[Marathon Man]

Originally Posted by Klearhead

--No....Since it's possible that each independent development has different qualifications or standards. Only the owners would know what if any changes to the existing home or property have been made. The entire issue of compliance would need to be removed from every deed issued by "The Villages" on behalf of those developers. Good Luck with that one !

I have no idea what this means. A walk around the property and a knowledge of the restrictions is all it takes to spot violations that might eventually be reported.

[NoMo50]

Originally Posted by danglanzsr

The sixth amendment says
“In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.”

It grants the accused the right to face “witnesses” against him. It does not give the accused the right to confront those who may have brought his actions to the attention of the authorities. In The Villages, the “little old ladies with clipboards” are not necessarily witnesses against the accused. They are more like “confidential informants”. No law gives the accused the right to confront confidential informants for obvious reasons.

The key words in the 6th Amendment, as applied to the topic at hand, are "criminal prosecutions." Violation of any deed restrictions is not a criminal matter.

[crazygery]

Originally Posted by Laker14

All of the deed restrictions are available online. You could read them and check them yourselves before you offer, or if you have a contingency in your offer, you could check them all between offer acceptance and closing.

Or you could hire the clipboard ladies to do a drive-by.

Clipboard ladies, is that code for a hit team. I was looking into the Villages but don’t want to be whacked for a violation

[Dlbonivich]

Seller’s are required to disclose any defect in the property that they have been made aware of. If the homeowner has been notified that the house is not in compliance they must disclose or face a possible law suit after closing. If you have a buyer’s agent, they should be able to check with the powers above as to if there is a known compliance problem. No one can predict or know about a problem with compliance if it has not already been identified. Every unit with in a district has their own deed restrictions. Your “buyers agent” should be able to direct you to those documents. Good luck
Andrea Bonivich, Sellstate Superior Realty

[midiwiz]

Originally Posted by APovi

Apparently Florida is a 'Buyer Beware' State.
How do you handle existing 'Non-Compliance'?
Some home buyers/owners have been cited for violations existing for the past 10-20 years or more.
Sellers, Builders and Realtors do not typically represent buyers at all.
Does the buyer have to apply to each CDD to find out if the home they want (new or pre-owned) is in compliance?
Will all the CDD's issue a 'certification' that a home is 'in compliance' with all their regulations before you buy it?
Should I put a contingency in my offers/contracts that requires the Owner/Seller/Realtor to take care of it?
I've seen this problem reported many times but never any solutions.

The actual answer is -

There is NO solution for this. The reason is that whether it's CDD or HOA, C&Rs change over time. The buyer has no idea what was or wasn't approved and when, nor does anyone have an idea IF said 'infraction' was pre-existing or not, as in approved when it was ok and now that it isn't , etc. In the case of pre-existing that change is supposed to be grandfathered in and that's all there is to it.

The actual problem is the queaky wheel aka "Karen" that has no clue what was and wasn't approved or even changed in the governing docs, but yet will BM&C until she is satisfied.

Fix the "Karens" you fix the problem.

[lorilorilori]

The Agents of the Developer/Villages has a duty to disclose any violations.
The sellers have a duty to disclose any violations
Agents of Realtors have a duty to disclose any violations.
Therefore, "Buyers Beware" can rely on the Developer/Villages/Seller/Agents to disclose
and any non-disclosures should entitle them to sue the Developer/Villages/Agents/Seller for "non-disclosure."

[dewilson58]

Originally Posted by lorilorilori

The Agents of the Developer/Villages has a duty to disclose any violations.
The sellers have a duty to disclose any violations
Agents of Realtors have a duty to disclose any violations.
Therefore, "Buyers Beware" can rely on the Developer/Villages/Seller/Agents to disclose
and any non-disclosures should entitle them to sue the Developer/Villages/Agents/Seller for "non-disclosure."

Thank you, I enjoyed that.

[Switter]

Originally Posted by APovi

Apparently Florida is a 'Buyer Beware' State.
How do you handle existing 'Non-Compliance'?
Some home buyers/owners have been cited for violations existing for the past 10-20 years or more.
Sellers, Builders and Realtors do not typically represent buyers at all.
Does the buyer have to apply to each CDD to find out if the home they want (new or pre-owned) is in compliance?
Will all the CDD's issue a 'certification' that a home is 'in compliance' with all their regulations before you buy it?
Should I put a contingency in my offers/contracts that requires the Owner/Seller/Realtor to take care of it?
I've seen this problem reported many times but never any solutions.

That's what I did. I checked with ARC if anyone had ever submitted anything for approval on the property. The house I bought had been painted and turns out they never got approval. I told them they would have to get retroactive approval for me to purchase it.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by ithos

Now this is pushing the envelope. Can't believe this went unreported for 12 years. You see more cars than house. An anonymous complaint was recently filed. New home owners found out the hard way about CDD compliance. (Source in local newspaper)

This is exactly the problem. The driveway was there for 10 years before the home was sold. The driveway did not look out of place as there are at least four other homes in the neighborhood with large driveways. Looking at the pictures on the Assessor's website shows the driveway just as it is today. What would give a buyer a reason to suspect anything might be wrong?

I, as a cynical Villager, might suspect everything is wrong from the color of the shingles to the landscaping, the large driveway, and even the material used for the driveway. I *might* think to call Community Standards / Deed Compliance and ask them about the home but even then, what would I ask? It has been suggested that the question, "is my home compliant?" will be met with a statement that there are no active complaints against the home. That does not answer the question that was asked and does not help the prospective buyer.

Perhaps the answer is that I should ask Community Standards to review the exterior of the home and ascertain whether any non-approved changes were made or certify that the home is in compliance. This is precisely the deed-compliance inspection/certification that ought to be made available for all sales. Yes, it might require more work, but so be it.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by Switter

That's what I did. I checked with ARC if anyone had ever submitted anything for approval on the property. The house I bought had been painted and turns out they never got approval. I told them they would have to get retroactive approval for me to purchase it.

Great catch, but what led you to believe the house had been painted?

[bragones]

Originally Posted by Switter

That's what I did. I checked with ARC if anyone had ever submitted anything for approval on the property. The house I bought had been painted and turns out they never got approval. I told them they would have to get retroactive approval for me to purchase it.

Can you get retroactive approval?

[pablo cruze]

Originally Posted by APovi

Apparently Florida is a 'Buyer Beware' State.
How do you handle existing 'Non-Compliance'?
Some home buyers/owners have been cited for violations existing for the past 10-20 years or more.
Sellers, Builders and Realtors do not typically represent buyers at all.
Does the buyer have to apply to each CDD to find out if the home they want (new or pre-owned) is in compliance?
Will all the CDD's issue a 'certification' that a home is 'in compliance' with all their regulations before you buy it?
Should I put a contingency in my offers/contracts that requires the Owner/Seller/Realtor to take care of it?
I've seen this problem reported many times but never any solutions.

Hello,

I applaud you for having the foresight to look into compliance violations prior to close.

The villages sales peddlers will not help you. Their only metric is to sell houses fast. It would be against their process to request owners to disclose known or potential violations.

There may be good CDD sups that could help you. However not in CDD7. Jerry will promise to help you in private, but will burn you at the hearing. I believe Klinko has a violation with his flag pole, yet has the audacity to judge against others who have not created violations, but inherited from previous owners. Colman and Judi often have their trash at the curb days before pick-up (repeat offenders), and have close neighbors that have suspect violations. I believe Coleman’s neighbor has structure infringing onto golf course easement. Judi’s neighbor on Ambrosia has trees and bushes about 7 feet from the road. They were the most adamant to impose fines on me for the beautiful twin palm sylvester and the majestic Bismark that the previous owner installed. It cost me a lot to get them taken out, and the sups felt that they still needed to collect some more than 50% of the imposed fine to pad their spending. Make no mistake, they work for Blocker, not the homeowners that they are supposed to represent.

My suggestion to you is to contact Community Stds. Phone: 352-751-3912.
You need to file a complaint on the home that you are interested to purchase. They are only complaint driven, and cannot look into compliance issues without a logged complaint.
Identify anything that you may suspect (exterior house color, driveway design, roof material, roof color, type of rocks used in landscape, position of landscape, trees, bushes, stack walls, curbing), They will investigate and you can get the findings. If everything is good then you will have documentation that the homesite is free of violations. Even if the landscape is the most aesthetically appealing on the block, but has violations, the existing homeowner must tear it down, before they can sell.

[pablo cruze]

Originally Posted by dewilson58

Thank you, I enjoyed that.

haha haha haha
yeah that was delusional

[jparsoneau@aol.com]

Do a compliance check on the property to make sure it’s in compliance before you purchase it
Or have your real estate agent, then put it in writing that they’ve checked, which I’m sure they will not unless they have checked

[pablo cruze]

Originally Posted by ithos

Now this is pushing the envelope. Can't believe this went unreported for 12 years. You see more cars than house. An anonymous complaint was recently filed. New home owners found out the hard way about CDD compliance. (Source in local newspaper)

they should have gotten a larger garage, or just park in the street.