Finding My Way Home, REAL Tips

Restrictive Covenants and the Big Green Ugly

I have a Big Green Ugly sitting in my driveway. It’s been there for a while and it isn’t going away any time soon.

The Big Green Ugly is a truck, a really big one – a 1994 Ford F250 XLT with a full-length bed and an extended cab. I bought it when I was working on my house, near the end of 2005, when I needed a vehicle more appropriate for carrying building materials than my every-day car. I love my truck and we have had many happy days hauling renovation debris to the local landfill, with a stop-in at the Waffle House on the way home. Tradition! It has gigantic all-terrain tires and a nice white stripe down the side.

“Nice”, I have since learned, is in the eye of the beholder.

One thing I didn’t realize when I bought the Big Green Ugly is that really big trucks are not permitted in my subdivision – vehicle sizes are restricted in the neighborhood’s Restrictive Covenants, “Covenants and Restrictions” or “C&Rs”. Fortunately, although my truck is one big, mean hauling machine, it is smaller than the maximum size for the area. PHEW! This fact, however, didn’t prevent it from briefly becoming the focus of a bit of less-than-positive attention on my street, and I suspect the motivating element for the neighborhood newsletter’s article about the rules for vehicles in the subdivision, published soon after I brought the Big Green Ugly home.

When you go to buy your home, make sure you know what the Restrictive Covenants are for your subdivision, and make sure you can live within them – they aren’t optional. You can quickly become embroiled in a struggle with your local Home Owners’ Association (HOA) if you run afoul of the C&Rs. Some require you to maintain X amount of lawn in your front yard (mine does), even if the grass doesn’t want to grow in the bad dirt under the big trees. Some restrict the type of landscaping materials you can use, and others define precisely the type and style of fencing that is allowed, or even required.

Some Restrictive Covenants, which are enforced by your subdivision’s HOA, might also address:

• Satellite dishes and TV antennas
• Storage or parking of Recreational Vehicles, including motor homes, boats and jet skis
• Swing sets, tree houses and other children’s play structures you might want to put in your yard
• Signage for trades people working on your house – the little signs that say something like “Hoffman’s Roofing Company” may or may not be permitted
• Dumpsters out front during renovations – some areas have time limits, even if the dumpsters or trailers are hauled off and emptied on a frequent basis
• Exterior paint colors and materials that may be used when updating or modifying the appearance of the exterior of your home
• Whether or not you can plant a vegetable garden out front
• Clotheslines

You will receive a copy of the Restrictive Covenants for your neighborhood during your buying contract period – make sure to read them thoroughly. You will find that the nicer a neighborhood looks, the more likely it will be that the C&Rs tightly define what is required with regards to the exterior appearance of the properties. Older neighborhoods with irregular lot sizes and RVs parked in the side yard may have an entirely different set of restrictions, or very few, if any. Get them, read them and understand what you’re committing to before you close on your new home!

If you don’t, you may have to send your own Big Green Ugly to live with someone else. For me, that would make my house feel less like HOME.