[Towertalk] deed restrictions

[WYsixK]

I've had legal fights with cities, counties, and deed restrictions over
antennas.  I've been in court over this more than once.

The method of enforcement of CC&R's is a lawsuit (at least in
California).  They have to sue you.

I lived in a new housing tract in which the CC&R's clearly prohibited
outside antennas.  But I put up my tower and antennas anyway (72 foot
crankup with 10 foot mast and multiple yagis).  Some neighbors raised a
fuss and threatened to sue.  After getting some legal advice, I went
around and photographed every CC&R violation of any type that had been
committed or was being committed by anyone in the same housing
development.  There were tons of them.  I collected these and presented
them to the complaining homeowners and explained that I thought that
their right to enforce the CC&R's had been "waived and forfeited"
because there had been violations for quite some time and there were
continuing violations of the CC&Rs.  The basic legal concept is that
you can lose a right if you fail to claim that right for some period of
time or you selectively claim that right.  I told them I would be happy
to let it all go to court and see what a judge thought.  No one sued
and I kept the system up until I moved several years later.

This is practical advice, not legal advice.  If you put it up rather
than ask for permission, they have to go to the expense of suing you to
get it down.  And the expense of this will likely be more than any one
neighbor is willing to bear, unless you have the misfortune of having a
lawyer for a neighbor.  However, a homeowner's association (if there is
one) may be able to spread the expenses out among all the homeowners
and they will be less intimidated.  If you choose to put up a tower
that conflicts with the CC&Rs I also advise you to collect hard
evidence of all the CC&R violations that you can find before you put
the tower up and then keep doing it continuously (maybe once a quarter
or even once a month).  You may be able to use the same approach that I
used.  Remember, any violation of the CC&Rs counts.  Improperly parked
cars or motorhomes, prohibited colors on houses, improperly kept
landscaping, small DSS sat dishes, prohibited animals, etc.  All of
these are common CC&R violations that do not normally attract much
attention.  But you can turn them to your advantage.  In an ironic
twist, the tighter and more restrictive the CC&Rs the more likely you
are to find lots of violations.  A really common attitude is that ham
antenna are bad but DSS dishes are OK.  This works to your advantage.

Michael
--- K7LXC@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 3/14/02 6:14:55 AM Pacific Standard Time,
> ww5l@gte.net 
> writes:
> 
> > A ham friend of mine and his XYL in the Houston TX area live in a
> deed
> >  restricted area which prohibits outside antennas without approval
> of the
> >  subdivision's architectural committee.  He has met a member of the
> 
> > homeowners
> >  architectural committee who seems friendly to or at least
> receptive to 
> > listening
> >  to his arguments for a crank up tower.  Are there any sample
> letters 
> > available
> >  online to look through and maybe adapt to his area?  I've checked
> the ARRL 
> > web
> >  page, but when you enter deed restriction letters or similar terms
> you get 
> a 
> > big
> >  listing of the online ARRL Letter.
> >  
>     Two things you need: 1) the new tower regulations book by K1VR
> (available 
> from all ARRL dealers) and 2) a subscription to 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
> Use "(un)subscribe" on a new line in the text. >>
> 
>     This is where the legal guys hang out. 
> 
>     Do both and you'll be well armed.
> 
> Cheers,
> Steve    K7LXC
> Tower Tech 
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