Beware CC&Rs before you buy

Published 3:20 pm Friday, March 13, 2009

Q: My Homeowners Association has a rule that states “parking is not permitted in the street at any time.” The streets are wide and the homes have two-car garages. Can this rule be enforced?

C.A., Everett

A: Most homeowners associations have rules called “Conditions, Covenants and Restrictions” (CC&Rs). The CC&Rs are essentially a form of “private zoning” that imposes rules of property ownership on the owners within a housing development. The initial CC&Rs are written by the developer and administered by a homeowners’ association, which is also set up by the developer when a new housing development is created.

You’ll find a copy of the CC&Rs attached to your title insurance policy in the closing papers that you received from the escrow company when you bought your home. The CC&Rs may impose standards for lawn and home maintenance, preserve views, ban parking of boats and trailers in front of your house, etc. These rules are intended to maintain a clean, attractive neighborhood for the benefit of all property owners and preserve and enhance home values in the neighborhood.

CC&Rs are legally enforceable by the homeowners’ association. So if there is a rule that states that you cannot park on the street at any time and you choose to violate that rule, a neighbor could file a complaint against you with your homeowners’ association. You would then be subject to whatever fine or penalty that the homeowner’s association board chooses to impose, according to the bylaws of your association.

Some homeowners may feel that CC&Rs are Draconian rules that infringe on their freedom to use their own property as they wish. But you were given a copy of the CC&Rs before you closed on the purchase of your home and you should have read the rules, and if you found them unacceptable, you should have backed out of the deal.

CC&Rs are intended to benefit all homeowners in a neighborhood. Most people want to live a neighborhood where the homes are clean and painted and the yards are well kept. When you drive into a neighborhood that is full of homes with weedy, overgrown lawns and peeling paint on the houses, you get the feeling that the residents don’t care much about their property. Neglect tends to breed further neglect. If I see a neighborhood like that, I assume it’s on a downhill slide and will only get worse. Who would want to invest their hard-earned money to buy a home in a neighborhood like that?

Now parking cars on the street may not seem like neighborhood blight to you, but it does detract from the appearance of the neighborhood. In my neighborhood it is against the CC&Rs to park a boat or RV on the street, but cars are allowed to park on the street. The developers of your neighborhood decided to take a hard-line approach and ban ALL parking on the street. That may seem like an overly aggressive policy, but again, you were given a chance to review these rules before you closed on the purchase of your home.

You can go to your homeowner’s association board and try to get the rule changed, and if enough of your neighbors agree, you may eventually legally be allowed to park on your street. But until then, you must follow the CC&Rs as they exist today.

The moral to this story is that you should always read ALL of the documents that you are given when you buy a home. If you don’t understand something, ask somebody to explain it to you.

Mail your real estate questions to Steve Tytler, The Herald, P.O. Box, Everett, WA 98206, or e-mail him at economy@heraldnet.com.