Would you like to live next door to the house on the corner of Enrique and Chapparell with all the fake flowers and pinwheels? I think not.

[QUOTE=Jayhawk;1823202]Would be willing to bet that most of these violations are by people who have no idea they are doing this. Thinking some people just have too much idle time on their hands.

Then they shouldn't have ANY problems being notified by the compliance people from The Villages. If they do have a problem, then they don't give a damn about the covenants they signed or their neighbors.

BINGO! It's funny how people rush to defend those that are not in compliance with the deed restrictions and then seek to blame anyone that identifies such non-compliance. It really doesn't matter who reports the non-compliance. If such non-compliance didn't exist there would be absolutely ZERO reason for any related confrontation between neighbors.

You bought a house in The Villages and you knew the rules when you purchased it. Ignorance is no excuse. It doesn't matter that anyone "thinks" something is OK. If it's against the deed restrictions then case closed until such time the restrictions are amended. Some people like astroturf - I think it looks like it belongs in a trailer park. Some people like white crosses - I don't personally have an issue but they are against the rules. Some people like purple houses - I think purple is an horrid color for a house. We all have opinions and nobody's opinion is worth more than anyone elses. That's why there are deed restrictions.

A good neighbor is one who is in compliance and one who does help to make sure the other homes are in compliance. Homes in The Villages are very expensive compared to many/most other locales. The deed restrictions are one of the reasons the homes hold their value and we should all be in favor of those efforts to maintain home values.

It's very easy to be in compliance. It simply takes a bit of reading comprehension and then submitting plans for approval to the ARC when in doubt.

One of the oddest behaviors I've seen in The Villages is the constant trolling of "the mythical, magical compliance trolls."

And they are enforceable in court by any property owner who owns real estate that is also subject to the same deed restrictions (in same CDD)

Amen

and I suspect a class action would be upheld since none of the restrictions that I read violate any Florida law or public policy. I don't believe that a CDD decision can allow a violation to stand if brought to their attention. I believe that it would require a 100 per cent agreement by all property owners subject to the restriction. There may be a supermajority provision however. ( be glad to hear from someone if my statements are incorrect -but give citations .

The trouble makers are the people who are committing the violations, and when they can’t get away with it they start screaming, even calling on religion etc. and name calling like the way criminals do when they are caught. I find it difficult to have a great deal of sympathy.

You say going into someone else’s neighborhood has nothing to do with anything. I say if the neighbors in the area have no problem with what is being done then people from the outside of the neighborhood should mind their own business. It should all be about neighbors not people from three villages away that have absolutely nothing to do with the area.

:BigApplause:

Ever live in a place with an HOA?

Three , in fact.

Yes! After all it MY OPINION:popcorn:

You signed onto deed restrictions when you bought here so obey the rules. I would prefer to see people from other districts enforce the rules. I bought here BECAUSE of those restrictions and paid more for it. The rules changed because the older districts allowed more to be put out. Rules are to protect the neighborhood. You can easily go outside the villages and take a good look at what happens when you do not have them. Reading these reactions tells me a great deal about how many nasty, selfish people are on this site. Amazing.

Village’s s kinda big for that?

Good for you! Be sure to keep a copy of your ARC approval paperwork so it’s readily available when you wish to sell your home. It could avoid a hassle.

Then you haven't read the laws or compared them to the deed restrictions. I've pointed out two previously, so have a couple of other people, on several different occasions.

One being the antennae/satellite dish issue. The other being clotheslines in the back yard.

Look it up. Florida law FORBIDS deed restrictions that restrict either one. It is against the law for the Villages to punish anyone who chooses to have a clothesline in their back yard, or a satellite dish on their roof.

If the neighbors don't have an issue, no foul. New neighbor moves in and don't likey, file a complaint. You'll know a major violation. Be a good Duck and let the small stuff run off your back.

It's called "getting along" with everyone in the group. Community.

How about we put out a call for all of the magical, double top secret, invisible and stealth golf cart equipped "trolls" to come in for job interviews to become official licensed paid trolls. They can then come out from the shadows, get tablets instead of clipboards, not be ostracized and perform the job that they seem to be better at than anyone else.

The Villages already has someone driving in each village, the community watch patrol. Noting violations could easily be one of their tasks.

I see rules broken all the time in TV but I don't get my underwear all in a wad worrying about it. I have more than enough worries about things that really matter so I ignore the trivial ones.

Both of those exceptions were , I believe, imposed by the Florida legislature after the deed restrictions were recorded. So your examples are inappropriately described. Show me a case where the deed restrictions in the Villages were not upheld by the courts other than those that were preempted by subsequent laws.

White crosses very small part of deed restrictions problems. The system don’t have to be so trolly. Only problem I have with deed restrictions are resales, there no way new buyer knows whether the property they are buying IAW all deed restrictions. Some got hit for major stuff that was done years ago. Not some lawn ornaments, but something that cost thousands. They shouldn’t be responsible when it should of been fixed before they brought. As much as closing costs cost seller this should be mandatory requirement in deed restrictions community before house offered for sale.

I agree in part. But when I bought I had 2 different home inspectors check the resale property for everything. They have been working for The Villagers for decades and must know the deed restrictions so when they wrote and said the home was in compliance they would have been in trouble if it hadn’t been. It is also simple to add a clause to the sales agreement that the home is bought with all deed restrictions adhered to. So if something was out of compliance the seller would have to fix it first. As some buyers maybe from different states or countries they might miss something themselves.

Deed Violations
 

Many who favor ending anonymous reporting have violations to hide. I suspect they’ve been turned in for violations before. Ending anonymous reporting will force your neighbors or others to report you. It will get very ugly very fast if you know who reported you. I know this from experience. It will pitt neighbors vs neighbors...sides will be taken and the friendliest hometown will be no more. The outcome will be less reporting overall, but is it worth it? Isn’t the right thing to do is just follow the restrictions, like we all legally agreed to? Why is this so hard?

I don’t believe there are trolls out there reporting violations, I suspect it’s your neighbors reporting you and I think you believe that to. Even if there is a troll outside your neighborhood making theses complaints, we all live in the villages and they also have a stake in maintaining our beautiful community. Should CDD 5 be our first village slum, I mean every big city has one...why not us! Really?

Where will your neighbors and others draw the line on violations before they report you, cars jacked up in your driveway, RVs and cars parked in the street for months on end, adding lean-tos or who knows what other things people can come up with.

Many of you are referring to small things like statues and yard decorations. What harm are they you ask. What if someone has 50 yard decorations in their yard, when is it too much? FYI, these small items make excellent projectiles in a hurricane or tornado and can cause massive damage and hurt folks, I’ve seen it happen here in the Villages.

If we don’t like a particular restriction then we have an avenue to get it changed through the CDD boards working with Community Standards. Why throw the baby out with the bath water?

When I first moved here, community watch was the watch dog who reported violations. Our CDD government system abdicated their responsibility by making it a residents responsibility. Who gave them the right to do this? Do the CDD boards work for you or is it the other way around. Our system of governance should work for the benefit of residents, not the other way around. All CDD boards in the Villages should demand that Community standards take back the responsibility of finding and correcting violations.

The bad news is if you have violations you will eventually be caught regardless of the method of reporting. Follow the restrictions or try to get it changed through your CDD board. It’s the right thing to do.

Irrelevant. The deed restrictions still forbid homeowners from putting up clotheslines and antennae on their roofs. New homeowners get these restrictions, sign to abide by them, and are expected to obey deed restrictions.

My point is - that isn't always true. It currently isn't true. They CANNOT be expected to abide by some of those currently-existing deed restrictions that they signed to obey, because the Villages and CDD are not ALLOWED by law to enforce them. I'll bet there's no addenda sent to new homeowners to let them know about that.

Maybe widen it 2 ft on each side, lol. JUST KIDDING, trying to lighten up this subject!

Totally agree ! If there is some really serious problem, but I've been here so long I've found when something is that profound, something has happened; a death, bankruptcy, serious illness and no one knew that person was in a hospital out of the area, etc. etc. By "trolls", I think people who, for lack of entertainment, go out and look for a small cross, or a flag, a for sale sign (other than if the for sale sign is a villages one), or some small offensive garden ornament or plant container. There are those types of people too..... not me, I have far too much work to do in my own home and yard to go try to "catch" my neighbors doing some forbidden offense.. LOL, or even "trolling" to find people not wearing masks, or just plain enjoying themselves with friends. But, I guess in China there is a payoff to it, some say they get a "reward" for turning in "offenders", who knows. My humble opinion, when people fill out complaints with name, phone, address, etc, it WILL be for a very serious situation, not a small white cross or a garden ornament.

The fact that you dont accept the answer is irrelevant . Those restrictions that have not been preempted by law are still fully enforceable.

It should be illegal to have invalid/illegal clauses in deed restrictions. And a buyer should be able to take the deed restrictions to a lawyer to line out any invalid restrictions.
Things like the clothesline and antenna issues are well known. Having them in there only intimidates ignorant buyers.
The recent growing food in front yards law ought to force some changes to deed restrictions.