There are varying fence height restrictions, depending on the zone district.
Cedar Ridge Townhomes are located in Lakewood, Colorado, 80228. The location is west of Denver, Colorado.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Research - Encroaching Tree
Over the line
Overgrown trees trigger dispute with neighbor, association
By Lew Sichelman
Last Update: 7:05 PM ET Oct 4, 2007
PrintPrint EmailE-mail Subscribe to RSSSubscribe to RSS DisableDisable Live Quotes
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Question: I own a patio home with a property line that extends three feet from one wall of my house into my neighbor's backyard. The CC&Rs give each lot owner, as the "dominant tenement," a non-exclusive easement extending five feet onto the lot adjoining the dominant tenement.
My neighbor planted two American Podocorpus trees only a foot away from the wall and has never maintained them properly. Both trees are now four-story tall giants growing right next to my wall. One is leaning on my two-story roof and has broken several of my roof tiles. The other one is an even bigger tree, 12-inches in diameter with branches hanging on the front part of my house.
I asked our community association to write to the neighbor and ask him to remove the trees. But I was told by the association that this is a neighbor-to-neighbor dispute; therefore, I should sue him. I hired an attorney and have spent $10,000 so far, but my attorney still thinks that the association should help us interpret the rules because even if we go all the way to trial, the judge will most likely require the association to define the non-exclusive right.
The upshot is that this will cost me $20,000 more. Can the association just sit there and watch the homeowners sue each other? Isn't it the association's duty to interpret the CC&Rs when homeowners have a dispute regarding issues that are not clearly defined in the documents? Jenny Chou.
Answer: Nowadays, houses in new developments almost always come with strictures on how the property can used. Typically, these limitations -- called covenants, conditions and restrictions, or CC&Rs -- place the power to make decisions into the hands of the homeowner's association.
Lots more
real estate
Coverage of home buying and selling, housing prices, mortgage information and home improvement.
• Living under HOA thumb
• Low-cost apartment touch-ups
• More home sellers try auctions
• Desperate home-seller tactics
Get our free Real Estate newsletter
Some associations rule with an iron hand, while others are far more lax. But either way, their role is to maintain or enhance the value of all the houses under their jurisdiction.
According to T. Peter Kristian, president-elect of the Community Associations Institute, a 29,000-member group created in 1973 to foster vibrant, harmonious and competent communities, every association in consultation with its legal counsel has a duty to interpret the CC&Rs as they relate to an owner's rights and responsibilities under the governing documents.
Since your question indicates the CC&Rs are silent as to the installation of plant material in the easement area, it would seem your neighbor is free to plant landscape material in this area.
However, the five-foot easement is for the purpose of accessing your property to perform maintenance. That may mean your neighbor could not place anything within the easement area that would unreasonably restrict the rights you have to use the area to access your home for maintenance. A tree or trees may or may not, depending on their size and structure, unreasonably restrict the activities required for maintenance.
But Kristian, who is general manager of the Hilton Head Plantation Property Owners Association, suspects you would need to use the easement area for maintenance activities such as painting and siding replacement, power washing, window replacement, roof repair and so on.
"If you are unreasonably restricted from using the easement area for these types of maintenance activities, the association should get involved by writing to the offending property owner and indicating that the trees should be pruned or removed to allow access to the easement area," he says.
If the trees are not unreasonably restricting your ability to access the easement area to maintain your home, then you do, indeed, have a neighbor-to-neighbor issue. If you haven't tried to sit down with your neighbor over a cup of coffee to discuss and address your concerns, Kristian suggests you do so now. "Stop suing each other and start talking to each other," he says. "Court should be your last resort."
If you have tried talking -- and being reasonable in your demands -- and it hasn't worked, the association manager thinks your attorney should advise your neighbor that you believe you have the right to cut or trim any of your neighbor's landscape material that encroaches on to your property, you consider the trees a hazard and your neighbor will be held legally and financially responsible for any damage to your home caused by the trees hitting or damaging your property.
"This approach generally will get your neighbor's attention," Kristian says.
Overgrown trees trigger dispute with neighbor, association
By Lew Sichelman
Last Update: 7:05 PM ET Oct 4, 2007
PrintPrint EmailE-mail Subscribe to RSSSubscribe to RSS DisableDisable Live Quotes
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Question: I own a patio home with a property line that extends three feet from one wall of my house into my neighbor's backyard. The CC&Rs give each lot owner, as the "dominant tenement," a non-exclusive easement extending five feet onto the lot adjoining the dominant tenement.
My neighbor planted two American Podocorpus trees only a foot away from the wall and has never maintained them properly. Both trees are now four-story tall giants growing right next to my wall. One is leaning on my two-story roof and has broken several of my roof tiles. The other one is an even bigger tree, 12-inches in diameter with branches hanging on the front part of my house.
I asked our community association to write to the neighbor and ask him to remove the trees. But I was told by the association that this is a neighbor-to-neighbor dispute; therefore, I should sue him. I hired an attorney and have spent $10,000 so far, but my attorney still thinks that the association should help us interpret the rules because even if we go all the way to trial, the judge will most likely require the association to define the non-exclusive right.
The upshot is that this will cost me $20,000 more. Can the association just sit there and watch the homeowners sue each other? Isn't it the association's duty to interpret the CC&Rs when homeowners have a dispute regarding issues that are not clearly defined in the documents? Jenny Chou.
Answer: Nowadays, houses in new developments almost always come with strictures on how the property can used. Typically, these limitations -- called covenants, conditions and restrictions, or CC&Rs -- place the power to make decisions into the hands of the homeowner's association.
Lots more
real estate
Coverage of home buying and selling, housing prices, mortgage information and home improvement.
• Living under HOA thumb
• Low-cost apartment touch-ups
• More home sellers try auctions
• Desperate home-seller tactics
Get our free Real Estate newsletter
Some associations rule with an iron hand, while others are far more lax. But either way, their role is to maintain or enhance the value of all the houses under their jurisdiction.
According to T. Peter Kristian, president-elect of the Community Associations Institute, a 29,000-member group created in 1973 to foster vibrant, harmonious and competent communities, every association in consultation with its legal counsel has a duty to interpret the CC&Rs as they relate to an owner's rights and responsibilities under the governing documents.
Since your question indicates the CC&Rs are silent as to the installation of plant material in the easement area, it would seem your neighbor is free to plant landscape material in this area.
However, the five-foot easement is for the purpose of accessing your property to perform maintenance. That may mean your neighbor could not place anything within the easement area that would unreasonably restrict the rights you have to use the area to access your home for maintenance. A tree or trees may or may not, depending on their size and structure, unreasonably restrict the activities required for maintenance.
But Kristian, who is general manager of the Hilton Head Plantation Property Owners Association, suspects you would need to use the easement area for maintenance activities such as painting and siding replacement, power washing, window replacement, roof repair and so on.
"If you are unreasonably restricted from using the easement area for these types of maintenance activities, the association should get involved by writing to the offending property owner and indicating that the trees should be pruned or removed to allow access to the easement area," he says.
If the trees are not unreasonably restricting your ability to access the easement area to maintain your home, then you do, indeed, have a neighbor-to-neighbor issue. If you haven't tried to sit down with your neighbor over a cup of coffee to discuss and address your concerns, Kristian suggests you do so now. "Stop suing each other and start talking to each other," he says. "Court should be your last resort."
If you have tried talking -- and being reasonable in your demands -- and it hasn't worked, the association manager thinks your attorney should advise your neighbor that you believe you have the right to cut or trim any of your neighbor's landscape material that encroaches on to your property, you consider the trees a hazard and your neighbor will be held legally and financially responsible for any damage to your home caused by the trees hitting or damaging your property.
"This approach generally will get your neighbor's attention," Kristian says.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)