Protect Property Rights
Sure, here's the corrected version of the post:
I am Tim Herriage. I believe in law and order. I believe that good fences make good neighbors and that we should all follow the rules.
I have been tangled up with an HOA in Rockwall for about a year now. The HOA randomly imposed a ban on leasing. It was retroactive and offered no waivers for existing use. When I look at this, I think that we, as an investor community, need to be willing to take this to the Supreme Court.
It's one thing if I bought the house with a leasing restriction already in place. I get it. That was the rule, and I knew it going in. However, it's a completely different issue when I've taken out a mortgage and have already leased a property. In this case, 1.5 years after I leased the house, the board started going around the neighborhood rallying votes to ban leasing.
I won't get into the specifics in a public forum. I've retained Pratt Aycock to represent me. We intend to establish precedent, protecting all Texas landlords from an HOA that essentially has the power to force the sale of a home.
Every penny I raise will go straight to the law firm of Pratt Aycock. Any remaining funds will be returned to the contributors on a pro-rata basis.
There is state law authority in cases such as this, where the HOA changes the rules that were in effect when the owner purchased the property.
State law prohibits an exercise of discretionary authority by a property owners' association if that exercise was arbitrary, capricious, or discriminatory. Tex. Prop. Code Ann. § 202.004(a). The no renting rule could violate this state law prohibition. The no rental rule is being applied to make illegal conduct that was legal when the owner entered into the leases. The application of newly adopted deed restrictions to make illegal uses that were legal when the owner purchased the property is arbitrary and capricious. Davis v. Huey, 620 S.W.2d 561, 566–67 (Tex. 1981); Gettysburg Homeowners Ass'n, Inc. v. Olson, 768 S.W.2d 369, 372 (Tex. App.--Hous. [14th Dist.] 1989).
