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Imagine buying a brand new home in a brand new housing development that’s part of an HOA. What would you do if you noticed that the fence behind your property didn’t comply with the HOA rules? Would you bring this to someone’s attention, or would you hope the HOA lets it slide?

In this story, one family is in this situation, and they like the current fence. They don’t want the HOA to force them to change the fence, but they’re also worried a neighbor will eventually complain.

They’re not sure what they should do about it.

Keep reading for the full dilemma.

Developer built our fence out of HOA compliance

We just bought a new build in an HOA.

I always said I would never, but here in the southwest virtually all new construction has an HOA and I didn’t want to deal with a private seller.

Anyway, the development borders open space to the west and south and we were lucky enough to get a lot on the western edge.

The builder didn’t follow the HOA rules when building the fence.

The CC&Rs say all edge lots (and it specifically lists the lot numbers, which includes ours) must have a “view fence” along the rear of the property.

Basically says no more than 6 feet tall, and of that the top 2 feet must be see through (I’m paraphrasing here).

The southern edge properties have a rear fence where the bottom 4 feet are regular fence boards but there is a horizontal 2×4 at each of the 5 and 6 foot marks.

Well, our entire street on the western edge was built with regular, solid 6 foot fences.

OP likes the fence.

I greatly prefer the solid fence for privacy (it’s only about a 200 foot corridor of open space for a drainage canal and marshland, with houses on the other side) and wind protection.

I’m worried at some point the HOA is going to try to mess with us and tell us to replace it.

What would you do?

The development is still under construction.

Forgot to mention, at this point the development is still under construction and my understanding is the developer still controls the HOA.

I’m sure they don’t want to come replace a few hundred yards of fence on their dime.

The worry is that once the HOA is turned over to the residents, someone will complain and then it will be my issue.

This is in Nevada.

If the developer built the fence and the developer is currently in charge of the HOA, why not bring the concern to the developer? Maybe they could just modify the HOA rules so that the current fence does in fact comply. Otherwise, it’s up to the developer to fix it.

Let’s see what Reddit suggests.

This person offers some advice.

Here’s a similar suggestion.

Here’s something to check.

Definitely get proof!

If the developer is currently the HOA and the builder, surely the developer would either change the rules, fix the fence, or make an exception for the current fence so they don’t have to rebuild it. It could be good to mention this to any neighbors who are in the same situation.

Proof of approval is essential because otherwise you know a Karen on the HOA board will eventually complain.

It’s better to solve this problem now while the developer is still in charge.