Status update
Thought it was time for a status update. The discussion on this thread has been very interesting, and I thank everyone for their insights. Please let me make it clear that we bought the property,
knowing it had covenants and a HOA. We wanted those things for our own protection.
At present it seems that they have no proof of who owns the fence or whether it is even a violation. Sure, they say it is, but make them prove it affirmatively.
We have cleared up the fence issue, but are not yet out of the woods. If I have time, and you all have patience, I'll discuss the other things in another post.
But the fence. As some of you advised, we sent a nice letter asking the HOA to explain why they think we own the fence.
Thursday night, we met for 15 minutes with 3 HOA members. They told us that the fence was a "party fence," erected by the builder, so both units are responsible for it, and nobody has to put in an architectural request. This was conveyed with perfect aplomb and no apologies, as if they'd known this all along, and we should have known it, too. Actually, I believe, it's the community management co., who are paid through our monthly dues, and are the intermediaries between us and the HOA, who should have known about the fence. Instead, they blindly slapped us with the "violation."
As an example of the mgmt co's incompetence: I learned, by devious means, that two original complaint letters (the fence and other "issues") were sent to us
last July, by e-mail, to an e-mail address that was off by one digit.
Since we never got the e-mail, everyone assumed we had blown it off, hence the nasty second notice by certified mail. Had we not received the
second notice, we would have been automatically fined once a month, resulting in a lien on our property. I have requested that ALL future notices be sent to us by U.S. mail.
More to come, if you are still interested,
Amethyst