A couple of weeks ago, our neighbor called to make sure that our entire exterior would be brick or stone. "It's a part of the neighborhood covenants. I really hope that won't be a problem," he said. *record screech* What?! We're installing siding on our house RIGHT now! And where are the neighborhood covenants?!
There's a big difference between an HOA and neighborhood covenants. "When properly recorded on a deed conveying land, a covenant ('restrictive deed covenant') has the legal effect of a binding contract term, and may be so enforced. ...Covenants differ from zoning ordinances in that they are between private parties rather than between a governmental entity and a private party."
Our neighborhood covenants state that the exterior of the homes need to be made up of a masonry product. (Stucco counts, if you've been following along.) We panicked. Our neighbor informed us that we would need signatures from five families to get a variance. Of course, we asked him if he'd be our first signature, and he declined because (wait for it) he's the president of the neighborhood or something. (whoops!)
Our neighbor behind us just built a cute farmhouse with siding and brick — so we went there for our first signature. We found out there are only eight houses in our "neighborhood," but we got our signatures! Hopefully they won't mind that we're also painting our house black. ha! We also discovered our covenants expired 6 years ago, but it's nice to be good neighbors anyway.
