I recently moved to MD from NJ so I am unfamilar with MD law on this. I also never dealt with an HOA this stubborn before. The facts are below:
I moved into a community where there were 37 existing condo/townhouses and my builder just build an additional 75 condo/townhouses. My lot backs up to an emergency entrance to a school park which was not clearly marked when I purchased this plat. This entrance is supposed to be for emergency personnel only to access this portion of the park if a student gets hurt. The park is open to the public on weekends starting in April from 7am to 7pm and once school is out is open all week for the same hours. The current HOA residents have decided that they do not wish to go to the actual entrance to the park but rather enter through this entrance. The way they access this park is to go through the space between my unattached neighbor and myself and then cut across my backyard to the entrance which is at the other end of my house. They do this constantly, already during the week, they did this before April, etc. Additionally, people who do not reside in our community have discovered this entrance, decided it was closer for them to access the park and now I have additional people trespassing on my property.
I tried solving this myself by asking the park to relocate the entrance to a place nearby but not behind private property and they will not due this due to lack of funds. The sheriff's department (again I was from NJ where we had local police and not sheriff's covering an entire county) will only help if I literally catch the person on my property and they can get there in time to fine them.
Seeing how my hands are seemingly tied using these routes, I requested to build a fence around my plat of land. I did not want to do this because I bought this house for the view of the park and also for the maintenance factor. I have checked and the CC&R does not state anything about the size of a fence, merely that the architectural committee and the HOA board members have to approve the fence. The current fence being used by exactly three households in our portion of the community is a 4 ft picket fence. This is not stated anywhere in the CC&R or bylaws but rather relayed to me by the management company they chose this for aesthetic purposes. However, in the other two portions of our community (we have one master association residing over three subassociations - the other two portions compromise the other two subassociations) there are people with privacy fences at heights of 6ft. I requested this type of fence initially but was denied immediately since it didn't meet aesthetic purposes. I stated I should get a waiver for this due to the above - residents and non-residents alike accessing the park at all hours, no security, no privacy. They were not waivering on this. I then requested a 6 ft privacy fence for the back and 4 ft sides that abide by their rules, feeling this was at least a compromise but they do not like the idea of two different size fences. The only fence they will approve is the 4ft fence which I don't think will properly protect me nor do I believe it affords me any privacy.
Do I have a legal leg to stand on to fight for a higher fence either around my plat or just in the back? Can I hold them liable for anything that goes on on my property (i.e. if someone gets hurt, if it is vandalized, etc)?
Thank you everybody for your help.
I moved into a community where there were 37 existing condo/townhouses and my builder just build an additional 75 condo/townhouses. My lot backs up to an emergency entrance to a school park which was not clearly marked when I purchased this plat. This entrance is supposed to be for emergency personnel only to access this portion of the park if a student gets hurt. The park is open to the public on weekends starting in April from 7am to 7pm and once school is out is open all week for the same hours. The current HOA residents have decided that they do not wish to go to the actual entrance to the park but rather enter through this entrance. The way they access this park is to go through the space between my unattached neighbor and myself and then cut across my backyard to the entrance which is at the other end of my house. They do this constantly, already during the week, they did this before April, etc. Additionally, people who do not reside in our community have discovered this entrance, decided it was closer for them to access the park and now I have additional people trespassing on my property.
I tried solving this myself by asking the park to relocate the entrance to a place nearby but not behind private property and they will not due this due to lack of funds. The sheriff's department (again I was from NJ where we had local police and not sheriff's covering an entire county) will only help if I literally catch the person on my property and they can get there in time to fine them.
Seeing how my hands are seemingly tied using these routes, I requested to build a fence around my plat of land. I did not want to do this because I bought this house for the view of the park and also for the maintenance factor. I have checked and the CC&R does not state anything about the size of a fence, merely that the architectural committee and the HOA board members have to approve the fence. The current fence being used by exactly three households in our portion of the community is a 4 ft picket fence. This is not stated anywhere in the CC&R or bylaws but rather relayed to me by the management company they chose this for aesthetic purposes. However, in the other two portions of our community (we have one master association residing over three subassociations - the other two portions compromise the other two subassociations) there are people with privacy fences at heights of 6ft. I requested this type of fence initially but was denied immediately since it didn't meet aesthetic purposes. I stated I should get a waiver for this due to the above - residents and non-residents alike accessing the park at all hours, no security, no privacy. They were not waivering on this. I then requested a 6 ft privacy fence for the back and 4 ft sides that abide by their rules, feeling this was at least a compromise but they do not like the idea of two different size fences. The only fence they will approve is the 4ft fence which I don't think will properly protect me nor do I believe it affords me any privacy.
Do I have a legal leg to stand on to fight for a higher fence either around my plat or just in the back? Can I hold them liable for anything that goes on on my property (i.e. if someone gets hurt, if it is vandalized, etc)?
Thank you everybody for your help.
