Gotta be sold the right way.

Vinyl fencing is typically more expensive than standard wood - we also need to amend to add Trex board fencing as that will becoming available very soon.

And it's not just "metal roofs" as that was the "fear" of the old people, it's standing seam metal roofs - way more expensive than a composite shingle roof.

But you're right, what people don't understand scares the bejebus out of them.

Ol_Ag_02 said:

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OnlyForNow said:

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This is correct in Texas as well.

We cannot make changes to the deed restrictions, we can make changes to the ARC though. However, in my time on my board we've only broadened items, such as including vinyl fencing and adding standing seam metal roof as approved.

Doesn't your ARC bylaws state that you can request a variance from the BOD if denied? If the BOD isn't on board, then there is a possibility you can get neighbor involvement for a special meeting and referendum to amend/change that specific bylaw.

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Vinyl fencing and metal roofing would constitute an all out HOA war around here. We literally have been dictated bird house sizes.

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standing seam roofing looks high end and custom as hell.

Your BoD seems uninformed!

My HOA allowed for palm trees through an amendment to the covenants. Also the fences were demanded to upgraded from 6 feet to 6 feet 6" with a rot board when replacing due to age. Still causes issues with homeowners who want to replace and not build a taller fence. I don't understand those people. If I could put 8 or 10 foot fences in I would. I don't want to see y'all in my backyard and I can't afford a corner lot that backs up to greenspace.

As a side note, one of my neighbors put an 8 foot fence in but only in between him and his other neighbor. The fence line ran right down a drainage slope between the houses and so the old fence was really low compared to your view point if you're in the house or on the back patio. Effectively like a 5 foot tall fence. Neighbor caught his other neighbor looking a little too closely at the frosted glass window when his wife was in the shower.

Guy got summoned before the HOA board for an nonconformance and he told them to pound sand he wasn't going to chop part of his fence down. I haven't heard of any further action from my friends on the review board.

lol.

My back fence is 4 feet tall and split rail.
And my side fences are 5', with two retaining walls between one neighbor, so when on his deck, his feet are at the top of fence.

But I back to open space/park, and landscaping can do wonders. We actually feel pretty private in our backyard. When sitting on our lower deck Adirondack chairs, we can't see anything but our yard and our landscaping.

A lot of new conversation since I last checked, and it appears that hoa's and ARC's still fall somewhere between somewhat necessary evil and worthless power tripping nosy neighbors. Agree

This situation appears to be settling and still not in my favor. What has pissed me off the most throughout is the constant lies and misrepresentations of certain restrictions by the board, and my inability to fight it without a lawyer or spending my free time over there next several months canvassing the neighborhood.

Couple of examples of their misleading remarks

We denied because the restrictions don't allow for guest homes and maids quarters but the actual wording of the restrictions say they're discouraged

No multi family residences allowed- I sent them Fannie maes objective criteria of determine single vs multi family but got no response

When discussion came up of making it a pool house one of the guys told me no plumbing would be allowed in the slab or inside because he's never heard of a pool house with plumbing

The few places our restrictions make note of "single family residence" or the like, it's in relation to limitations of the use of homes for manufacturing, office space etc. They tried to stretch that in to meaning a secondary living space would make our home afoul of a single family residence.

They then said the only other pool house in the hood was built by the declarant and I couldn't use that as precedent. A quick look at deed records and county appraisal shows it was built the year after the original owners moved in.

And all members are like mid 40s and younger so it's not the typical busy body retirees.

I guess I'll take the L and move on for now

If the ACC and board aren't on your side, you're kinda sunk. The "discouraged" term isn't a prohibited statement, but if the ACC says that the structure isn't in harmony with the neighborhood, then your recourse is to appeal to the board for a variance (over ruling). Doesn't sound like they are on board.

I can see how this would be frustrating but you had to know you were fighting a losing battle here if those structures are discouraged, you need board approval and you have exactly one example in the neighborhood.

HOA has been notified that HUD has filed a Fair Housing Act complaint against them so it's either the one I'm aware of or they've screwed themselves twice.

Well that'll get their attention!

OnlyForNow said:

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Well that'll get their attention!

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I doubt it.

Probably best to leave it at that.

Are you an attorney?


My current board members are all anti-lawsuits for anything really. While the old people in the hood, who had the board majority a few years ago, went after a homeowner for putting in a old style wooden fence section (think tongue and grove ranch fence) that was about 50 feet long and entirely in a flowerbed, as she wanted english tea roses to climb up on it and grow.

The board said it was a "fence" and gave it to a lawyer, once they were voted out, the new board threw it out immediately and gave the homeowner a letter stating that it's not a fence and the landscaping is approved, with a variance for protection against any future issues.

I really don't see why people have this issue on things. I don't know (or remember) what you've said about your neighborhood, but we've got 88 houses in ours, everyone owns 2+ acres, average value is probably 700K+ and these fools are worried about a basketball goal in the front yard, or a $5,000 section of fence for english tea roses to grow on - I mean HOLY CRAP.

I have nothing to add other than my disdain for HOA as well. Some are ok but some just drag things out. It's fairly often that an HO and myself just go ahead with a job before getting approval because of the time waste. I will never forget one of my HO from last year. His name was James. He was a retired cop and pretty hard core conservative. Older guy. He wanted a brown roof which was against the covenants and upon my asking if he wanted me to handle the HOA approvals, he said "oh, nah, I already got approval. Got it 6 years ago. It's called the f-in deed. Put the brown on, the HOA can f- off."

And we did. And they complained and he told them to f- off as promised and they threatened a fine and the fiend him and he didn't pay for it and they gave up. Honestly , he was my kind of guy and it was probably in the HOA interest to pick an easier battle.

You can't do that with an addition I suppose.

At the same time, it's hard to be upset with an HOA becasue everyone living and buying houses there know what they are signing up for.

Jason_InfinityRoofer said:

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I have nothing to add other than my disdain for HOA as well. Some are ok but some just drag things out. It's fairly often that an HO and myself just go ahead with a job before getting approval because of the time waste. I will never forget one of my HO from last year. His name was James. He was a retired cop and pretty hard core conservative. Older guy. He wanted a brown roof which was against the covenants and upon my asking if he wanted me to handle the HOA approvals, he said "oh, nah, I already got approval. Got it 6 years ago. It's called the f-in deed. Put the brown on, the HOA can f- off."

And we did. And they complained and he told them to f- off as promised and they threatened a fine and the fiend him and he didn't pay for it and they gave up. Honestly , he was my kind of guy and it was probably in the HOA interest to pick an easier battle.

You can't do that with an addition I supposed.

At the same time, it's hard to be upset with an HOA becasue everyone living and buying houses there know what they are signing up for.

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I'm upset with all the crap that's been unilaterally added since I moved in. But one ***** slap at a time. Hopefully a HUD complaint crushes some skulls first. In order to remove all the restrictions they've added without approval is gonna require a lawsuit at the county level I believe.

Texas does not have a governing authority to enforce HOAs violating their own rules. You have to sue them and be willing to front the bill for both parties if you lose.

It's almost as if the HOA laws in Texas were set up to ensure management companies maintain their cash cow and not to protect homeowners.

I do see that on occasion as well. It's always "no metal roofing" until someone on the board wants a metal roof and then all of a sudden it's ok.

I leave in a neighborhood with an HOA and all of the things you worry about without HOA are pretty much going on in my neighborhood. I just did an appeal to the ACC over a denial of a paint color. Our governing documents are dated 1982. Al it says is the neighborhood has to be in harmony. They denied my garage door and fence a black color when there is over 10 houses in the neighborhood who have a very similar paint color on their garage. They didn't even state in my denial letter the reasoning. I had to call ask the management company what colors we could as I couldn't find anything on it and that's when he said it only states that the neighborhood had to be in harmony. They also didn't list that I had 30 days to appeal it. It took them 25 days to approve the house color but dent the garage color and now I have to wait on a response from an appeal which doesn't state in the governing documents so by law 30 days. I know majority didn't submit a request more than likely but that's not my fault. I'm just going by the rules and if there are already house that have it, then to me it got approved. They can't tell me that they didn't turn in a request or got denied and didn't anyways because that would violate the law. Color schemes change from 1982 to 2025. We hall wait and see.