Great, now your position is also clear! :laugh:

That’s what I thought.

FWIW - one doesn't have to actually live in a community to have read the deed restrictions of it. Someone challenged me to read them. So I did. Since I STILL couldn't figure out which ones applied to the property we're thinking of buying, I read ALL OF THEM. All the information I've gotten with regards to voting and changing the rules and the expiration dates of the restrictions and their subsequent renewals, I got from reading the actual deed restrictions. Every. Single. One.

If you want to know what's in them, I'll spit right back to you what you spit at me: Read them.

What does this mean?

You didn’t know I lived in the Village affected? Your reading comprehension is not very good. Posting over 17,000 times doesn’t give you much time to read. Frequent posters think they can flood a topic with all their posts and overpower any position they don’t like. Not today they don’t.

I apologize. I have obviously offended you. I'm sorry.

Uh.. You've posted in this thread 18 times. Barefoot, 9.. Just sayin..

Thank You for that info! i didn't want to be the one to rub there nose in it.
Sometimes you can't fix stupid!

Barefoot, you are a much better woman than I am.

I have been sitting here chewing my typing fingers off.

I guess I have reading comprehension problems, too. I cannot possibly be reading that screen name correctly.

I have never reported anybody for lawn ornaments and in all my 3,000 plus posts and a hundred years on TOTV, I have reported only three posts — and one of them was me reporting myself. (blush)

But I was about to make it 4. (I didn’t though. Such an attack speaks for itself around here.)

You, Barefoot, are a really nice lady and so much classier than I am. :)

Seriously?!?!

The sad thing is none of this is going to change a thing

The birds, the bronze birds are almost always permitted when ARC is asked. That and nicely done fountains. Not so much a bunch of ceramic mushrooms or little bunnies.

I see nothing wrong with someone reporting deed restrictions. But some do. I have only reported one and that was my neighbor in Hadley. But there is one in my friends neighborhood where the driveway is lined with schlocky things and I have to think that she has to have been reported many times up to the limit. And she probably has a lien on her home. I am always tempted to call when I go by there, but I don't.

Let me apologize to everyone. I was out of line. I guess since this topic affected me personally I got too close to the subject. Let this be my last post on this thread.

It happens to the best of us. But it takes a big person to apologize. Kudos to both of you.

The nature of quickly written posts, like e-mails, is that without the benefit of voice tone and facial expressions, it is very easy to misunderstand each other's intentions. I believe, for the most part, we are all good people who just want the best for ourselves, our loved ones, our friends, and, in most cases, our neighbors.

The "submit" button should have a 15-second delay.

Personal attacks are against the rules. But I won't report this. Instead, I'll respond, since clearly it went right over your head.

People are saying to abide by the rules, and stop complaining if they get caught breaking them.

I am saying - the rules might not be good rules, and perhaps it's time to rewrite them.

Case in point, the rule about antennae. The rules of the Villages says they're not allowed. Federal law says they are.

So which rule is wrong, which rule needs to be changed? They can't both be right.

If being capable of cognizant thought is equal to being stupid, then color me guilty. I wonder though, if this makes me stupid, then what label would you assign to yourself?

Thank you Barefoot and Happydaz for the peace.

BK001, thank you for a nice summary of the situation.

The federal law and state law always preempts any HOA restriction Period.
If you haven't learned that by now i can't help you!. Also just to clarify Federal law trumps State law, but it depends when and where. That should confuse you for a while. And for what you classify yourself as its up to you.
It seems you have tried to pick a fight with some of the post on this forum.
People come here to brainstorm and not fight with people. Have a good night.

Well, I was kind of thinking the same thing, or else someone is just a literal person by nature, in which case letting "gray areas" of rules lie just doesn't seem too easy. Throw in the fact that a person may be moving here under duration may be exacerbating things. Spell check had to help me with exacerbating.

Federal law supercedes community rules. That means the community rules are invalid. This means, from a legal standpoint, that the rule needs to be removed. It -cannot- be complied with, yet new homeowners who don't spend hours reading government websites and the deed restrictions of a 100k+ community aren't likely to know that, nor would it occur to them to even check. It's not a grey area. It's clearcut. The Villages is not, by law, allowed to impose this particular rule on its residency.

This makes one wonder what OTHER rules it's imposing on its residency, that it isn't allowed to impose, that people are following blindly because they a) don't know better or b) don't care. Everyone tells each other right here on this very forum, that if we don't like the rules, either don't move in, or move somewhere else.

Seems no one knew about the antennae part. Why not? Why didn't any of YOU - who already live there - know about this? Why didn't you know it was a rule, AND why did you not know that the rule was not legal to impose? Why did you sign to agree to abide by this rule, that is legally not allowed to exist? What OTHER rules have you agreed to abide by, that isn't legally allowed to exist? Which illegal rules have cause the Community watch group to infract homeowners, who should not have been infracted, because the rules were not legal to exist? How much money in fines have been paid to the Development group as a result of infractions of rules that were illegal to enforce?

I'm not calling for a protest, or mutiny, or rile up the masses. I'm asking why people who live here and say "stop complaining, you knew the rules coming in" don't already know about this stuff? I'm asking them to "know of what ye speak" before coming down on people asking questions here. Yes, I know the rule going in. But thanks to this forum, I also know that one of those rules cannot legally be enforced (the antenna rule). That makes me wonder why the rule was put in, in the first place. Maybe it was put in before federal law decreed otherwise, and the authority of the Villages just never bothered to remove that rule. How many people are paying for cable, when they could have antennae and no cable instead? How many residents would have preferred it that way, but read the rules, saw it was a restricted activity, and just sucked it up and paid for some other method when they didn't have to, because federal law allows it?

And why would anyone here be upset about my pointing it out? ESPECIALLY when I'm just repeating back what Chellybean posted - that federal law supercedes community rules. If it does, then it stands to reason that the community rule is invalid and needs to be removed.

This is a general problem. Companies are caught all the time with clauses in contracts that are unenforceable or illegal. As Jazuela points out, most people aren’t lawyers and don’t know. Companies take advantage of that. They are swindling their customers with these practices.

TV’s deed restrictions fall under that umbrella. Maybe the restrictions used to be valid, but they aren’t any more. They should be removed, or TV is lying to their residents. They are ruling by intimidation and relying on ignorance of the law.

And this has drifted away from lawn ornament rules to deed restrictions in general,but I think it’s still an important topic.

The argument that unenforceable Deed Restrictions need to be revised is a "straw man" argument" by those who don't really want to abide by rules to which they agreed upon purchase of property. For those restrictions that have been preempted, there is no attempt at enforcement. The District does not enforce complaints related to restrictions falling into the preempted category. Additionally pre emption legislation is often not prevailing over all of the specific elements of a Deed Restriction.

300 posts.............wow.


I read the first five.


:MOJE_whot:

I know you are joshing us, but I think it is kind of wonderful that this thread has not been shut down. It has allowed a lot of information to be dispensed. It has allowed venting and debate and mostly patient listening to others and I think for the most part it has stayed within reasonable limits. I am very pleased that we were allowed to discuss this. (For some, ad nauseum) but as a parent and a retired teacher, I know that repeating things SOMETIMES gets information across.

Why do you make such a statement? How do YOU know who knows about this law and who doesn't? We certainly knew about it, and the few other restrictions here that are superseded by state and federal law.



And I think people are not upset with what you are saying so much as the manner in which you are saying it. It's aggressive, inflammatory and very argumentative.



If you're so concerned about this, why not take it to the developer.

BE ASSURED that The Villages Inc. is represented well by legal counsel, has researched these issues and are abiding by the law. I think that the CDD form of government is new to most people who come from other parts of the country. There is a class here to explain just how The Villages work. No one is forced or coerced to buy here. The Villages has a number of things that make it different from other places most people have lived. The bond (which pays for the infrastructure is separate from the cost of the home) The amenity fees are based on the cost of living index. They even went down a teeny bit once. The people who run the place are not voted on if you live south of 466. South of 466 is run solely by the CDD, i.e. The Developers. Many of us hope that it will always be that way, they are doing a good job. If this place was left to the power wannabees it would be the typical city and not the wonderful place it is. I don't think many places could be this successful. I think the Morse family is ethical and hard working. I have never met them and I don't nor have I ever sold real estate. I am just delighted with living here.

PLUS, like many, I have lived here for many years and have had a lively interest in what is going on. I do know what it is like to think it is too good to be true. I was like that at first, too.

The voice of reason and back on subject.

Jazuela, do you live in TV?

I very much agree with your post.

As we walk around TV we have seen a few things that violate the deed restrictions, but we have no desire to report them to the authorities.

For example, one house has an equipment shed on their property. It is a small plastic shed behind their garage, barely visible from the street, and it appears the neighbors don't care.

However, I still support the rule TV has against equipment sheds because it might prevent people from having those large metal sheds so common in our Virginia neighborhood.

Below, from one of 240+ posts by Jazuela (posted last month):

"We've been a few times now, including a lifestyle visit this past September."

Why does it matter if she lives in TV??
I wasn't aware this forum was limited to TV residents.

Besides, she has said in many posts that she and her husband are seriously considering moving here. To me it seems her interest and opinions are part of a due diligence process.

Perhaps you and many other posters on this thread should be more understanding and less apt to bully.

You may not have to live here, but you at least have to visit here to get get a real feel for what The Villages is all about. If she has visited here and considers this a possibility then opine away

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Their "eaves". Not to be confused with "eves"...the night before....

I read through all the restrictions even though some are hard to understand and I am In total compliance.

I also make sure my bushes are foot off the neighbors wall and property line, bushes out front are less than 4 foot tall were they could be vision problem off the street when neighbors pull out driveway or turn at corner. I pressure wash mold off sidewalks, house, walls, and concrete strip out at street. I keep my shrubs trimmed and debris picked up. I don’t play obnoxious loud music or have Harley, I don’t park in the street or leave my car sticking out of my driveway. I can actually get my car in the garage is small CYV garage. I help out neighbors when asked. Basiclly I’m the prefect neighbor hardly seen or heard.:ho:

I don't think you have read all of the posts from both sides.

With apologies to Frank Zappa:

I'll take a drive to THE VILLAGES
Just before dawn
An' knock the little jockeys
Off the rich people's lawn
An' before they get up
I'll be gone, I'll be gone
Before they get up
I'll be knocking the jockeys off the lawn

Why can’t all villagers be like me, the prefect neighbor and follow all the rules. :a040:

:bigbow:...:bigbow:...:bigbow:



:agree:

I'm putting a deposit down tomorrow and we're moving in some time in late June/early July. So no, I don't live here yet. And if you took the time to learn that I've had 240+ posts, you could've wasted another 5 minutes to read a few of them and learn that I've already said I didn't live here yet, that we were seriously considering moving in, and that I was doing my due dilligence. Turns out we "could" put in a tacky pink flamingo on our front yard if we wanted to, at the home we're buying. I won't though, because I think they're tacky. And the neighbors so far seem to be especially lovely. Welcoming, warm and inviting. I think my husband and I did the right thing by looking in the "hysterical" section.

Some very nice people live there.