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HOA Approval Prior to Issuing Permit

Do you require an HOA approval letter before issuing a permit?

  • YES

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • NO

    Votes: 8 100.0%
  • Total voters
    8
jar546

jar546

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How many of you require whether through ordinance or state statutes submittal of HOA approval prior to permit issuance?
For the record, I do not and am against it. I think it may help to alleviate issues in the future but otherwise,none of our business as it is between the property owner and HOA.
 
The only time that we require an approval letter from a non-governmental agency is where we have a PUD (Planned Unit Development) that has a zoning review completed by the developer. This is a unique situation and the PUD replaces portions of our municipal code, and includes provisions that establish the developer as a review and approve authority.
 
From history before me here we have some condo associations and a mall beat into sending us a letter of approval....I don't care one way or the other...I have too much to do already...
 
Yes, in one area of town , we have a group of homes (about 50) around a lake that have an HOA, and we require a signed letter from them approving the construction work before we issue a permit. It is just the way it has always been done here.
 
We don't have a single HOA in the entire County, thank the Lord. We do have a few subdivisions with their own covenants, and some of those subdivisions even (try to) enforce them, but I pay them no mind whatsoever.
 
The same can be said for deed restrictions since many housing developments have restrictions on the type of siding, roofing, pools, etc. If someone comes in to install vinyl siding and they have a deed restriction against vinyl siding. I don't care, the building code does not address deed restrictions or HOA's.
 
We add a little reminder printed right on the permit. We don't require anything from the HOA and we do not check with them. Simply a heads up for the permitee as part of our customer service.
"BUILDING PERMIT ISSUANCE AND APPROVAL DOES NOT CONSTITUTE HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION APPROVAL.PLEASE CONTACT YOUR ASSOCIATION"
 
Jeff S said:
We add a little reminder printed right on the permit. We don't require anything from the HOA and we do not check with them. Simply a heads up for the permitee as part of our customer service.
"BUILDING PERMIT ISSUANCE AND APPROVAL DOES NOT CONSTITUTE HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION APPROVAL.PLEASE CONTACT YOUR ASSOCIATION"
Click to expand...
Smart
 
So I've had issues where we approved a permit, taken payment then the permit expired and after over a year they wanted a refund because they were not able to do the job due to lack of HOA approval.

I had another issue where we issued the permit and they started the work without HOA approval which turned into a lawsuit. They tried bringing us into it at which point I stated we have no jurisdiction over HOA rules and the applicant applies to us at their own risk.
 
The thing is, building inspection departments are not the arbiters of construction. There are even other government regulations on construction that building inspectors are not empowered to enforce, so it is completely unreasonable to expect that we will also now ensure that it meets contracts that we are not a party to. One could argue that since we are not a party to those agreements, we lack the standing to enforce them.

Building departments ensure that the proposed construction meets the approved code and applicable municipal laws. That is already a lot of work. There is a lot that we can get wrong and make mistakes on.
 
I've been told as well as heard in the court room ignorance is not defensible in court. It is the owners/owners agent responsibility to do their due diligence. Just as you should know what the contracts you sign say. This includes HOA agreements, signing for permits and so on. These are legal documents. We do not enforce covenants, HOA, contract agreements. Nor should we. We only enforce legally adopted code.
 
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