hoa Archives - Teton Realty Blog

What You Need to Know About Buying Land!

January 31, 2021 By Tayson Rockefeller Leave a Comment

Though the market has changed throughout my career, the same questions always seem to come up. Here are a list of common Questions and Answers:

Q: Is there a time frame in which I need to build?

A: The short answer is, not that I’m aware of. I have seen special circumstances, however. For example, in the unlikely chance that a homeowners association might allow someone to build a guest house before a main house, they might require a home to be constructed within a certain time frame. The valley has a pretty poor track record of actually following through with these types of agreements, and most homeowners associations have caught on.

Q: Do I need to do anything with the land such as maintain it?

A: In general, not much. Most subdivisions have an active homeowners association. The HOA will typically take care of the road maintenance, fire pond testing, and other similar maintenance requirements and tasks. The most common exception is with respect to noxious weeds. While many developments have an agreement with a farmer for the open space or unused areas of the development, some do not. If you receive notice from the county, you may be required to hire a company to spray the weeds such as musk thistle. Even if you don’t, they will, and can assess your tax bill. Fortunately, the cost of weed spraying is usually pretty affordable.

Q: What are the holding costs like?

A: Here again, usually, pretty affordable. There are two primary categories of expense including property taxes and homeowners association dues with the occasional special assessment or local improvement district (LID) fee. The first two are fairly common and obviously vary depending on the location and amount of amenities within the subdivision. Fortunately, most websites (including ours) display property taxes and HOA dues on the listing detail page. Some properties take advantage of an agriculture tax rate in the event the property is being used for ag purposes (and is over 5 acres), in which case the taxes can be extremely negligible. Other fees such as the aforementioned special assessment, LID or other fees are rare, but can come about for road maintenance, utility improvements or other projects usually related to infrastructure.

Q: What can I do with the property before I build?

A: This depends, but the biggest determining factor is whether or not the property is in a subdivision with covenants and restrictions. A big one that comes up is whether or not you can camp on your property. While some associations may allow it, I would think it should be generally assumed that they do not. For properties outside of a subdivision there are still some regulations. I have written several articles that can be found on my blog website related to what you can do with your property, what it’s like to be part of a homeowner’s association in the area, and more.

Q: Tiny Homes, Rentals, Campers?

A: Here again, the subdivision layer is the first step to research. Most subdivisions have a home size requirement in the range of 1,800 square feet, but I have seen them as small as 0 to 600 SqFt and is large as 2,600 SqFt. HOAs can also restrict short-term rentals via the covenants and restrictions. Though the county’s position is subject to change, smaller homes are generally allowed so long as they are permitted and built in accordance with the current building codes. RVs and campers are always a contentious subject, so make sure to follow up with the county or city on that one. To summarize, It’s always a good idea to find a real estate professional that understands the local market. I’ve heard a number of stories about Buyers that didn’t have the resources, tools or professional insight to make an informed purchase and later discovered that the property or the rights associated with the property were not what was expected. We’ve been selling real estate for a long time in the area and have great resources available to our customers when it comes to information about developments, requirements and subdivision documents and would love to help!

HOA’s & Rental Restrictions

May 17, 2016 By Tayson Rockefeller Leave a Comment

If any of you read the local paper, or follow social media etc. here in Teton Valley, you probably remember the drama with a Condo Homeowner’s Association in Driggs, ID that made the decision to require landowners and property managers to restrict long-term rentals (longer than 30 days) to “single family” use. That association later defined single family as:

(In an email to TVRManagement & other local property management firms dated January 5th, 2016) “Tenant” is defined as a single person, or a couple living together as a family, regardless of gender. The other occupants may include the child or children of the “Tenant.” Occupancy of each rental unit will be restricted to a maximum of six (6) persons. No subletting shall be permitted. All other provisions in Section 8 of the Amended Rules and Regulations shall remain in full force and effect.

Many of us tried to make an argument that the HOA was in a violation of the Fair Housing Act, but remember the protected classes under the act are race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, national origin. This does not include marital status or sexual orientation – however you will note “regardless of gender” in the above definition, which was a product of another issue which arose during the HOA’s – successful – eviction of all tenants that did not meet the strict guidelines above.

As mentioned above, that homeowner’s association was successful in evicting all tenants in violation based on their own definition, mostly due to threats of immediate action for hefty fines and liens. That sparked me to write a post on HOA Fines and the procedures HOA’s must follow.

Read the story here: Can Homeowner’s Assosiations fine me for violations?

THEN – (and rather ironically) Idaho Legislature amended the bill where I derived the information for the above article, House Bill 511 to go on to state:

(3) No homeowner’s association may add, amend or enforce any covenant, condition or restriction in such a way that limits or prohibits the rental, for any amount of time, of any property, land or structure thereon within the jurisdiction of the homeowner’s association, unless expressly agreed to in writing at the time of such addition or amendment by the owner of the affected property. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the enforcement of valid covenants, conditions or restrictions limiting a property owner’s right to transfer his interest in land or the structures thereon so long as that covenant, condition or restriction applied to the property at the time the homeowner acquired his interest in the property.

With the above said, the HOA in this example in Driggs will probably keep the rule in effect stating that it was passed by the board prior to the amendment of this bill- whether that’s legal or not. In fact, the original amendment was passed by a board majority vote based on the board’s authority to do so… meaning there is a separate statement in the bylaws authorizing the board to make amendments without approval of the owners as stated in the bylaws. I am sure this statement was meant to be used in an emergency situation (authorizing emergency repair work without consent of the owners) and not for purposes described above, but I digress.

I am sure the situation with this particular HOA will work itself out. Despite my posts about HOA’s, they are not evil. They are created with a necessary purpose, and operated on a voluntary basis. Most of the time, (99% of the time) for good, genuine reasons. At least we know these situations happen elsewhere, and are gaining attention.

Can homeowners associations fine me for violations?

May 8, 2016 By Tayson Rockefeller Leave a Comment

Homeowners association (HOA) violations have been a Hot Topic lately. Whether it’s the HOA acting outside of their authority based on interpretation of the development bylaws or restrictions, or imposing unreasonable fines for violations.

In 2014, Idaho legislators reported numerous complaints of homeowners associations providing unreasonable notice or demands or even fines for non-compliance of the HOA guidelines. There were circumstances in which subcontractors were hired to remedy issues or violations, and even though the HOA contracted with the subcontractor, bills were sent directly to the property owners.

To combat these scenarios and to protect homeowners, the legislatures set requirements in place to require procedures for homeowners associations to follow when working with violations.

During my continuing education course on the topic I was able to obtain information from the Senate Bill, provided by the course instructor at the Idaho real estate school.

That bill number 1310 from the Senate states:

(2) No fine may be imposed for a violation of the covenants and restrictions pursuant to the rules or regulations of the homeowner’s association unless the authority to impose a fine is clearly set forth in the covenants and restrictions and:

(a) A majority vote by the board shall be required prior to imposing any fine on a member for a violation of any covenants and restrictions pursuant to the rules and regulations of the homeowner’s association.

(b) Written notice by personal service or certified mail of the meeting during which such vote is to be taken shall be made to the member at least thirty (30) days prior to the meeting.

(c) In the event the member begins resolving the violation prior to the meeting, no fine shall be imposed so long as the member continues to address the violation in good faith until fully resolved.

(d) No portion of any fine may be used to increase the remuneration of any board member or agent of the board.

This bill is relatively straightforward, my interpretation is simple. You cannot impose a fine as an HOA unless authority to do so is set forth in the Covenants. Then, a majority vote by the HOA board is required prior to imposing any fine. A written notice of the above vote must be delivered with 30 days notice to the homeowner. In the event that homeowner even begin resolving the violation, notifying can be imposed as long as the homeowner continues to address the problem until it is resolved.

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