people I don't want to live by, I moved here to be surrounded by people I do want to live by. I hate it when the holier-than-though crowd start shouting we need diversity, we need the rules all changed, we need this and we need that, all in an effort to change the community we all chose to move to. People who moved here could have moved anywhere. If they wanted to go to the squares to eat and shop, they could have lived outside of TV to do that. If people wanted to live next door to people with dogs barking all night long, dirt for their yard, noise, and a mess in general, they could have moved to so many other communities and cities - it didn't have to be here. I worked hard to get where I have gotten and I don't need it destroyed because some people here don't want to follow the rules that have been established to keep our community, for the most part, beautiful, clean, and safe.

We already see where some problematic people live here and/or they bring their problematic adult children with them - those with criminal or mental issues, alcoholism, or drug addiction. You see people complain about them or, on the flip side, think they all need psychiatric/personal help. Yes, people that live here only need to be able to financially afford the home they purchased and at least 80% (if I'm correct) need to be 55+. They don't have to be perfect people - none of us are. But they, we, have to pay our bills and follow the rules.

If we don't want to do those things, we can sell our homes and move. Now is a great market for sellers. Houses aren't on the market long and many times are going for more than asking price. If people find it hard to live here, consider selling your home. Make a big profit on it and move else where. It is easy to do. You will be happier - unless you move to another community with rules that you don't want to follow.

Which post?

Diversity, solely for the sake of diversity is not sustainable.

Now, now... Never underestimate people!

I'd like to say my post, but they most probably were commenting on the OP...

My olders sister's both own homes in the Villages.
When I decided to move to be closer to them, I chose a home nearby but not in Villages mainly because of the HOA, deed restrictions and covenants. I didn't like the cookie cutter look of the small properties and the prices were higher for what you get.

I'm 5 minutes away from them, have a lovely 3bed/2bath, 2 car garage, a large workshed and additional covered parking attached to shed, it has completely fenced large area for dogs around the pool, brick and block house with a new roof, on 1/2 acre in a very nice, quiet, older neighborhood. The house was move in ready except for painting interior to my liking and refinishing garage floor.
The property has lovely flowers and plantings, pineapple, orange, lemon, avocado, sugar apple mango and other trees. I see no neighbors behind me due to large growth trees and don't hear any noise from neighbors nor do they have any unsightly yards, etc., and we have no HOA, covenants, deed restrictions. Just regular zoning laws.

So, you really don't know.....right? Only the poster would know....

Glad you are happy....
BTW there is no HOA in The Villages.