NH Woman Sued For Planting Flowers In Her Front Yard

[Silent_Bob]

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/03/19/nh-woman-sued-for-planting-flowers-in-her-front-yard/

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (CBS) – Kimberly Bois' tiny front yard garden isn't much to look at right now. But in a few weeks, it'll be in full bloom, and every blossom will cost her dearly.

Even though she says her builder gave her permission to do a little planting, the current condo board now says she's in violation.

They're charging the Portsmouth, New Hampshire homeowner $50 a day for being so petal pushy. That fine has reached close to $6,000, plus the board's legal fees.

"It's just not a happy place to live anymore for me," says Bois, who planted the small flower bed with the help of her mother, who has since passed away.

She says, "It just feels like we've been bullied and really all we wanted to do was have a conversation to figure out how this can benefit all of us."

A new certified letter arrives every month, ordering Bois to uproot her garden and keeping track of her fines.

It got so bad, she contacted a Realtor friend of hers to talk about just selling the place that she has owned since 2008.

That's when she got the real shock: the board put a lien on her townhouse for their fines.

Bois says the whole situation has, "gotten out of control."

She even offered to pull up the flowers and pay part of the board's legal fees a couple of weeks ago – an offer she says was refused.

The association's bylaws don't expressly forbid planting flowers on your property, Bois explains, nor do they explicitly allow it.

Board members have told Bois they just want all the units to look the same.

"Now we've gone down a rabbit hole that I just can't seem to get out of and it's very sad, and it's upsetting," she says.

WBZ reached out to the attorney who represents the condo association, but he did not respond our request for comment

[Lloyd Danforth]

Where is the issue here? She bought a condo!

[lildog]

Where is the issue here? She bought a condo!

My thoughts exactly.

When you buy into some kind of living association like most condo's have then you are agreeing to rules established by that association.  Don't want rules then don't live in the association.

[dalebert]

They are probably glazing over some rule that says you can't do anything to the landscaping or the outside of any units without the board's approval. It's pretty standard. Still, their approach to this little violation is rather heavy-handed and doesn't make the place seem very appealing to potential new owners.

My home in L.A. and my first as an "owner" was a condo. The board was a constant nightmare. They hassled me to no end about things going on INSIDE my condo. They failed to clean drains above my unit and we got flooded during a heavy rain.

Never... again...

[Tom Sawyer]

Just a private government... and it draws in the same kind of sociopaths.

[MaineShark]

According to the articles I've seen, there is supposedly no clause that actually prohibits gardens.

[BJ]

Where is the issue here? She bought a condo!

My thoughts exactly.

When you buy into some kind of living association like most condo's have then you are agreeing to rules established by that association.  Don't want rules then don't live in the association.

Covenants attached to acreage is a problem in NH that I've noticed. No mobile homes, and houses of a minimum size for instance. Fuckers.

[Lloyd Danforth]

A guy who developed some property down the road from us has all sorts of covenants. He's not selling much.

[KBCraig]

A guy who developed some property down the road from us has all sorts of covenants. He's not selling much.

Good.

Although, I prefer covenants to zoning.

[KBCraig]

Board members have told Bois they just want all the units to look the same.

I do not understand people who want to live this way, whether it's condos or HOA-restricted developments.

[Lloyd Danforth]

People assume, probably with good reason, that others will have poor taste in choosing outside stuff. As long as you know the rules....rules that are clear and don't change.

[KBCraig]

I find nothing in poorer taste than dictating that we all have identical landscaping.

[Silent_Bob]

Condo directors fight tulips, daffodils

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20120322/NEWS/703229949

PORTSMOUTH — As spring officially began Tuesday, Kim Bois was happy to see her tulips and daffodils begin to sprout from beneath the mulch, but she now must defend her well-used green thumb against a lawsuit from her own condominium association.

Attorney Paul McEachern, who's defending Bois, said the board of directors from the Atlantic Pointe Condominium Association placed a $4,500 lien on Bois' home — from unpaid fines which accrued daily since Oct. 24 — and wants her to pay $8,000 in legal expenses for planting perennials on the property in the past.

"This gave her a vested right," McEachern said, adding he spent the first day of spring preparing the countersuit against the association, which formed in 2010 and claims it has the right to overrule previous agreements.

"I will be asking the court to prove her right and them wrong," McEachern said, arguing the board of directors acted beyond its right.

Bois, who's been living at 20A Albacore Way since May 2008, said she is very discouraged at the situation, especially since she enjoyed the community and was very proud of how her garden looks.

Bois said the association sent her a certified letter August 2011 saying she had to remove her flowers by Sept. 1, 2011. She added she waited until association members could decide at their biannual meeting in October, but the vote never took place.

Since she did not comply, Bois was fined $25 a day for the first two weeks and $50 a day afterwards.

"It's been going on for a couple of months," Bois said, adding the situation quickly deteriorated in February when a real estate broker told her about the lien.

Bois said she was shocked, especially since her garden, which has flowers and bushes, isn't any larger than other plots, which only have bushes.

"My garden was in place quite a while before the board was elected," Bois said.

Bois said she and her mother only started planting after speaking to the developer, Bob Sullivan, in the summer of 2008. She added Sullivan, who lives in Massachusetts, later sent an e-mail to confirm he provided the permission once he turned the development to the association in 2010.

"We started planting in the late summer and early fall, because that's when you plant bulbs," Bois said, adding she decided to plant perennials, instead of annuals, since she was thinking long-term.

Bois said her mother provided bulbs from some of her favorite plants for the new garden. She added they planted daisies, echinacea, bearded irises, lavender, tulips, daffodils and hydrangea bushes.

"She was a very avid gardener and has an absolutely beautiful garden," Bois said, adding she is grateful the three years they spent gardening together.

"My mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. That's why I moved back to New Hampshire," Bois said, adding she had been previously living in San Francisco, where the cost to buy a home was well out of her reach.

"I just wanted a little space to do something," Bois said, adding she only wanted to have a small garden, but wasn't interested in mowing the lawn, fixing the roof or shoveling.

Bois said the current situation makes her want to move away. She added she hopes to be able to save some of her mother's plants and have to pay only for her legal expenses, but not the association's.

"I'm just hoping we get a reasonable judge," Bois said, adding she's willing to reasonably compromise.

Although McEachern said he's surprised how quickly the news spread of the association's actions, her case will be based on the law, not public opinion.

The association's attorney, Sandy Roberts, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The association wants Bois and three other of her neighbors to remove flowers, stone patios and a wall, which they installed themselves or paid someone to place.

McEachern said Bois and former neighbor Patrick Champagne, who is in Florida, already paid for the materials and invested time in the hobby of beautifying their homes on top of the significant cost of the condominium.

"They actually enhance the value of the property," McEachern said, adding the pictures he saw of the garden are something anyone would be proud of.

[KBCraig]

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20120322/NEWS/703229949

Bois said the current situation makes her want to move away. She added she hopes to be able to save some of her mother's plants and have to pay only for her legal expenses, but not the association's.

"I'm just hoping we get a reasonable judge," Bois said, adding she's willing to reasonably compromise.

Ah, the old "reasonably compromise with an aggressor" fallacy. I suppose if she was car-jacked and mugged, she would consider it a "reasonable compromise" if he left her a twenty for cab fare.

A "good judge" would award her all her legal expenses, and that the board members pay the association's fees personally instead of assessing the members. Plus pain and suffering for the turmoil and stress.

She's not likely to get a good judge, though. 

[Russell Kanning]

I bet when she joined she didn''t figure there was a rule against flowers