Thought this would be of interest to the folks fighting HOA/CCR's

[AD5TD]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-state-of-nova/post/restons-shadowood-condominiums-make-new-va-case-law-cant-impose-fees-on-rule-violators/2012/12/13/52fb582c-4554-11e2-9648-a2c323a991d6_blog.html

[KS4VT]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-state-of-nova/post/restons-shadowood-condominiums-make-new-va-case-law-cant-impose-fees-on-rule-violators/2012/12/13/52fb582c-4554-11e2-9648-a2c323a991d6_blog.html

Only In VA though...it was the State Supreme Court and not Federal.

[W0MT]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-state-of-nova/post/restons-shadowood-condominiums-make-new-va-case-law-cant-impose-fees-on-rule-violators/2012/12/13/52fb582c-4554-11e2-9648-a2c323a991d6_blog.html

Only In VA though...it was the State Supreme Court and not Federal.

Even if it was the US Supreme Court, it wouldn’t do much for Hams wanting to put up an antenna in a community with CC&Rs. The holding was that the HOA can’t make up rules and fines for the homeowners.

Most CC&Rs that prohibit antennas include a clause that says if the HOA takes legal action to get compliance and the homeowner loses, the homeowner has to pay the HOA’s legal fees. So the HOA sues for an injunction to get the antenna removed. The Ham will almost surely lose. The Ham now owes legal fees for both sides and has an injunction to remove the antenna. In some cases if the HOA has its attorney write a letter and the Ham decides to remove the antenna, the Ham still has to pay the fee for the HOA’s attorney to write the letter.

[AC7DX]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7kirdtdI1c&feature=related

[N4UP]

In North Carolina we have a state Statute 47-F ( Planned Community Act ), some provisions of which apply to all subdivisions with HOAs, while most provisions apply only to newer HOAs that are not grand-fathered.  Among other things, it gives most HOAs the power to assess fines of up to $100 a day for each violation of the covenants.

I served on the BOD of my HOA for several years.  Antenna restrictions and other architectural provisions were rigidly enforced, while most of the covenants were not enforced.