To the best of our knowledge, covenants, conditions and
restrictions, or CC&R’s, are limitations and rules placed on a group of
homes by a builder, developer, neighborhood association or homeowner
association. All condos and townhomes
have CC&Rs; however, so do most planned unit developments and established
neighborhoods. Nevertheless, in the case
of Sun Valley Estates most owners have neither read nor signed any such documents,
when they purchased their homes. Some of the owners of Sun Valley Estates were
informed prior to purchase that CC&R’s would be written sometime in the
near future but, the full contents of such a document was not known at the
close of escrow or recording of our deeds. Even more buyers signed an addendum stating
that upon receipt of such CC&R’s they would agree to comply with such
conditions. Nonetheless, the question arises; can CC&R’s be
enforceable after the fact, even if owners were informed and/or even signed
addendums during escrow that the CC&R’s would become available sometime in
the future? Moreover, how could they
become enforceable, if the owners had no idea what was in them? Some
owners even felt compelled to sign these addendums for fear of their escrow not
closing or they were under the assumption that CC&R’s would never see the
light of day. Unfortunately, the difficulty with
retroactive conditions and restrictions is only one problem we see as a topic
for discussion. The question of a Home
Owners Association or HOA is an entirely different situation that carries with
it; its own set of unique circumstances.
For this reason, a number of Sun Valley residents have
called for a petition to be circulated throughout our neighborhood to
distinguish between those owners that want an HOA and those that do not. In this case, the proposed petition is for
those homeowners that are definitely against any type of association or group
of homeowners that would enforce conditions and covenants. The problem of retroactive CC&R’s is an
issue that will be addressed at a later time after the online review of those
recently submitted by the contractor and an independent review by objective
legal experts.
Ridiculous. Nobody should be forced to agree to rules they never even saw before signing the papers. This is shady business.