Coming up on this edition of Judica County Radio, your host Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer, managing partners, Whitaker and Hamer Law Firm, practicing attorneys here in the great state of North Carolina, getting into listener questions concerning HOA. That's HOAs coming up next on Judica County Radio. Right. Winner and Hamer presents. Judica County.
with Joshua Whitaker and Joseph Heyman. Welcome in to Judica County Radio. Your hosts are Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer, managing partners. Whitaker and Hamer Law Firm. They're practicing attorneys here in North Carolina, and they have offices all across our state down at the coast, Moorhead City, over near Charlotte, Gastonia.
You got Fewquave Arena, Goldsboro, Clayton, Garner, Cleveland, and the Cap City, Raleigh, North Carolina. I'm Morgan Patrick. A pleasure to jump on with the attorneys talk legalese. If you've got a question you'd like the attorneys to approach one particular weekend, send it to us. Questions at judicacountyradio.com.
That's questions at judicacountyradio.com. And as always, we offer up complimentary consults on estate planning through the course of the show. Simply call 919-77270000. There's no cost, no obligation. You can also go to wh.lawyer, 919-7727000.
WH.LAWYER. Josh.
Well, you know, it's It's getting close to Christmas. And so when I was trying to figure out what we do, me and Jay were talking about what we do for this show. I was like, what's the most Christmas Themed legal discussion we could possibly have, right? That was my thought process. It's Christmas.
We talk about the law in this show. what's the most Christmassy thing we could talk about. And you know what I landed on? Tell us, Josh.
Well, Morgan already told everybody. Oh. But you tell homeowners' associations.
Well, I often go through certain neighborhoods and I'm like, how do they allow that? What's the logic to that, Josh? Just that you think homeowners associations are a gift to everyone? And you love them that much. No, no.
It was actually supposed to be a joke. I don't think there is a connection. It was a joke that didn't really land like that. Wow, that was great. I would land.
I got it.
Okay. Yeah, I got it. There is no connection. I was just thinking about something we haven't talked about in a long time, and we get listener questions. We get a lot of listener questions on HOA here on the show.
We try to you know, the show, we try to talk about the our law firm and estate planning and estate planning consults. And we're we still do that. We still want you to call us for your free estate planning consult, but I decided to pull up all these listener questions we've gotten. Concerning HOAs, Homeowners Associations. And so that's what we're going to do today when we When we get to the point where we're ready to talk about the law, I don't think we're there quite yet.
We just started. Um But I did have a question for you. This was my question. This is what I was thinking about this weekend. For both of you in college, What was the most worthless slash weird slash unusual class that you took.
In college. Ooh. And I'll go first, because I was thinking about it.
Now let's just let's just let's pause for a second. and just say that we all pretty much went to school locally. Um I don't want to I don't want to damage any relationships I have with my alma mater. But anyway, go ahead. Go ahead, Josh.
Go ahead, trash it.
So when I got to, I went to NC State, and when I got to NC State, You had to you had I don't know if it's still this way, I'm sure it is, I don't know, but you had to take PE classes, right? You had to take two PE classes. And one of them was P one hundred. And there were these legends around that class, how difficult the class was. you have to be able to bench a percentage of your your weight.
I graduated high school in 165. I quickly became a 210 pound. Freshman. You became the final form that we see today. And so, in one year, and my strength did not keep up with that.
And so, I was terrified of taking PE 100 and not being able to lift the amount I needed to lift. I don't even know what it was. It was probably an irrational fear, but I had it. I was like, I gotta get all A's or whatever, you know.
So there were a couple of classes you could take and not have to take PE 100 at NC State back in the 90s when I was there. and one of them was speed walking. Yeah. I took speed walking. And uh You figure that would help your balloon issue that you described early.
It did. It didn't. But you outpace the speed walking with your speed eating. Is that what you're telling me? Do you know what speed walking looks like?
Yeah. Have you ever seen anybody speed walk? Yes, my I have an aunt that competed.
Okay, so you're familiar with it. Just walk really fast. You swing your arms like a maniac, like you're trying to take off like a maniac. And your hips. You swing your hips.
Oh, he has a lot of swiveling. It's not the most masculine. Way to walk is what I'm driving at. And we would have to do that around campus. Right?
While people are going to class, they'd be like, all right, here's your Short shorts they give you, and they would be like, go speedwalk around. Just a humiliation ritual. And it was very embarrassing for me.
Now my confidence was remind us again what years we were talking about when you were undergrad. This would have been 1995, 1996. This is what this is in. This is. Yeah, probably didn't go over very well.
And you were wearing all that baggy stuff, too. You didn't wear the. No, they made it. They just said they put you in booty shorts. Yeah, they made you wear the shorts they issued you and the t-shirt.
Put them in Lululemon. Skin tight. And sent me down Hillsborough Street speed walking. And of course, when they weren't watching, you wouldn't speedwalk. Right.
But then the professor or teacher or whatever was out there and they would. He could speedwalk faster than you, so he'd catch up to you. That's right. He had amazing speed. But that was a cla I wonder if that's still a class.
But that's what made me think about it, because my kids were asking me about. Just different things, and I didn't take 2P classes I took speedwalking and I took bowling. which was a fantastic class. I'd take bowling right now if, you know, we were taking classes. I feel like some of your speed walking skills you gain, you know, the hip mobility.
The explosiveness, the arm swinging, that's they're very uh Synergistic classes there. But I paid tuition for that class. I paid tuition. to be humiliated. and forced to speed walk around campus.
So better than having to bench press. At the time, it was because I was super scared I couldn't keep up with my. Freshman fifty. Or whatever it was I gained. Yeah.
Joe, did you have a class uh that uh Ah, you know, I had a lot of I had a lot of fun in college and so there's a lot of blurred Parts of my memory from studying.
So you didn't go to class. No, I actually did fantastically well, but uh. you know I replaced a lot of those memories to make new lasting memories with you guys on this radio show. I had a jogging class. I took a jogging class.
And I mean, it's not speedwalking. My campus, I went to one of the top, I think they're top two or three institutions on earth academically, Barton College. I don't know if you guys knew that. They're they're up there in the rankings. My personal rankings of schools, at least.
So, we didn't have quite as big of a campus as you did. It was a very small campus, but we would jog around it. And, um,. Yeah. Just jog.
And then you take tests on Jogging, written tests. You guys have written tests in speed walking? We did. We did. I remember having to go.
And how bizarre is that? Like, I don't wanna belittle. I mean, I'm not here to but I mean. I was at college to be, and I talked about this on the show, but I was at college to basically be a journalist and editor. That's why I was at school.
Well, the faster you can walk to a story. The better it is for the news. Speedwalk past the competition. Yeah, exactly, man. Power walk would have been a better name for speedwalking.
That sounds more. It sounds cool. It does sound cooler. It sounds more. uh dignified and distinguished.
I also just throw it in there, not to not to. I wasn't trying to pile up on PE classes, but. I had to take a... Uh Middle, um Like a ah crap, I can't remember the name. Morgan, what was your class?
I try to remember the name of this class, I'd tell. Yeah, so I was gonna go academic, but I'm not gonna do that. I I'm in the same category. Uh we had to pass a swim class to graduate at the University of North Carolina. Uh I was all state in high school.
Nice. I got a free pass on that. I didn't have to take that class, but I had to fill in with another. and it was bowling.
So I and I was incredibly disappointed that there was no beer drinking. Yeah, they frown on that.
Well, there could have been.
Well, I was underclassman, so underage. If we could always, it was on campus at the union.
Okay, okay, that's fair. Yeah. Yeah, we d we did it uh we did it on Hillsborough Street down at the uh the uh what was that? What's the name of that? I remember it.
Bowled there when I was, gosh, I was at NC State Swim Camp for a couple of summers, and we bowled there a couple of times.
So I saw somebody post on uh the ads on social. Or Western Lanes? Western. Western Lanes, that's what it was. The alley be Western Lanes became the alley.
That's what Google said. Mm. Yeah, it's a target. Uh You know, that was all for me. That was all the mid-90s.
And I saw somebody today post: I don't know if it's true, haven't done the research. But uh you remember the Austin Powers? Yeah. And that Austin Powers, the movies. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah, those were Mike Myers. Those were movies. If it was made today, he would have been frozen in nineteen ninety five. That's he would be thawing out now and he had been frozen in nineteen ninety five.
If it was made today. Yeah. That seemed odd to me. Don't hear a lot of guys on correctors these days. Yeah, baby.
All right, well, we are up against it. We are going to get into HOA questions, or as we let into the show, HOA! Uh, we are going to talk about some uh questions with HOA in and around the holidays. A lot of people are getting some complaints, so we'll talk about that coming up next on Judica County Radio. I want to remind you: uh, complimentary consult in and around estate planning available to you, meaning you're not paying for it, there's no obligation to become a client.
See if you're on track with your estate planning. 919-7727000, 919-77270000. Know your in-game, get your estate plan in order. 919-7727000. You can also visit the website wh.lawyer.
We've got more Judica County coming up on the other side. Yeah. Welcome back in to Judica County Radio. Josh Whitaker, Joe Hamer, your host, managing partners, Whitaker and Hamer Law Firm. They're practicing attorneys here in North Carolina.
Again, offices located in Raleigh, Garner, Cleveland, Clayton, Goldsboro, Fuquay Verena, Gastonia, and in Moorhead City down on the coast for your convenience. I'm Morgan Patrick. Pleasure to jump on with the attorneys. We have complimentary consults with estate planning. You can call at any time and book one of those, 919-77270000.
If you've ever had any questions about why you would need an estate plan, and then, of course, getting started or maybe having your current estate plan looked at, these are complimentary appointments: 919-77270000. That's 919-7727000. You can also visit the website, wh.lawyer.
Now we start a discussion on Listener questions and HOA homeowners. All right, so you know, what's I always kind of try to start at the beginning when we're going to have these discussions, and so a homeowners association. Um You know, there are, there are, some people have them, some people don't, right? You can.
Some people move into neighborhoods because they have a homeowners association.
Some people move into other neighborhoods because they don't really have a homeowners association. There's all different levels. You know, you can have a very relaxed. Homeowners Association where there's not much Uh common area, you don't have a lot of restrictions. you can move into an HOA that's very restrictive.
And some people like that, right? The theory behind an HOA, Joe, is. You know, somebody, a developer comes in, he buys 100 acres, or he or she or it buys 100 acres. And they develop it into a subdivision, right? They make a hundred one-acre lots.
and they restrict it. That's what an HOA does. They enforce restrictions. They restrict it so that there's some uniformity. You don't end up moving beside somebody who paints their house pink and uh you know Puts lawn ornaments all over the place and has broken down cars all in their yard.
You move in, and the theory is that these restrictions will protect your. investment in in in your home. Um But that that's kind of the the general Purpose and the HOA is what's formed to enforce those restrictions. Does that sound fair, Joe? Yeah, it sounds fair, man.
And would you say as a you're clearly an expert on this subject, man. Would you say it's it's fair to say that HOAs are universally loved by everyone on the planet earth? Like everyone else. I think more people like them. With a s so I think more people like them than you Then they may let on, right?
We don't hear from the people that like their HOA. We usually hear from the people that are having problems with their HOA. Sure, sure. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
And I don't. Good answer. Good answer. But yeah, that's the theory, right? The theory is it's it's I the the theory behind it is protection of your property value.
Because again, if you're in a neighborhood, clearly the neighboring properties. are you know they're going to be A factor in the value of your home, whether you like it or not.
So you've got a vested interest in making sure that there's no one out there that's. either doing something weird to their property, to to to Diminish the value of yours. And you've also got a vested interest in making sure that there's certain activities that you don't necessarily want. To take place right next door to you, that there's some kind of restriction in place to prevent.
So. Yeah, I think so you know, I think they can get a a a bad rap. in the public, but uh When handled appropriately, man, and that's the key point, right? Because you. where you hear the horror stories, you can hear some folks who get drunk off the power of the HOA and and and you treat it l like it it's this crusade and but but when used appropriately it can be a it can be a good thing for everybody.
So I've lived in, I was, I kind of grew up in the, you know, in the country, I would, I would say. And so definitely grew up without a, without an HOA. I was not in a neighborhood. And then I did live in a neighborhood for a little while. I had a pretty strict HOA.
And um I don't live there anymore. I'm back in the country, right?
So I've done both, right? I've done both. I've lived in the neighborhood where if you don't mow your grass one Saturday because you're out of town, you get the letter. saying, Hey, why didn't you mow your ass? Right, yeah, or why didn't you move your trash barrels back?
But I've also lived where there's, of course, no restrictions. Um So I've I've lived in both and there's there's advantages or disadvantages, but The HOA has a lot of power, and I would say most states, but I can only speak specifically to North Carolina. The HOA. There's a framework, right? There's a recorded.
Document to put everybody on notice down at the register of deeds, down at the courthouse. If you move into Whitaker Hamer Estates, we're gonna, if me and Joe are the developers, we're gonna record covenants and restrictions: big things you can and can't do. Um And that way when you buy the house, you've you're Construed to have taken notice that these Whitaker and Hamer estates have these restrictions, and you're bound. To them, and then the HOA would form, and the HOA would have a president, and a secretary, and a board, and they would enforce these restrictions. They can fine you, right?
They can fine you for a violation, they can have hearings, they can put a lien on your house, they can foreclose on your house. Yeah, they've got more power than you may think, but I think you touched on an important point. It's the fact that there's there's got to be some document uh publicly filed giving everybody who comes to this neighborhood notice uh of this point. And That document's going to be the the controlling That that's what's going to control the power, the restrictions. It's going to form.
the the framework for the entities that are gonna govern and That you can't you can't have this authority in the absence of that document.
So. you should never be in a situation where you're surprised by the fact that you have these restrictions over an HOA because for them to be valid, it's going to be public record. The um So, here, so we've got all these listener questions. Most of these questions revolve around being fined, being restricted by the HOA. And so, the HOA is not.
It's not like a little kingdom, right? The HOA is not all-powerful. It can do a lot. It has a lot of power to enforce those restrictions if you violate them. But there are North Carolina laws that limit.
What an HOA can and can't do, and there's a proper procedure before certain things can happen. I think the HOA has more power than a lot of people think, but it's not some sort of unlimited. Uh power. Right. We'll get into these questions, and there's a I got like a million of these questions.
We won't get to all of them. We got to squeeze them in. Find them. The speed of speed questions. Yeah.
Just, we'll have Morgan read us this list of questions, and it's just a yes or no. Yes. Yes. No. No.
Yes. Lawyers don't like to answer just simple yes or no, right? No, man. It makes me sick. You gotta know the facts.
It makes me sick. Giving a simple answer to a question, man. What kind of thing is that? What do you what do you pay me for?
Alright, alright, here we go, here we go. I gotta get to my list. Yeah, I was gonna say, baby. You got us all pumped up. You got us all pumped up.
We'll put in some elevator music right here. All right, here we go. Let's just do a segment. You just almost ready. All right.
Here we. All right. Alright, here we go. For reals this time. For realsies.
Can rules, HOA rules, this is our question. Can HOA rules? be enforced. Selectively. You know what that means?
I know what that means. Yeah, you pick and choose what you enforce. You pick and choose. I think this might have a very simple answer. I would tend to disagree, so why don't you give your simple answer and then I'll throw a complicated answer out there.
Can HOA rules be enforced selectively? I think the answer is a resounding. No, they can't be enforced selectively.
Well.
Okay. Here's where I would qualify your answer, right? Yeah. HOA rules. To be enforced, there is a, you know, any homeowner that lives in this, in, in the neighborhood.
Arguably, it has standing to raise an issue with a violation of the covenants. But in the absence of someone affirmatively raising that issue. There's no penalty. There's no. Nothing happens to you, right?
So, like, if you're doing something and you're violating these covenants and nobody makes an issue of it, it doesn't just magically become an issue.
So, in that sense, Josh, I would say, you know, if you've got, if everyone is in agreement that they don't agree with this restriction and no one makes it an issue. Then They're you're you're not it's not going to be enforced against you. Would you say that that's a fair point? Uh You're I'm sorry, I was reading ahead. Your answer confused me.
It was a great answer. It was a good question. Spoiler alert. Really good answer. And then, similarly, on the same topic.
There are situations where folks can apply for waivers. And the governing body can issue a waiver for an issue.
So that's another potential avenue to take something that would be a violation and have that restriction waived as to that thing.
So there are certain circumstances where it can be the case. But generally speaking, You know, the restrictions are the restrictions. And if someone makes an issue of it, if you're in violation of your covenants and someone makes it a problem for you, it's going to be a problem for you. You see that from time to time.
So, like when you build a house, say you got a piece of land and you go to build a house, and let's say normally the county or city is going to have setback requirements, right? You can't build your house right on the property line, right? You need. It needs to be 10 feet in from the sides and 15 feet from the road, right? They have setbacks where you can build your house on a lot.
And some HOAs have even more restrictive setbacks than the county or the city does. And so you'll see it from time to time where a builder has come and built a house on a lot and it conforms to the city-county requirements, but maybe the HOA requirements were a little more strict and they didn't get met. And you'll see a lot of times where the HOA will waive the setbacks for one lot. Or a lot that's very difficult to build on. Maybe it's not the same size as the other lots.
And so, yeah, yeah, to Joe's point, the HOA can. Can do things like that. But, you know. If the HOA has a rule that houses all have to be one of ten colors, And two houses are not those ten colors. They can't just pick on one house.
That didn't meet that requirement. It's got to evenly enforce. uh the rule so I don't know. I still think that was an easy answer one. Yeah, well, you can't always be right, Josh.
Yeah. All right. Here's the next question. Can the, and we get this question a lot: can the HOA. Find me a homeowner, right?
Can the HOA find a homeowner? without a hearing. And that's another short answer. We can talk about it, but. Basically no.
The HOA is going to send you a violation letter, maybe several, depending on what the violation is. Um So Joe goes and paints his house. Pink. He's not supposed to. It's in the rules, no pink houses.
Yeah. And they'll send you a violation notice, and they can fine you until the violation is cured. But you do have the opportunity for a hearing. But but in in a scenario like that that you describe. you know, if if a if a restriction is clear enough and There's no room for interpretation.
Yeah, you can be heard, but what are you gonna say? What's your defense? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And there isn't one. You know, not knowing the covenants is not a defense, right?
Not knowing the rules. Most HOAs require some sort of Approval process, right? If you're going to build a shed or you're going to. You know, change the color of your house, you know, any, and again, HOA's different levels of. Of restrictions, so you might live in an HOA where they don't care.
That's not important to them. Or you may live in a neighborhood where the HOA was disbanded and. You don't pay dues, you don't have any common area, and what have you. But if you live in a neighborhood that's concerned about that kind of thing, usually there's a review process where you say, Hey, I've decided I'm going to paint my house pink. Here's the color.
and you you get it approved ahead of time so you don't have any you don't have any violations but yeah they can fine you until it's It's cured. Um you know and that and then i got i've got this other question here Do fines automatically become liens? HA lien is one of the biggest. tools that an HOA has to force compliance. Um but Joseph, do fines automatically become liens?
Well, in the in the sense that it you know, a fine, when you're fined. It it's valid, right? Like, you you owe it. it's valid at that point. But there may be additional steps required to put a true lien on public notice, but they can do it at any point.
Yeah, there's another statute that requires notice for, you know, to say, hey, we're going to, you owe this money, we're going to file a lien. Give you a chance to pay it off before they file a lien and go that far. But that's. I would say HOA funds are not automatically a lien. The HOA does have to take affirmative steps to actually put a lien on your property, and no one's ever happy about that.
To wrap up this segment because I know we're against a break. It in the in the sl you can't The fact that a fine is not a lean doesn't alleviate the necessity to pay the fine, right? And at any point. a lien could be filed. Like y you don't get it you don't get off scot free just because there's no lien filed and you sell your house.
It it's still going to be a problem. It's going to attach. They will come back. They'll put a lien. It'll be valid and you'll have an issue.
Yeah. Judica County Radio, we're going to take a short break, be back on the other side, talk about more HOAs. Again, Homeowners Association, there are a lot of rules that are being violated, and there are a lot of cases that come up in and around the HOA.
So we're talking about that today on Judica County Radio with Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer, Managing Partners, Whitaker Hamer Law Firm, and practicing attorneys here in North Carolina. Complimentary consults are available today in and around estate planning. All you got to do is call 919-77270000. It's 919-7727000, or you can visit the website, wh.lawyer. We're back right after this.
Judica County Radio, Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer, practicing attorneys here in the great state of North Carolina, and they're the managing partners at Whitaker and Hamer law firm right here in North Carolina. They got offices in the Cap City, Raleigh, also in Garner, Cleveland, Clayton, Goldsboro, Fuque Verena, down near Charlotte at Gastonia, and down at the coast. Moorhead City, and these offices are placed for your convenience. And today, on the program, talking about HOAs. That's right, Homeowners Association.
There's a lot of conflict in and around this time of year, and sometimes there are cases brought against homeowners, and we're talking about that today. And a complimentary consult is available with Whitaker and Hamer in and around estate planning.
So, if you've thought about estate planning and hadn't gotten the ball rolling, this is a great opportunity for you. Or if you're in the middle of something and you want Whitaker and Hamer to kind of take gander at what's going on with your estate plan, grab one of these complimentary consults, 919-772-7000. That's 919-772-7000. You can also visit the website, wh.lawyer.
All right, HOA, Josh. You know, we've been doing this radio show I feel like we've been doing this radio shit for a long time. Like, not in decades. Yeah, your beard was not gray when we started. Yeah, man.
Yeah. What's going on with that, too, man? You're getting older by the day, and I feel like me and Morgan are just aging in reverse, like, fine. Whoa, wait, throwing me under the bus? No, he said you're aging in reverse.
Yeah. Oh, come on, God. I like that. I was like, how can you be? It was a great comment.
I thought he was telling me I was. I don't know.
So we've been doing this show for a long time. We've been doing this show for a long time. BEW! We've been doing this shit for a long time. And every now and again, we come out of a segment.
We come out of a segment and in my mind I feel like That's got to be the most boring segment of radio ever recorded. You think so? I feel. I feel like that after that last segment. We were so deep into the HOA.
I was riveted on the edge of my seat. Yeah, if we could put watching paint dry on the radio, possibly. No, I'm kidding. No, that's good stuff. A lot of people have HOAs.
And one of the things I hear most when people are thinking about relocating or buying new I don't want an HOA.
Well, I have a rule now. Like I said earlier in the show, I've lived in neighborhoods that have HOAs. I've lived in the country. And my boys, I told my boys, I have a rule now. where I don't want to live anywhere where if I go into my backyard and pee, I can get fined or arrested.
Right, so that's my new rule for where I'm gonna live. I have to be able to go into my backyard and be able to pee. without being liened, fined, or arrested. I think that's a good Rule of thumb. I think, yeah, as the number one rule in your life, man, I think you put the right one on top.
Look, when I'm at home, I don't want any restrictions on where I can use the bathroom. You're focused on that. It doesn't matter. You want to be the master of your domain. There's something so liberating about just doing it, man.
You got to do it. You just do it, man.
So it takes a long time, but when you move into a house, when you. No, no, okay. Not yet. When you. I'm sure that's coming one day.
It's one of the. But. You got to go pee at every corner of your property to mark your territory. What do you do? Just walk?
You just sidestep, walk around.
Well, you know, it's real tough. It's easy to get the backyard, right? It's hard to get the front yard. Yeah. Cover, cover.
You live way off the road, man.
Now, wait a minute.
Now, wait a minute.
You know the saying that, you know. Dog owners start to resemble their pets. They start to look alike.
Well, this is happening in reverse. Josh is starting to behave like his dog. Yeah. That's what me and my dogs do at night. We go pee around the property line.
Is that why you're trying to make it awesome? Just randomly chewing on a bone during this radio show?
So. I'm going to come at night to your house and I'm going to pee around the perimeter and claim it. You're going to mess up our plan. Yeah, I'm going to claim it. Energy's going to be a little bit more.
Put some trail cams out there, Joe. Put some trail cams out there. We're going to catch you. But it's subliminal. Right?
If you do that, it's subliminal. People come on your property, they know it's your territory. They just know. Yeah. They know.
They know. We got chickens. We had chickens. And. They're they've got a lot of predators out there if you live in the in the woods and so I would I would go and and Mark their coop, you know, to let the let these foxes know who the who the boss of these chickens is, you know.
My my oldest son is is a is a junior this year. And he has wanted us to get chickens. Speaking of HOAs, he has wanted us to get chickens since he was a little kid. I have never done it. I might have to do it this spring.
Maybe you start loving them this year. Maybe. Maybe you start loving them. Listening to my children and actually give him something he needs instead of beating time. You don't have chickens anymore, do you?
You said you had to. No, my plan to pee and keep the foxes away apparently is not enough, man. Apparently, I've got some alpha fox that just doesn't get scared away. Maybe my sense of the music. I got to go.
I'm going to start eating just a ton of asparagus. Kick it up a notch, you know? That's my point. Chickens, man. HOAs and chickens.
I had to, when I was first practicing, I tried a case. that was about uh Uh the covenants had uh they didn't have a number. They allow chickens, but a reasonable amount of chickens. And so I had to try a case. About what's reasonable.
What's a reasonable amount of chickens in this neighborhood? And what was the end result? What was a reasonable number? More than one. 10.
10. 10. As a chicken owner, I can tell you that's a borderline, unreasonable number of chickens, man. That's a borderline, unreasonable number. That's a lot of chickens.
A lot of people. I told the judge, I was like, This is like my Andy Griffith case. This is my. We still live in the courts. That would have been good or on a leash.
Yeah. Eating a bucket of fried chicken. No Yeah.
So if you're, if you're, well, so we'll just say, if your HOA has in the covenants, because a lot do, right? A lot of HOAs will have in the covenants. How many pets you can have, right? They might say you're limited to. You know, two dogs, two cats.
They might just say no farm animals, no animals raised for profit, might just specifically say no chickens, right? There's plenty of covenants where. Chickens have been banned, and there was a move to kind of relax that as people Uh more and more people had chickens, but um You see that a lot, you know? That is not uncommon at all. And Again, it's a perfectly valid Restriction, you know?
If it's in place, And you violate it. you're you're gonna have an issue. Straight up. Um So let's see.
So let's see this list of questions I've got. Um Doesn't I think this is it.
So, we were talking in our last segment about an HOA.
So, if you paint your house pink, you didn't get it approved, that violates your covenants. They're going to send you a letter saying, Hey, if you don't fix this, then. A certain amount of days we're gonna find you. The find will be daily. There's limits, they can't be excessive, but a daily fine, even if it's not excessive, those daily fines add up pretty quick.
Yeah, they do. Um And the HOA can charge you their legal fees. The HOA can charge you.
So, like, you know, if you have a pretty big violation. These fines can add up pretty quick, and then, like we talked about in the last segment, they can become a lien. And the HOA's biggest weapon is to foreclose on that lien, right?
So, you know, you have a mortgage with. The bank, right, and then the HOA files a lien, the HOA can foreclose on you and sell your property. To somebody else, whoever bids on it at the courthouse. I mean, we've seen foreclosure actions for HOAs over. Less than three three two three thousand dollars of fines Yes, and you know, most, I will tell you, most HOAs don't want to do that.
It's a real. You know It's problematic, but that's their tool. That's how they force compliance. And most people, if it's gotten that far and they get the notice of foreclosure, and be like, all right, we need to fix this. Um But the HOA can foreclose on you, sell your property to somebody else.
But your mortgage lien is still there. You don't own the property. You no longer have a right to be there. But you still have a mortgage. The mortgage wasn't paid off.
And it's a real quagmire of a situation to be in. You don't want to be in that situation. I think that's the, I think I end the question answer there. You don't want to be in that situation. Nobody does.
You know, you don't want to be in that situation. Arguably the the whoever if someone bought your house and and did no due diligence. They don't want to be in that situation. Um that's a whole nother subject for a different show, but uh Owning a property with a mortgage in someone else's name that you're disconnected from. Is a real nightmare scenario because they're not gonna mortgage holders are not gonna talk to you.
It's just going to be a problem. And then you're going to get foreclosed on. It's going to be a cascade of foreclosures. We are in the middle of HOA questions from the listeners, the legal side of this. And again, very interesting discussion here on Judica County Radio.
Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer, managing partners, Whitaker and Hamer Law Firm, are your hosts. And of course, Whitaker and Hamer, the power behind the program. And Josh and Joe are practicing attorneys here in North Carolina. Offices are located all over our great state: Moorhead City, Gastonia, Fuquevarina, Goldsboro, Clayton, Garner, Cleveland, and the cap city, Raleigh, North Carolina. We have complimentary consults in and around estate planning today.
So call at any time, 919-77270000. Maybe you've been thinking about starting the estate plan or just have questions about estate planning or you're in the middle of something and need the attorneys to take a look. This is complimentary. 919-77270000. That's 919-77270000.
And you can also visit wh.lawyer. We've got more Judica County coming up. Uh Judica County Radio, your hosts are Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer. They're the managing partners at Whitaker and Hamer Law Firm and attorneys that practice law right here in North Carolina. Offices placed in Raleigh, Garner, Cleveland, Clayton, Goldsboro, Fucui Verena, Gastonia, and down on the coast.
At Moorhead City for your convenience. Complimentary consults in and around estate planning available today. Just call 919-77270000. If you've got any questions about estate planning, maybe thought about starting it, or you've got questions about your existing estate plan. Yeah, get a second opinion.
919-77270000. You can also visit WH. Dot Lawyer. Josh.
All right, we're still talking about HOAs. HOAs, what they can, what they can't do. Prior segments, we talked about funds and liens and foreclosure and all the scary tools the HOA has to. Enforce compliance because that's what they're doing, right? They're enforcing compliance with restrictions And I've got a couple of questions here in a row that all have to do with With property use.
Can the HOA regulate Blank. All right, so I want to run through those. Um the first one, Joseph, can an HOA regulate Parking. Yes, Josh. Yes, they can.
Yes, they can regulate parking. You know, you have some HOAs in the, like in the city, where parking is very limited, and so you may only have one parking space and maybe a visitor space.
So, you have those kind of HOAs where they regulate parking because it's limited.
Some HOAs won't let you park on the road or in the ditch, right?
Some HOAs won't let you park your RV or your work truck or your boat in your driveway, even if you have. room, right?
So HOA can regulate Parking. Yes. Yes. I've got a question. I've got a question.
So, what if you work in a neighborhood? There's a office building in the middle of an established neighborhood. And this is a main thoroughfare. Is there any way that I can access the HOA for the neighborhood and find out what the rules are on street parking? Because at peak traffic times, certain houses that have too many cars, they're leaving cars on the street, which technically takes up almost a full lane of traffic, which causes an even I think a more dangerous situation where somebody's taking a turn, the car's right there on the street, there's nowhere to go, they end up hitting the car, or maybe a person's there.
I mean, it it can it can get really kind of dicey. At peak traffic times, if these neighborhoods aren't built for you know, through traffic as well as parked on the street traffic. Yeah, yeah, so it's the covenant. I guess my question is: do I have access to the HOA? Can I look at it?
The, well, certain things, right? The big things. Like, like I said, when, you know, in our example, where me and Joe go and develop a neighborhood and we record. That means their own record down at the Register of Deeds at the courthouse. We record.
the covenants and restrictions. And usually, you know, that kind of thing is covered in the covenants and the restrictions.
So, to answer your question, yes. It's public records, you can go down to the register of deeds and search. Whitaker-Hamer subdivision, and you should be able to come up with recorded.
Now, once the HOAs are formed, Um HOAs can can kind of assert They can flesh out. The covenants, right? The covenants might be very broad. The HOA can kind of flesh it out with some rules, and those rules might be private. You might not have access to those rules unless you.
You live in the subdivision, but to answer your question, yes, the covenant should be available online.
Now, they're not. usually fun to read. Right, you know, a lot of these covenants are like a hundred and twenty pages and They got a lot of legalese in them. Yeah, yeah, so yeah, you can anyone could go and pull covenants for any neighborhood because again, valid covenants are going to be recorded. But to Josh's point, there'll be some broad restrictions there, and it could be everything.
You could have every single restriction. you know, that you're that you're looking for within that document. But There are a lot of times where the covenants will give some kind of, you know, whether it be the board of the HOA, whether it be an architectural review committee. They'll give discretion to kind of put together some additional standards. that may not be public record that you might have to to reach out to someone for.
All right, so we had our first question. Can the HOA regulate parking? Yes. Can they can the HOA tow Vehicles. They can regulate parking can they tow vehicles.
if they're parked improperly. Yes. Yeah. Now is that immediately or after a warning? They have to give proper notice and signage.
So I think most HOAs are going to so most HOAs have management companies, right? Most bigger HOAs will have a board, they'll have a president, they'll have a secretary, but the day-to-day will be handled by an HOA management company. But there are HOA management companies that go out there and they give you a warning on your car: don't park here again. You'll be towed. They have to have signage up.
That you know, HOAs aren't above the law, right?
So there's statutes on how and when you can tow. vehicles so they have to follow those statutes, but the short answer is yes, they can tow. Yes. We talked about this one a little bit already. Can they regulate?
Pets, breeds of dogs, numbers of pets, things like that. The answer is yes. Yes. A lot of simple answers, man. Yeah.
Making me sick. Here's another one. Can the HOA restrict or make restrictions regarding landscaping? Yeah. Yeah.
Yes. They can restrict materials trees, when you cut down trees, what kind of You know, uh stuff you can have in front of the house, materials, things like that.
So I want to go back to the pet thing.
So, if I live in a neighborhood that has an HOA and I'm thinking about getting a pet, I need to check the HOA before I go get the pet because I might be in a breed area. that they don't allow. Yeah, yeah. The HOA is going to when you move into a subdivision, you know, if your closing attorney has done everything right, you know, you have your you get your covenants, you your the HOA will reach out to you within a couple of weeks and give you the rules. And regulations that might not be public record.
And so, usually, if a HOA has a breed restriction, they're going to let you know early. I mean, assuming you read the mail, right? Assuming you read what they send you, you should you know, the the breeds that, for better or worse, have a reputation for Being more violent, you know, usually that's what you see, but um, I think that's rarer In our area than it is in some other areas, I think a good principle, just in general, it went in doubt. You know, if you have any question that you may be doing anything that could be in violation of your HOA's requirements, reach out to your HOA management company. Because they'll tell you.
They'll let you know. Peeing in your front yard or backyard. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Absolutely.
Uh a hundred percent. I would recommend. I'll tell you what, let's take a break. Let's come back. Let's wrap this up.
We've got a few more HOA questions, but again, I want to remind you: we have complimentary consults in and around estate planning with Whitaker and Hamer. To grab one, just simply call us: 919-77270000. There's no cost, and again, you're not obligated to become a client. Good way to see what estate planning is all about, or if you're in the middle of something, get that second opinion. 919-7727000.
That's 919-77270000. You can also visit the website wh.lawyer. We'll wrap up Judica County coming up on the other side. Judica County Radio, hosted by Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer, managing partners, Whitaker and Hamer Law Firm, and again, practicing attorneys here in North Carolina. Offices all over our great state: Raleigh, Garner, Cleveland, Clayton, Goldsboro, Fuqua Verina, Gastonia, and down on the coast at Moorhead City.
I'm Morgan Patrick. Pleasure to be on with the attorneys. Get into these different discussions from all kinds of areas. And today we're kind of focusing in on the Homeowners Association because a lot of things happen in your neighborhood.
Now, if you've got questions you'd like the lawyers to attack and attempt to answer and will answer, just send it to us. Questions at judicacountyradio.com. That's questions at judicacountyradio.com. Make it a legal question, not hair care or beard care for Josh or anything like that or Joe. Make sure it's a legal question.
Question. But again, to get one of our complimentary consults, just call us 919-7727000 or visit the website wh.lawyer. All right, HOAs, wrap it up, Josh.
So here's a question for you, Joseph.
Okay. So you, you know, you're going to buy a house. In a new subdivision, the developer shares early on the covenants. Here are our covenants, these are our restrictions that are on record, here's our rules. You buy the house.
And let's say the neighborhood wants to change The roles Later, right? We're seeing a lot of neighborhoods who want to they're trying to move to not allow like short-term rentals, Airbnb, you know, whatever. I know there's a couple different sites, but short-term rentals are something that some neighborhoods Are not big fans of, right? The people that live in the neighborhood full-time don't like it. The people who bought the house for an investment and want to Airbnb it do like it.
The restrictions were originally quiet on it. Um But can these rules, can these rules be changed? That's my question to you. The answer to your question, Josh, is yes. Rules can be changed.
it it's it's our favorite it depends, right? Because the the covenants are generally going to state a procedure for amending. And it's it's There's a couple of different scenarios there. If you've got a subdivision. that was recently developed and there's a developer still involved.
Every house hasn't been sold. They still own lots. It's very likely that there is a possibility that that developer can. Unilaterally. make revisions to the restrictions within reason.
But if you're in a scenario where your subdivision is built out, there's going to be a procedure, and it's usually going to be some percentage of the homeowners. all coming together and and signing something. That makes that amendment. But no matter what, there's going to have to be some signature.
some public notice requirement where you're it's not going to be You may be surprised by what the change is, but you will know that there there has been a change. Yeah, usually there's a special meeting of the homeowners, right? Assuming the developer is no longer in the picture, because, like Joe says, that's a different. That's a different situation, but assuming you're an established, built-out Subdivision, there's going to be a special notice. Uh homeowners have to vote.
Usually, a supermajority of some kind is required. Usually, it's greater than 50% to change an amendment, which. If you deal with HOAs a lot like we do, getting a a a majority of a neighborhood to agree to a change is Difficult. Getting 50% of people, getting 50% of this show to agree on something is difficult. That's right.
But then the amendment has to be recorded to put future homeowners on notice.
So it's a very big process. I haven't seen much motivate. Usually it's a rental issue that motivates people to get together and try to change. covenants to limit Long-term rentals to ban short-term rentals. That's usually What motivates folks to change covenants.
But it does happen. It does. It does. And and there are a few there's a few subdivisions that already have that on the books, right?
So if you're looking for an investment property and you you want to you want to rent a the home that you that you buy, you need to make sure that renting is is allowed. And um You know, if you want an Airbnb property, you really need to make sure that that's allowed too, because that's more commonly. disallowed. That's a lot of HOA talk. Fantastic information, man.
Right here at Christmas, you really put everybody in the holiday spirit. Yep, everybody's going to move to the country. We're moving to the sticks. I was going to skip Christmas this year when this show happened. And now I'm going to buy my kids some presents.
It tickled your Christmas pipe. It did, man. It did. That's a saying. That's some people say that.
Yeah, people say that all the time, man. I hear it every day. Tickle your Christmas. That's a strange expression coming from this host. Yeah, it's a very common saying.
Obviously.
Okay. Okay. Apparently, that's down in the Garner area. That's regional. Regional.
All right. Another edition of Judica County Radio in the books. Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer doing a great job in the host position. They're the managing partners at Whitaker and Hamer Law Firm. Of course, Whitaker and Hamer, the power behind this program.
And both Josh and Joe, they practice law right here in the great state of North Carolina. They placed offices all over the place: Raleigh, Garner, Cleveland, Clayton, Goldsboro, Fucwave Arena, Gastonia, and in Moorhead City for your convenience. The complimentary consult can be grabbed by simply calling 919-7727000 in and around estate planning. Again, 919-7777777777770000000000 772-7000-919-77270000. That will grab you one of those consults.
You can also visit the website, and that website is wh.lawyer.lawyer.
Well, another edition of Judica County in the books for Josh and Joe. I'm Morgan. We'll see you on the radio next week. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Judica County is hosted by attorneys licensed to practice law in North Carolina.
Some of the guests appearing on this podcast may be licensed North Carolina attorneys. Discussion on this podcast is meant to be general in nature, and in no way should the discussion be interpreted as legal advice. Legal advice can only be rendered once an attorney, licensed in the state in which you live, has the opportunity to discuss the facts of your case with you. The attorneys appearing on this podcast are speaking in generalities about the law in North Carolina and how these laws affect the average North Carolinian. If you have any questions about the content of this show, you can direct such inquiry to Joshua Whitaker at jmw at mwhlaw.lawyer.
