Posted by C. Kimbrell on May 22, 2005 at 13:27:02:
I actually know the answer to this, well at least in NW Georgia anyway… Any covanant has to have “someone” to inforce it. It is usually the homeowners association for your subdivision. If your subdivision does not have an association I was told that “you govern each other”. So if you choose to do anything against the covanant and you have an association, they will ask you to correct it and then sue you to correct it, you will be responsible for your own legal fees as the homeowners association uses the association fees collected to pay those legal costs on their end. If on the other hand you do not have an association and you are left to govern each other, if someone complains then it could turn into a huge neighborhood mess. Additionally when you sell anything you have done against the covanant must be corrected or you will be held liable if the new owner encounters any legal problems in the future.
Posted by C. Kimbrell on February 07, 2005 at 12:38:26:
We bought a new construction home in a newly developed subdivision 6 months ago (Northwest Georgia). Our lot is 85’ across the front, 403’ on the left, 379’ on the right and 86’ across the back. The home is located on the front of the property with the back wooded (we have since cleared) with a creek on the back (we own to the middle of the creek).
We want to fence our property with a 4’ wooden picket fence on the sides and to the creek.
Our covanant states the build line is 10’ on both sides and we are not allowed any fence on the front yard. I called the local (very tiny town) city hall and asked them where we had to place our fence. I was told “since a fence is not a permanant structure there is no laws but it is customary to put fences 2’ inside your property line”.
My husband however is insistant on putting the fence right inside our property line (6") since “there is no law”. He “thinks” if we place our fence 2’ inside our property that 2’ will become property of the neighbors!
Posted by A. Bergstad on May 22, 2005 at 12:31:15:
If there is a covanant in the housing area you bought your land on that says you cannot have a fence and you put a fence up what can they do to you? We have open water within one-hundred feet from our house that is not fenced in and we do not want our children to be near the water.
Can my neighbors cross my property to connect to my fence? We do know what is our property, when we purchased the home we had them to mark all our property. Some of our property runs into a neighbors yard. Of course we do not worry about that. Our concern is crossing to connect.
Posted by River City on February 08, 2005 at 07:28:41:
We put our fence on the property line. The houses on both sides of us have been sold and resurveyed. Evidently, there was no problem with encroachments. Just make sure you know exactly where the property line is.