We have lived in Texas since 1973. Most of that time was in the Houston area.
Houston prides itself on being, “the largest city in the country without zoning.” In place of zoning, they rely on deed restrictions, which may or may not be backed up by a Home Owners Association.
A lot of folks who have not lived in areas without zoning look askance at a system that relies on deed restrictions. Having worked in situations where I have observed first hand the bribes going to the local pols to get a zoning variance approved, I tend to like deed restrictions. As a rule, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to get around the restrictions written into a well-drafted set of deed restrictions.
So with that in mind, l spent a lot of time reviewing the deed restrictions when we were negotiating to buy a nine acre lot for our retirement home back in 2001. I wanted a reasonable level of protection (like no junk yard next door) without an unreasonable level of restrictions (like an RV garage is OK).
However, when we arrived at our property in the summer of 2014 to start construction, we found that our community Property Owners Association had set up an Architectural Control Committee and those folks refused to approve our RV garage. They pointed to an official looking document entitled “Architectural Guidelines” or some-such (74 pages!) that specifically excluded RV garages.
I pointed out that in the thirteen years since we had bought our property, over thirty RV garages and/or shops, barns, whatever had already appeared in our 1800 lot community. They advised that was the “out of control building” they were trying to prevent.
I produced my copy of the deed restrictions. Twelve pages. I asked them to show me the section that prohibited me building an RV garage. They couldn’t do that because no such section exists.
It could have gotten ugly from this point, but fortunately for us, two other families had recently run into the same stone wall. They had filed a lawsuit against the POA. The lawsuit had reached the point where the D&O coverage for the POA board was exhausted. The board members wisely decided that their 74 pages of architectural controls were, indeed, unenforceable and we were free to proceed with our garage.
I relate thus long story to make the point that property owners should be sure to explore the legality of what they are being told about restrictions that supposedly exist on their property. There are many wanna-be politicians out there who are ready to write rules that may or may not be enforceable. In our case, if its in the deed restrictions, it’s enforceable by the POA. If its not in the deed restrictions, the POA would need to get the restrictions changed. For us, that takes an 80% vote of the property owners. Good luck with that.
