Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Enforcing CC&Rs

[PAMELA LEITCH (info]

Thomas,

You are correct in the way that you describe the relationship between community 
agreements and legal documents like CC&Rs. 


Pam Leitch, JD, CMCA
HOA Coaching, LLC
hoacoaching.com <http://hoacoaching.com/>

> On Jun 21, 2024, at 1:24 PM, Chapel, Thomas (CDC/NCIPC/DOP) via Cohousing-L 
> <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:
> 
> I strongly advise you to hire the lawyer asap. The likelihood that your 
> decision to override them would hold up in court if someone tested you is 
> pretty remote I THINK.  But please correct me if someone knows otherwise.  We 
> have very detailed community guidelines, but have been under the assumption 
> that they are good-will agreements and not legally enforceable like our CC&Rs 
> are.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Cohousing-L <cohousing-l-bounces+tchapel=cdc.gov [at] cohousing.org> On 
> Behalf Of NANCY MOREHOUSE via Cohousing-L
> Sent: Friday, June 21, 2024 3:23 PM
> To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
> Cc: NANCY MOREHOUSE <nmorehouse [at] aol.com>
> Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Enforcing CC&Rs
> 
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> 
> Hi Lisa,
> When we moved in in 2012, we realized our CCRs were also boiler plate. And so 
> early on, we agreed by consensus that any agreement made by us that 
> contradicted the CCR‘s would have precedence over the CCRs.
> So someday when we have nothing else to do, we will find a lawyer to help us 
> modify our CCR‘s.
> Nancy Morehouse
> Wolf Creek Lodge
> Grass Valley, California
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On Jun 21, 2024, at 10:53 AM, Lisa Kuntz via Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] 
>> cohousing.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Good questions, Petra!
>> 
>> I'll keep an eye on the answers, since it's a concern that many, 
>> perhaps most, cohousing communities have!
>> 
>> We here at Daybreak Cohousing are exploring that topic right now.
>> 
>> How can we work together to care for the physical and social aspects 
>> of our community and make sure that everybody is included and on-board?
>> 
>> Lisa Kuntz
>> Daybreak Cohousing
>> Portland OR
>> 
>>> On Fri, Jun 21, 2024 at 8:31 AM Petra Martin <petra [at] petramartin.com> 
>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Our (young) community <https://fifthstreetcommons.com/> was founded 
>>> by two couples, one of whom never lived here (but owned a unit that 
>>> has since been
>>> sold) and the other who did live here for a while (but that unit has 
>>> also been sold). They retrofitted intentional community into a former 
>>> apartment complex and outfitted us with what looks like a boilerplate 
>>> set of CC&Rs <https://fifthstreetcommons.com/governing-documents/>.
>>> 
>>> Bottom line, we inherited a bunch of rules that we had no hand in 
>>> creating, one rule is being violated (don't store stuff in the 
>>> carports), and we've been going around in circles for nine months 
>>> trying to rewrite that rule in a way that works for everyone, with no 
>>> resolution in sight.
>>> 
>>> Some of us are thinking, "Hey, it seems like it might be less painful 
>>> to just enforce the rules as written," but no one has ever done that here.
>>> 
>>> So, two questions:
>>> 
>>>  - Do you have community-generated CC&Rs that you're willing to share
>>>  with me, so we can see how other cohousing communities have written 
>>> their
>>>  rules and agreements?
>>>  - How do you enforce your community's rules? What are the
>>>  steps/escalations? (These
>>> 
>>> <https://www.hoamanagement.com/how-can-hoa-enforce-rules-regulations/
>>>> 
>>> feel
>>>  fairly standard for HOAs but don't necessarily seem like a perfect match
>>>  for cohousing/intentional communities).
>>> 
>>> Thank you for helping us work through this!
>>> 
>>> Petra Martin (board president)
>>> 360.202.7403
>>> *WhatsApp* <https://wa.me/13602027403> 
>>> _________________________________________________________________
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>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
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