Covenants and zoning

[rtr]

I'm considering starting a home based business.

The city zoning allows for this.

The covenants for where I live state "No business, profession or other activity conducted for gain shall be carried on or within any lot" which isn't good, but it later states:

"These Covenants are for the benefit of the Owners, jointly and severally, and the Approving Authority and may be enforced by action for damages, suit for injunction, mandatory and prohibitive, and other relief, and by any other appropriate legal remedy, instituted by one or more Owners, or the Approving Authority, or any combiation of these. Until seven years after these Covenants were filed of record, or when Delcarant owns no property within the Subdivision, whichever is sooner"

The copy of the covenants I have was filed in 1984.

Furthermore my neighborhood does not have a "Approving Authority" which it appears to me is who enforces the covenants.

So can anyone give me some free legal advice here as to where I stand. Can my city legally deny me a business license based on these covenants or not?

[Joe4d]

The city will probably grant the liscense, they are the ollected official government. Looks like you have also bought into some kinda contracted Homeowners association. They get so wrapped up into local politics and judges they are harder to fight than the governemnt. They also answer to noone. Good homeowners associations leave you alone and only charge you money, bad ones bug the crap out of you. By those covenants it looks like any neighbor that chooses you could file suit and force your business closed any time they want. The best advice I have wont do you any good now. But never ever ever buy anything that is controlled by anytype of homeowners association or has a deed with a bunch of contracted stipulations.

[Sarge]

Drift ahead. I disagree about HOA's. I am in one and was the president for almost 7 years. So they are not a bad thing if you want to keep your property values up. We are pretty much the one described as leave us alone and just collect money. However when you blatently bust the rules it is actually quite easy to end up with a lien on your property. We have done it a few times when some thought they did not have to pay the annual assessments.

That being said. Drift off.

I am not a lawyer but what I learned from my extensive experience is that HOA's must be listed on deed's or loan paperwork by the realtor. Here in Ohio it is the law. If you move into a neighborhood with an HOA and you are never made aware of that fact there is not a whole lot they could do if you ,Oh say run a business out of your home. We always lost when we tried to take any action on a homeowner when they were never even aware that we existed. I would say if you are not paying fees to an HOA then the HOA is defunct. A lot of HOA's are ran by the developers when the subdivision is built and the homeowners choose to not continue on with it.

I think the declarant may be the developers in your case and they clearly are out of the picture by now. Besides the 7 years is up. If you are in an HOA I would bet money you would be receiving quarterly meeting minutes, newsletters or would be paying dues.

I would clear it with the city and go for it.

I AM NOT A LAWYER AND YMMV!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[CenTX]

The city will probably grant the liscense, they are the ollected official government. Looks like you have also bought into some kinda contracted Homeowners association. They get so wrapped up into local politics and judges they are harder to fight than the governemnt. They also answer to noone. Good homeowners associations leave you alone and only charge you money, bad ones bug the crap out of you. By those covenants it looks like any neighbor that chooses you could file suit and force your business closed any time they want. The best advice I have wont do you any good now. But never ever ever buy anything that is controlled by anytype of homeowners association or has a deed with a bunch of contracted stipulations.

HOAs have a good and a bad side. While they often do not let you do what you want with your own property they also can prevent things which can detract from your quality of life and help protect property values. If you buy a nice house, you probably don't want the person next door to put in a bar, strip joint, adult bookstore, massage parlor or church for that matter. Without deed restrictions that could happen. Zoning will often prevent that, but some cities don't even have zoning and zoning classifications can be changed. The HOA makes enforcing the deed restrictions easier for residents. Some HOAs can become Gestapo like and rediculous in their enforcement of restrictions. Before you buy, read the deed restrictions. Will they prevent you from doing what you plan to do" Some don't allow cars up on blocks in the front yard or limit the amount of time a non operable car can sit in the diveway. Some allow boats are RVs to sit in the driveway, some don't. Some prohibit chain link fences and fenced front yards. Many require you keep your lawn cut.

[rtr]

Just to be clear there IS an HOA that you can choose to pay dues to or not, I do not.

[kimel]

I'd say that if your home based business has lots of coming and going of traffic during the day you will get noticed and have a potential problem. If, however, you don't have customers/clients/patients coming by the house all day long and maybe just have the UPS guy showing up now and then they'll never really catch on or care.

I am on my city P&Z commission and we have a specific allowance for home based businesses in our zoning ordinances provided they do not negatively impact the neighborhood. Thus we have a bunch of home based businesses in town but to drive through you would never know it. It isn't until you look through the Chamber of Commerce listings that you realize what all is here.

It's pretty hard to tell the Tupperware or Pampered Chef dealer that they have to have a location in the business district. That's bad for business and thus, bad for the town.

I'd be shocked if you are the only home based business in your neighborhood.

As has often been said: It is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.

[Front Man]

Seek legal council before making a decision.

FM

[Graham Smith]

Seek legal council before making a decision.

Regardless of zoning or HOA, there is always an appeals process - find out what that is. If there is HOA, ask them if the covenant is still in force (sounds like it was only intended to cover the first 7 years of the development). If it is still in force, then you may have to get all your ducks in a row and request a hearing.

[kaiserb]

Reading between the lines on the HOA agreement it looks as if the HOA does not want any business entities in the neighborhood. However, I can tell you from personal experience that I have ran a business in a similar neighborhood, with out incident. The reason HOA's put that boiler plate statement in is to keep someone from running an auto body shop out of their garage. If you have a business that does not use up street parking, is not visible and is unobtrusive you will find "Don't ask don't tell" works best and you will have very few problems.

[JKSNIPER]

I was president of my neighborhoods Homeowners assoc for 3 years.

I'm Not a lawyer myself but we had one who was a board member here.

Basicaly we viewed our duties as we exist to protect our neighbors from having to live next to "Joe's Garage".

If you start a small business there and are quiet and have no real annoyance going on the chances are that they won't even ever be aware you're operating a business out of your home.

Now if you're painting autos and have all kinds of nast lacquer smells goin on there and noise you can expect a visit from the board and a "cease and desist " order right away along with a fine.

Maybe ask to attend a board meeting thats NOT a general meeting open to the entire assoc to present your proposed idea to them so they can see your business will not cause annoyance to anyone in the neighborhood and will not cause excessive vehicular traffic.

Maybe you'll get lucky and they will approve it for you.

Good luck either way.

JK