The myth of private property rights in HOAs

Black's Law Dictionary defines private property simply as:

"Protected from public appropriation over which the owner has exclusive and absolute rights".

and rights as -- "the interest, claim or ownership that one has in tangible or intangible property"

We are talking about your absolute and exclusive rights in real property when it comes to owning our home. And when you see your name alone, or with your spouse on the deed and title to your home you say, "YES! Mine and all mine to do as I please!"

But not so in a homeowners association where the buyer must look at the fine print that simple says "subject to any covenants, conditions and restrictions attached to the property". This is a warning to buyers that your absolute and exclusive rights to your home no longer exist. But the myth of "your very private home ownership" still pervades the real estate promotional and advertising literature, and by the public policy, civil liberties and constitutional rights organizations.


Not so as the courts have pointed out when they uphold these CC&Rs. The HOA, a private organization, has been granted the right to decide what you can do with your property because they also have an interest, a claim, a right to do so as granted by that simple phrase in your deed -- "subject to any covenants, conditions and restrictions". A more accurate description would be "communal", a sharing in your property rights by the HOA as representative of the community.



The HOA can decide the color of your house, the landscaping of your property,what structures may ne added/modified, etc. And the HOA is not a governmental agency with all those built-in protections, but a private government whose purpose is not the same as the Preamble to the US Constitution, but to maintain property values without regard to the Bill of Rights.

We have lost the fundamental belief and value of the American Revolution -- private property rights. Whether your private property rights are taken by the government or by unconscionable adhesion contracts sold under highly suspect sales practices, it is abuse of your individual property rights. There is no difference.

HOAs are communal with respect to your individual private property rights. Compare your rights with homeowners not living in an HOA.