[TowerTalk] Anyone have experience challenging restrictive CC&R's ?

[michael watts]

I have fought numerous CC&R anti-antenna restrictions.
 Eventually I found that the best policy in a
situation where you already own the property was to
simply put up the antennas and essentially challenge
the homeowner's association to sue.

Twice I found myself living where there were
restrictive covenants even though my purchase of the
home was made contingent on there being no antenna
restrictions in the CC&R's.  In one case I have been
given a copy of the CC&Rs but it was not complete and
in the other case the real estate agent and the title
company told me they had reviewed the CC&Rs and that
there were no antenna restrictions.  In both cases,
antennas were not allowed by the CC&Rs.

I put up antennas and the neighbors complained and
threatened to sue.  With legal council, I went around
and photographed every CC&R violation that I could
find in that subdivision.  There were many, from
failure to landscape to 31 (somewhat hidden)TV
antennas.  I then notified the homeowner's association
that if they sued my defense would be the claim that
these long standing violations which had not been
acted upon had caused the CC&Rs to be "waived and
forfeited".  They never followed thru and I used my
antennas until I moved away.  

Unless you have a clear strategy like this with plenty
of ammo, I would certainly never buy a property that
had CC&Rs that prohibit antennas.  I now read every
word of the CC&Rs and get signed statements from the
agent and the title company stating that I have been
given all CC&Rs in their entirety.

In another case, I lived in a city with an ordance
against antennas and I put them up anyway.  The city
filed for an injunction, I fought it and cited PRB-1. 
The judge interupted my lawyer as he was presenting
our agruments and ruled against us.  I appealed, but
moved before it came to trial.

Mike
wy6k
--- John Langdon <jlangdon@outer.net> wrote:
> 
> FCC has ruled against enforcing restrictions
> against: satellite receiving
> dishes less than 1 meter in diameter, broadcast TV
> antennas in areas where
> antennas mounted inside the attic would not provide
> a useable signal, and
> "MMDS" or "microwave cable" antennas mounted less
> than 12' above the
> roofline. These are the only specific antenna
> related things I know of.
> Most Homeowner's Associations still either don't
> know or refuse to
> acknowledge this.  They will say something like
> "restrictive covenants are
> contracts between individuals that the government
> cannot interfere with".
> 
> The specific counter example is the old CC&R that
> was used during
> segregation days that said the property could never
> be sold to a
> "non-white", or that is it was, title would revert
> to the original owner.
> These restrictions have been ruled unenforceable by
> the federal courts, as
> they are illegal provisions against public policy. 
> It is by this same
> mechanism that hams might get some relief, but it
> hasn't happened yet.
> 
> IMHO hams should stay away from any property with an
> anti-antenna CC&R OR an
> Architectural Control Committee.  In general, they
> will never grant you an
> exception.
> 
> You should also consult the ham law reflector:
> 
> The Ham-Law Mailing List. This list is for
> discussion and does not
> purport to give legal advice.
> 
> Submissions:  ham-law@altlaw.com
> Subscribe and unsubscribe:   
> ham-law-request@altlaw.com
> 
> 
> 73 John N5CQ
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-towertalk@contesting.com
> [mailto:owner-towertalk@contesting.com]On Behalf Of
> Thor Hallen
> Sent: Saturday, September 02, 2000 12:09 AM
> To: towertalk@contesting.com
> Subject: [TowerTalk] Anyone have experience
> challenging restrictive CC&R's ?
> 
> 
> My neighbor is a typical ham hater and I expect him
> to ask the neighborhood
> homeowner association to enforce a CC&R banning all
> outside antennas except
> those used for television reception. I plan to fight
> him with whatever
> legal means are available regardless of cost. Does
> anyone know of cases
> where CC&Rs have been successfully challenged and
> what the legal strategies
> were? It seems to me that this type of CC&R is
> arbitrary and needs to be
> reasonably interpreted. For instance, there are cars
> parked in the
> neighborhood with radio antennas and some neighbors
> have satellite dishes.
> 
> 73,
> Thor Hallen K5AGE
> 
> 
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