Pool installation
 

Hello,

We are new here in The Villages and we are renting while we look to find a home to buy. Are we allowed to install a pool on any homesite OR are there boundry line rules? Who or where can we find written literature on the guidelines? We do not want to make a mistake and buy a home that later we will not get approval to install a pool.

When we bought our home we specifically put in our purchase offer that it was contingent on getting approval that our lot would have sufficient room for a pool. We had a week to get approval that satisfied us, or we could back out with no recourse. I managed to get an appointment with a pool designer from T&D who pulled our property records and confirmed we had adequate space from all boundaries to fit in our desired pool. He even drew up a preliminary design showing the size pool we could fit. The pool/birdcage we eventually had them build was much larger than our original plans because we decided to blow out the lanai that came with the house, opening up lots more space in our back yard. No regrets, we love our pool! Hope that helps.

You are allowed to put a pool on any home site. The maximum size will depend on the "boundary rules" which are known as the easements -- 5 ft easements on the side boundaries and 7.5 ft (formerly 10 ft) on the back. These are the easements in Sumter County. In other words, these distances are the closest a permanent structure, like a pool deck, patio or lanai, may be to the property line.

The boundaries in Marion county are 5' on all sides. This was changed several years ago. We had a neighbor that had a pool put in at the same time as we did. Their installer used the 5' and 7.5' from Sumter, never checking with Marion. They lost 50' x 2.5' of space they could have added to their pool/patio in the birdcage. Make sure your installer validates the boundaries with the right county.