Deed Restrictions on property

[Mk3*Supra]

Hey guys

Just moved to ohio from sc and have a contract on a house. The house has a 2 bay attached garage but we wanted to put another enclosed garage in the back for the supras (mainly for winter).

There is no home owner association but it is in suburbia. The deed restrictions are wrote a little strange and at least one rule isn't followed by anyone in the area (everyone should be limited to a 5 ft privacy fence but every house with a fence has a 6ft)


the deed restriction starts by saying one a single family home can be placed on the property.. says no trailer, garage, or other outbuilding can be used as a residence.. says no metal buildings permitted (along with no solar panels or satellite dishes).. it then goes on to say no truck, boat, recreational vehicle etc can not be out front unless in a garage or other vehicle enclosure.. then says we can have a storage building but has to be wood and 10x10


We sent it my boyfriends dad who is a lawyer and he basically said the deed restriction is wrote like shit and he isn't sure if a wood garage/enclosure would be in violation or not



Just wondering if anyone else had to deal with deed restrictions like this and how you guys went about getting stuff approved or figuring out what was allowed. I wouldn't be putting up some massive shop in the back.. it'd be as small as possible to hold the two supras so it didnt interfere with the looks of the area (we'll also be putting up a fence so I'm not sure if you'd see a shop in the back of the yard from the street).


I'm not even sure how much this stuff is enforced since every house with a fence is breaking the fence rule.. but I'd prefer not to have to take down an enclosure after getting it put up and i don't want to piss off new neighbours since we will probably be living here a while.



Sarah

 

[Mango]

Hey, I am a land surveyor tech in Canada and have dealt with some "Deed Restrictions" before. First off I am NOT a lawyer so take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt. The first thing is the 5ft fence, you can have a 5ft fence with a foot a lattice. 2nd no trailer garage thing means you cant send your husband or mother in-law to live in the garage even tho you might want to. 3rd you can't have your broke ass trailer rusting in your driveway. 4th no ugly red metal storage sheds you got from walmart 20 years ago. The wording is a bit strange but very standard. The way around the storage problem is to make it into a garage, use vinyl siding and a concrete floor. Just a side note, Almost every place in Canada and i'm sure in the US says building a structure bigger than 10x10 requires a permit so check with your local city hall they will be able to help you. I hope this helps and remember I am not a lawyer and I don't live in the US so please check before building Good luck

 

[Supracentral]

Both the satellite dish prohibition and solar panel prohibitions are void under US federal law and are not enforceable. HOAs can adopt reasonable rules as to where on a homeowner’s property solar & dishes can be installed, but they cannot prohibit them wholesale. As above, I'm not a lawyer, this isn't legal advice, just my personal interpretation of US federal law.

As for structures, talk to your immediate neighbors, the ones who would "see" it from their homes and ask them how they feel about it. Explain to them that the deed restriction is unclear, and that you do not want to build something and then find out that it offends someone. Pitch it to them that an honest answer would be better for everyone and that you'll not hold a grudge if they say they don't like it.

As for the rest, it's really a local thing, you'll have to talk to zoning board people, etc.

 

[Mk3*Supra]

i checked on the permit a while ago before we even looked at houses.. its some paperwork and $25. As far as the fence thing they just all have a 6ft fence with no lattice. We have two dogs so we are probably going to go the same way as everyone else for ease and uniformity.

No hoa thankfully.. thats something we were trying to avoid.. the nice thing is the area is very well kept and you'd think it did have one. I'll talk to the neighbours and hopefully none of them have an issue with it. The wording throughout the deed restriction is just confusing.. it seems to contradict itself in multiple places.. our previous house in SC didnt have restrictions that we know of so it was never a concern. lol

I just didn't want to put the supras in storage. I don't like them not at the house.

thanks for the advice though guys.. might try to send it to another lawyer we know since the first one basically said it was written so crappy he didn't know how they'd enforce any part of it

 

[Supracentral]

Another question worth asking is, if there is no HOA, who is going to enforce the covenants? Without some enforcement mechanism, they are toothless. If the city doesn't have an interest in them, and there is no HOA, who is going to bring suit against you? If it's "collective action" amongst the other homeowners, you'd have to be one hell of a nuisance, or would have to have a bored lawyer in the neighborhood.

 

[te72]

Another question worth asking is, if there is no HOA, who is going to enforce the covenants? Without some enforcement mechanism, they are toothless. If the city doesn't have an interest in them, and there is no HOA, who is going to bring suit against you? If it's "collective action" amongst the other homeowners, you'd have to be one hell of a nuisance, or would have to have a bored lawyer in the neighborhood.

Here in my corner of the world we have a small issue with people just outside city limits. Some of their homes/land looks like a dump, but there's not a whole lot that can be done outside of nuisance laws. Hoping to put a car-park area on the side of my house at some point when I build the 7, will need a trailer to house it in too. Fortunately it's a short car so it'll be easy to hide behind the fence.

While we're on the subject of building restrictions, I really wonder how hard it would be to put a cactus garden in the yard to keep all the neighbor's spawn out of my fucking yard, getting sick of this:

:: IJ. ::

 

[Mk3*Supra]

i wasn't quite sure who would enforce it either.. they have a paragraph about consequences but it seems to reach no point