When you purchase a townhouse or home in a planned development or gated community here in Southwest Florida, you are often obligated to join that community’s homeowner’s association (HOA), pay monthly or annual fees for the upkeep of common areas, and maintain your home within the HOA’.
In addition to maintaining common areas, HOAs also set out certain rules that all residents must follow called convenants, conditions and restrictions (CC&Rs). Rules may include what color front door you may have, whether you are allowed to line dry your laundry outside, whether you can have a satellite dish, the size and type of pets permitted, and so on. In a subdivision with individual homes, regulations may include what color you can paint your home, the exterior landscaping you can do, the types of vehicles you can park on the street or in your driveway (no RVs, for example), permissible type and height of fences, and restrictions on window coverings for windows facing the street.
HOA’s will also govern how well you maintain your residence and will often enforce how well you maintain your property, which can include everything from lawn maintenance to keeping your roof clear of mildew and your driveway and lanai clean as well. While all of this can be a pain, remember the covenants are there to help maintain the quality of life for the entire community and to protect property values for all of the owners.
No one likes to get a letter saying they’ve broken the rules and may be being charged a fine by the HOA if they don’t maintain their property properly. However, the HOA is obligated to fairly and consistently enforce governing documents. If it didn’t, chaos would ensue.
Here at Under Pressure, we call those HOA maintenance letters “nastygrams.” This is the time of year in SWFL, when many HOA’s send out their maintenance “nastygrams.” And if you’ve gotten a “nastygram” about mold and mildew on your roof, your driveway, your lanai or your sidewalk, we want you to know that we are here to help you avoid getting a fine from your HOA. Call Under Pressure now and we will get that dirt and mildew handled immediately, getting you out of hot water with your association, and making your home looking fantastic
