[TowerTalk] Just when I thought AZ was safe

[Jim Lux]

At 03:16 PM 3/28/2005, wf3h at comcast.net wrote:
>We just put money down on a property and got a copy of the deed restrictions.
>
>Pinal County, AZ has no restrictions on ham towers, BUT the deed does have 
>a CCR restricting tower height. However, there is NO homeowner's 
>association to enforce the CCR. So how does this work? If a neighbor 
>complained, who would they complain to? Who would enforce it?

Depends on your local laws, etc., but most likely, any homeowner in the 
original tract could sue in court to enforce the CC&Rs.  There's probably 
some language in the CC&R document that describes it.  The CC&R is 
essentially a contractual agreement between the property owner and some 
other entity (whatever that might be, usually the HOA).  That other entity 
(or its successors and/or assigns, as the term of art has it) is the one 
who would have standing to sue for performance of the agreement.

Best to ask a real estate lawyer in your area who's familiar with all this 
stuff.  It might only cost $50-100 or so to find out. It might even be 
free.  Our local bar association has a deal where you can spend $20 to get 
a referral to a lawyer who will give you the first 30 minutes free... 
they'll not represent you for that, but you can get a bunch of questions 
answered in a non-binding sort of way.  Likewise, your friendly ARRL 
Volunteer Counsel might be able to give you the quick and dirty answer.

A friend, W6GL, ran into this sort of problem. He had CC&Rs, but the HOA 
had gone out of business and ceased to exist some years before.  His 
neighbor sued to enforce the CC&Rs, but I don't recall what the final 
outcome was, aside from John spending many kilobucks in legal fees, going 
to many hearings at the city, etc.  However, he does have his tower up.



>When I lived in PA there was a similar restriction on sheds and it was 
>enforced by the builder of the development. But once he finished the 
>development, people put up all kinds of stuff and there was no enforcement....
>
>Man, there's always a landmine in the honey...
>
>Bob/WF3H