Q My wife and I recently purchased our first home, which is in a neighborhood supposedly governed by an association. After moving in and hearing nothing from the homeowners association for a couple of months, I asked a few neighbors about it. It appears the last time the association was active was more than five years ago. Some neighbors had no idea that one even existed. I was told that when the developer of this 11-year-old subdivision went bankrupt about six years ago, the association went down with it.

My question is, does the association still exist after being apparently disbanded for so many years and with the founding corporation out of business? How can it be restarted?

T.S., Everett

A While an active homeowner’s association is essential in a condominium complex, they sometimes fade away in single-family housing developments.

Unless there’s a pressing need for an association – such as ongoing road and landscaping maintenance – they can die because of a lack of interest.

The first thing you should do is read the covenants, conditions and restrictions – commonly called CC&Rs – recorded with the deed to your property. You’ll find the CC&Rs attached to your title insurance policy in the closing papers that you received from escrow after closing on the purchase of your home. The primary purpose of most homeowner’s associations is to enforce the CC&Rs.

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.

They are essentially a form of private zoning by adding rules and restrictions to existing codes established by the local planning authority.

Any homeowner can take action against a neighbor who is violating the CC&Rs, but that may require an expensive, time-consuming civil lawsuit. A homeowners association, on the other hand, often has the power to levy fines against CC&R violators without going to court. These fines become a lien against the property until they are paid in full.

That’s one reason why it may be advantageous to revive your dormant homeowners association. The association may also be necessary to levy assessments against the homeowners in the development to pay for maintenance of common roadways and land.

In my neighborhood, a committee of the homeowners association is working on revising the existing CC&Rs to clarify and strengthen the restrictions that protect the views of the property owners. That is a very hot issue in my area, because the views greatly affect the value of the homes. So that’s another example of why you might want to have an active homeowners association in your neighborhood.

Your CC&Rs should give you a clue as to how the homeowners association was originally organized. Some are incorporated, but most are fairly informal organizations. The bankruptcy of the housing project’s developer shouldn’t have any impact on the association. You’ll probably just need to get the other homeowners together and vote to elect an association board of directors. Again, refer to your CC&Rs and obtain a copy of the homeowners association by-laws to determine the exact procedures.

But don’t assume that you have to get your association up and running. If you don’t have a pressing need for an active homeowners association, you may be better off without one.

After all, you won’t have to pay any monthly dues to the association, and you can still take individual action to enforce any CC&R violations in your neighborhood – although that would require using a lawyer and the courts to enforce the rules, rather than the local homeowners board.

Mail questions to Steve Tytler, The Herald, P.O. Box 930, Everett, WA 98206. Fax questions to Tytler at 425-339-3435, or e-mail him at economy @heraldnet.com.