How would you like to receive a letter from your homeowner’s association that starts out like this? During a recent inspection it was noted that you were in violation of the Covenants and Architectural Guidelines for the following reason:
General Maintenance - Paint Metal Roof: "Each homeowner shall keep and maintain each Lot and Structure owner by him, as well as all landscaping located thereon, in good condition and repair…"
Specifically please paint the metal roof on the front of the house to match the shutters.
We will recheck your property in approximately twenty (20) days from the date of this letter. Please note that violations that are not corrected by that date or continue to be repeat violations will incur a fine of $25 per day. The association has the right of abatement (the right to correct the violation at your expense) and the right to membership suspension. Please refer to the Covenants.
In my subdivision many of the bay windows and Queen Anne returns are covered with copper. Now if the copper roof is to be painted the same color as the shutters, then just on my cul-de-sac of 7 homes there would be grey, taupe, reddish orange, blue and black painted copper. I think it is easy to visualize just how silly that would look. Obviously the individual that wrote this letter was not very well versed about copper roofs and their maintenance. For those who don’t know as it ages, copper naturally goes through several stages. Rather than educating themselves first, it is sad that the homeowner’s association just sent out this letter for no good reason.
After several phone conversations and countless hours of research obtaining documentation about copper roofs along with emailing these documents to the homeowner’s association the violation was dropped. The resident was guilty until proven innocent. Seems a bit backwards from the way we have all been brought up don’t you think? Below you will see a picture of a monument that started out as bright shiny cooper and been going through the aging process for some time. I think we can all agree that it would be a shame to paint this structure.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
As you will note the homeowners association rules in this case states: “Each homeowner shall keep and maintain each Lot and Structure owner by him, as well as all landscaping located thereon, in good condition and repair…” . However in this case the letter describing the infraction also specified the fix. This is at odds which the association rule in quotes above. It doesn’t say the complainant also gets to pick the remedy. The homeowner could replace the copper roof, paint it to look like new copper or change it in other ways acceptable to the architectural review committee. Not withstanding the fact that a copper roof properly installed requires no maintenance, something entirely overlooked by the person making the complaint who didn’t know the difference between copper and other metals and that copper has more than one color. Homeowners should challenge and investigate unreasonable requests if for no other reason than the complaint maybe baseless; be just the opinion or misinformation of the complainer, or worse an attempt to modify the architectural standards of the neighborhood without the consent of the homeowners. Most homeowners know when their house needs maintenance and move to make repairs in a timely manner without be prodded to do so because it lowers the value of their property if they don’t. But they generally also don’t make “needless repairs” or change their property in such a way as to lower its’ value.
Very well stated Kimsey, however I don’t think that homeowners should be put in this position by overzealous HOA personnel that are uneducated regarding construction materials and techniques.