By Deborah Goonan, Independent American Communities
When promoters of Association-Governed Housing Communities want to deflect negative press for the industry, they will often use the standard talking point: “Read the rules in your governing documents before you buy into the Association. You agree to those rules before you move in. Most problems in HOAs come from people who refuse to follow the rules.”
But what the HOA doesn’t tell you – and doesn’t want you to know – is that the rules can change after you’ve put down your cash, taken on a mortgage, signed a lease, and moved into your new home.
What the industry also fails to explain is that you’ll have to jump through several hoops to obtain approval to make certain modifications to your private property. Maybe your request will be approved, and maybe it won’t.
Or, in some cases, maybe your request will be approved, only to be revoked three years later.
That’s the claim of Kiven Head of Peoria, Arizona. He says his townhouse community, Rock Springs HOA, approved installation of a basketball hoop for his daughter three years ago. Now, all of a sudden, he’s getting letters threatening fines unless the basketball hoop is collapsed and moved into his garage every day after use.
Of course, anyone who has ever had a “portable” basketball hoop for their kids knows these behemoths are hardly easy to move. Technically they can be moved if necessary, but they are very heavy and awkward, and they take up a great deal of space in the garage. Most reasonable people put up a hoop in the driveway, add the sand or water for the weight at the base, and then leave it in place until the children or teens are no longer using it.
Common sense, right?
But, no. According to Kiven, now the HOA is saying they never approved a portable hoop, only a permanent hoop.
So…let me get this straight. It would OK to have a permanently cemented hoop in plain view 24/7, but it’s not OK to have the portable hoop in the driveway overnight?
Folks, I can’t make this stuff up!
HOA takes away basketball hoop approval three years later, Peoria family says
Courtney Holmes, Joe Ducey
9:36 AM, Jan 4, 2017
5 hours ago
A driveway basketball hoop is like a right of passage for a lot of kids, but for Kiven Head’s daughter, it’s a necessity.
“We wanted to have something that she could practice on on a daily basis,” he says.
For the past three years, daughter Alissa has been working to make her high school basketball team.
With no hoops in their northwest Peoria community, and the nearest park miles away, Head asked his Homeowner’s Association for approval to install his own.
He says they submitted diagrams and pictures, “so there was no misinterpretation of what kind of hoop it was.”
In February of 2013 it was approved.
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I had patio seating in my front garden for over 10 years as did other homeowner’s in our HOA community. Then the dreaded “violation letter” – then the Cease & Desist when I chose to prove my point! Then $18,000 in legal fees – then a law suit – then I lost – then I went to the Attorney General’s Office – my patio seating is still in my frontyard!