Homeowners Associations in the Mat-Su Borough are one of the few governing bodies that actually care about covenants. People love to complain about homeowners associations. You tend to only hear about them when someone is in trouble because they painted their house pink instead of purple…or something like that.
Generally if you live in a development with covenants but break a minor one, while still keeping your neighbors happy no one will care. You might even get away with a fairly large breach of the covenants with no repercussions.
But if you upset your neighbors in some way, like say…allowing your dog to bark incessantly until 3 AM every morning, they will start reading the fine print in the covenants. Then they will start complaining to the homeowners association about the color of your shed, or the fencing that comes past the front of your house by 3 feet, or the fact that you have a dog and two cats instead of two dogs and a cat.
After you get the nasty-gram from the Homeowners Association you will start to gripe about the $100 per year dues you pay to that group. What do they do anyway with all that money?
First, the association has to account for the money. They need to have a budget, regular meetings and minutes of those meetings. The budget and the minutes are presented to new buyers with a resale certificate which usually includes a large binder showing the covenants, the minutes, and budget of the association.
It does much more than just police the covenants.
- 1.Many associations provide street lights at school bus stops within the subdivision
- 2.They communicate with officials about community concerns.
- 3. It manages community held property like parks, water systems, etc.
- 4. They may organize community events, like a community spring cleaning.
For more on homeowners associations see: Homeowners Association News, and Primer on Homeowners Associations
