Architectural Guidelines

n0c7

I just purchased a new single detached home in a brand new neighborhood. Our city hasn't had much for architectural guidelines in the past including my previous home built in 2004 but I was informed after purchase that there is quite the detailed package for this area.

While most of the guidelines are reasonable, what are your experiences if you fail to comply? Two I have an issue with are:

1) They want a brown stained fence built from spruce using only nails when I want to use pressure treated unstained/unpainted built with screws.

2) No front facing satellite dishes, or dishes over 1m(3.3ft) in the rear. Not an issue for me as my backyard faces south, however I know many other people will have an issue with this since they face north onto the street.

There is no home owners association present, this is not a condo, and these are not city bylaws. Can they actually force you to do anything or are these guidelines just highly recommended to maintain property value?

gregzoll

That is a HOA, not architectural guidelines. As for the satellite dish, they can not restrict you from where you place it on your property, nor keep you from placing one on your property, per the FCC, but with Canada, it would not apply. Because of HOA & cities have become over critical how their appearances are, they have caused not only ATT to not finish their build out of U-Verse in the states, but also have cause multiple headaches other ways. The fence, yes they can enforce that to make everything look the same for asthetics.

n0c7

That's the weird part - there is no HOA and this was one of the things I made sure of when I bought. These guidelines mentioned above are straight from the developer and was a bit of a shock to read.

WirelessG

I agree - it sounds like an HOA. PT would make a better material for the fence and you should be able to stain it make it look like the other fences depending on how dark the stain is. You can probably ask the HOA for permission to use PT. Typically the concern over the dishes is that they not be in sight. I don't understand why having your house face N/S makes a difference unless the lots are small and the houses are two story.

Look around your neighborhood and see if there are any violations. If you see a lot, the HOA is not strong. If you don't see any, the HOA is likely strict. If you violate the covenants they can sue you. I would find out who is on the HOA committee and talk to them about your concerns.

WirelessG

It's possible that covenants exist without an HOA, especially if the neighborhood is new (if nobody has moved into any of the houses, there are no people to form a committee).

sdsester

Yup and the builder probably had to agree to them in order to get building permits. They will turn into ordinances from the City or HOA when your hood is populated.

The good news is now is the time to challenge them if you want, say a pink, rather than brown fence.

Satellite dishes are rather hideous looking. But I think a prior poster is correct and you cannot be denied placement of a device that delivers telecommunications to you. Check this out though.

gregzoll

sdsester, here in the U.S. they can not restrict you from putting up a antenna for OTA or Satellite. As you know in Chicago, they wrecked havoc on the placement of the VRAD's for ATT, even though there are cabinets all over the city for telecommunications, CATV and power. People that rule neighborhoods only care about their own narrow mindedness, not the positive for everyone, with still the restrictions of no broken down cars, etc.