Part of our neighborhood adjoins pristine woodlands/wetlands that are a dominant feature of the character of the neighborhood but not owned by it. Recently, our city government decided to bulldoze the entire forest to run a pipeline. Our HOA refused to become involved because the property is not within our neighborhood. However, I believe there is a ruling requiring that HOA’s in Florida must protect homeowners against undesirable development adjacent to the neighborhood. Can you clarify the HOA’s duties in such a situation?

My parents built their home in 1971 and has lived there ever since. The city they live in Riverbank, California has rezoned the block they live on several times throughout the years. Now they are having a problem with a business that has moved in next door. They asked the city to have the business put up a firewall between the two properties. The city told my parents that the block has been rezoned and that they don’t see my parents residence as a residence because it has been rezoned light industrial. So even though in the city codes it states that there has to be a firewall between a residence and a business, it doesn’t apply to my parents property because the city rezoned it. My parents home has become a nightmare because the city is allowing businesses come in and make their residence unsafe. If I could bring a lawsuit against the city I would do it in a heartbeat. My question is what direction do I need to go in to fight the city over this. Is there any California Law that I can research about grandfather clause and rezoning. If they city didn’t add a grandfather clause in when they rezoned the property is there a California law that covers this. My parents rights as property owners have been taken away if their home is not seen as a home.

Is there a grandfather clause for the state of California regarding permits that were not required for additional units added to a single family dwelling when part of the original construction?

We are looking at purchasing a new home in a community with an HOA in Leland, NC. I requested a copy of the covenants, and they include a pet limit. We have one additional pet above the limit. We really love this house, but do not want to purchase without a variance in writing that we can have the additional pet.

Is it possible to do a purchase contingent on acceptance of the variance on the pet limit?

I am the second owner of my house. The house was built new in 1991, located in Rochester New York within a town called Webster. I have a sink hole in my back yard. My yard has sunk 15 to 17 inches in a large spot of my back yard. I can look in the whole which goes down over 12 feet and there is at least 37 inches of water in the bottom of the whole. There are large sassafras trees trunks and root ball in the hole. The builder took the trees down and just covered them over with fill or at least this is what it look like to me. Plus it looks like the builder dumped his unwanted materials and covered them over as well. I have taken digital photos of the site, in addition it looks like a 65 gallon drum is also in the whole. The question I am asking; what’s my legal right to have him fix this mess? I want them to dig the stuff up and making it right.

My grandparents own about 12 acres of property in New Hanover County, NC. As thier children have grown up and started families of thier own, they have given them each an acre with which to build a home. There is a total of 4 existing homes on the property with individual deeds and owners for each developed acre. The last child in the family is ready to get married and build a home of his own. But when he went to have a title drawn up for his acre they were informed by the planning board that the area would now be considered a housing development. They will have to leave a large portion of the remaining land for county use as a “park” or face fines. I have been told that it probably will not be used for a park but reserved so that the county can use it as they see fit. I am curious if there are any legal action we can take to keep this land in the family. I’m sorry for the long explanation but I wanted to be as detailed as possible. Thank you in advance for any insight you may be able to provide.

My family has owned a cottage in Michigan since 1948. It has been continuously available for rent or rented since 1957. In 1984 an R-1 zoning ordinance was passed forbidding week to week rentals. We were not aware of this until last September when were were told we couldn’t rent it. My question is, am I grandfathered in?

I purchased a new home in Dec. 2007 from a large property developer. The property is located in Southern California, near a privately owned lake that offers duck hunting 2 months out of the year. During the months of Nov-Dec hunters are shooting guns starting at 5:45 in the morning. The gun noise normally last for 5-8 hours at 5 days per week. When we purchased this property the developer never disclosed to us that we will be living within 100 yards of a gun range/hunting place. We want a solution to this and prefer to seek legal advise. We would have never purchased this property if we knew of the hunting. Do we have any recourse?

How may cars can you have on a property and what if there are two house on the property and one house hold car’s always block in the other house hold car. What if my kid gets hurt and they wont move there cars in time and sometime happene’s?

My HOA has told me that my fence is not approved. I built a 6 foot high stockade fence. They are telling me the main problem is the style of fence and the height. This seems to be the only ordinance that they want to enforce. Is it possible for me not to be a member of the HOA and still live in the neighborhood?