The main reason I posted this was to warn others to check neighborhood covenants. I am aware that we are have a legal obligation to follow all restrictions. But I also feel that most people have no idea of the power & control that HOA have & don't have that explained to them before purchasing their home. We're in our 50's & this is the 3rd home we've owned in a HOA controlled neighborhood. As I pointed out, our current home is being controlled by the developer, not homeowners. With each home purchase, we were given the covenants at the closing, with no opportunity to look over them. It was just pointed out what the HOA dues would be. Our previous experiences with HOA were that dues were required to maintain common areas & an attempt was made to make people maintain their yards. We had never experienced this kind of control over what you can do on your own property. If we, with all the experience with home purchasing we've had, foolishly made the mistakes we have made, how many young 1st time buyers have no idea what rights they're signing away? A person should get legal counsel to explain it to them...most of the language in the covenants would require a lawyer to understand. Our daughter lives next door to us & couldn't believe we could be forced to take the pool out. I told her she needs to read the covenants. They can do more than you realize.
A little background will help explain why it never occurred to us that the pool would be a problem. This home is a step down for us...not only in the size of the home but it's a much less upscale neighborhood. With no children at home, we wanted a smaller home & to do that had to lower our standard a little. Small homes are not built in really nice neighborhoods. Our daughter already lived here so that was a plus. I take care of her children so it's convenient for her. Her 2 small children & the new one on the way is one reason, besides cost, that we don't want an in-ground pool. We have had above ground pools twice before...one in a neighborhood much nicer than this one, with no problems. In the 4 years we've lived here we've dealt with things involving neighbors that almost made us want to sell the house & move. If it weren't for the fact that the house is paid for & our daughter lives next door, we would have. For a year, we had 2 very large, uncared for dogs next door. The yard wasn't mowed for the whole year or the dog feces cleaned up. They allowed the sprinkler to run so everything was kept wet. I guess they weren't smart enough to figure out how to turn it off...why would you water your lawn if you dont want to mow? The houses are only 10 ft apart so the smell was unbearable to the point we never went outside. I don't think we could have sold the house if we had tried. These dogs also tore all the screens off this new home & they were destroyed & scattered on the lawn. The neighbors on the other side talked to these people with no results. We attempted to contact our developer...he doesn't respond to e-mail...doesn't answer phone calls & his voice mail is always full. The neighbors on the other side finally called animal welfare & the problem was taken care of...the people moved. The house was vacant for a year then sold to some great neighbors. There have been other issues that other neighbors have had to get the city code enforcement involved to get taken care of. The developer was no help in resolving these problems.
The only reason we considered involving a lawyer is that the developer isn't enforcing many things of the builders. I ask him about the homes being built with 1 to 2 ft of concrete exposed under the brick when the covenants clearly state that the brick must go all the way to the ground. He said that was a mistake for that to be required in the Villas because they were intended to be affordable homes. It's still in the covenants. This neighborhood has 3 sections, Manors, Estates & Villas...each having different size requirements but apparently the developer can also decide to lower the building standards for the smaller homes to make them more affordable. You can't put in an affordable pool though. There are many building standards he's not requiring of the builders.
I just wanted to make it clear to everyone that we didn't move in to some upscale neighborhood & try to trash it up by putting in a red-neck above ground pool. We have higher standards than most. We do have privacy fences on the sides but across the back an iron fence was required. We have planted lots of trees & shrubs to screen out our view of one neighbor behind us that has had a pile of trash on his patio that has been growing for 4 years. Our pool is barely visible. Due to the fact that there is a main gas line behind us, there is 100ft between our homes & those behind us. Others chose to put wood fences instead of the iron & have not been made to take them down. One guy said he told the developer that when he fulfilled his promise that the land behind us would be landscaped, he'd take down his wood fence. They did finally start mowing the field after 3 yrs but the 4 people with prohibited wood fences have not removed them. There are several sheds that are not in compliance also.
One of the reasons we don't want to start any legal action is that we don't want to start problems for other neighbors. We might get our developer, who is no where to be seen when you need him...forcing you to get the city code enforcers to solve serious problems... on a mission to enforce all the covenants. This would cause major expense for lots of homeowners who take good care of their property. They were just like us & didn't read all the legal language & didn't realize you had to get approval before you plant a shrub. I was just trying to save others who might not realize above ground pools can be prohibited from making the same mistake we did. As far as having the right to not buy this home...there isn't anywhere in our area that you can buy a new home that isn't controlled by a HOA. In our case, this is not a group of homeowners that could review restrictions & vote to amend them...it's one man whose standards are pretty low in every other area of the neighborhood.