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The war of the roses ... and daisies: Condo owner in legal battle over perennials
A condo association in Portsmouth, N.H., has placed a lien on Kimberly Bois' home and slapped her with nearly $6,000 in fines plus legal fees, all because of a tidy little flower bed outside of her townhouse.
Wed, Mar 21 2012 at 8:00 AM
Photo: wwarby/Flickr
Today, here’s yet another massively aggravating defiant-greenthumb-under-attack story for you. And what do you know? It’s just in time for spring planting season! Hooray!
This one is shaking down at the Atlantic Pointe condominiums in Portsmouth, N.H., where condo owner Kimberly Bois is being sued by the despotic condo association for growing a pretty little patch of blooms — daisies, bearded irises, lavender, hydrangeas, and tulip bulbs — in front of her townhouse. And this isn’t some unruly mess of overgrown greenery that we’re talking about here … just a neatly maintained assortment of heirloom perennials that Bois transferred from her late mother’s garden in 2008 (Note: that's not the offending flower bed pictured above, but you can view it here).
As the story goes, when Bois planted the garden back in 2008, she was given the full go-ahead by Atlantic Pointe’s developer to do so. Then, in October 2010, the condo association was formed and a bylaw stating that all landscaping work had to be performed by an outside company to maintain a soul-crushingly “uniform” look was created. Bois, believing that the written permission she received to plant flowers outside of her unit superseded the bylaw, refused to tear up her garden. The condo association remained adamant that any permission granted to Bois was temporary and could be changed. And so, Bois found herself in violation of the new rules and began incurring $25 and then $50 per day fines. Good lord ... can you imagine what would have happened if Norwood Young moved to the neighborhood?
Also on MNN: Did you catch the last chapter of the front-yard gardening war?
As of now, Bois has racked up a grand total of $5,500 in violation fines while the condo association is demanding that she also pay $8,000 in attorney fees stemming from the lawsuit. They’ve also placed a lien on Bois’ $300,000 unit. According to the Portsmouth Patch, Bois, who works as a marketing manager, has even repeatedly offered to pay the board $2,000 or $3,000 and remove the flowers herself but the board refused, insisting that she pay the legal fees and full amount in violation fines.
Rough. Bois and another Atlantic Pointe condo owner who, gasp, planted shrubs outside of another unit have hired an attorney and will be confronting the condo association in court to settle the dispute. Bois' and the other condo owner's attorney, Paul McEachern, sums up this whole HOA headache beautifully: "I guess it just goes to show that a condominium is the worst form of democracy ever invented. They probably have less stringent rules in a penitentiary."
In the end, all Bois wants to do is settle the matter so she can sell her unit and get the hell out. She tells the Portsmouth Patch: “In all honesty, I wish I just let them have their way so I could have sold my house and just move out.” She adds: “It’s really scary that five people have so much power to make people unhappy and ruin their credit by putting liens on their homes and just be such bullies.”
Greenthumbs living under the watchful eye of condo and homeowners' associations: have you ever been bullied over a landscaping issue to the extent that it’s resulted in a full-fledged legal battle?
Also on MNN: English town takes opposite approach with shared public gardens
Via [Portsmouth Patch], [Portsmouth Herald]
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hi
i can not believe people can not appreciate beauty
you are surrounded by curmudgeons
yes, run for cover and find a place away from such people,
where the plants can be
jp
I have experienced the same wrath of the HOA. Last week received a scathing, hateful letter demanding that I stop the upkeep of my property. I am not kidding. I was planting grass seed, watering and painted my front door.... Can I mention the color was an exact match to the existing.
WTF...... I'm being harassed and threatened for IMPROVEMENTS and performing upkeep when they don't?????
Sick. I'd never live in a condo again.
Yes they are, and yes they do. I don't grant any of your points. Personally, I avoid HOAs like plague because I refuse to give up my property rights. My point of view is that the very concept of an HOA is bogus and should be illegal. Short of that, there has to be a very heavy oversight, and there never is.
Actually, they don't require you use a specific company for a "uniform" look. It is far more devious than that. The condo association does it because they have signed an exclusive contract with the landscaper, promising exclusivity in exchange for special consideration for the properties of condo board members or, even worse, cash kickbacks from the landscaper to the board members.
You don't know that is true. Watch it Rick, such comments could be construed as libel.
Condo associations - the tyranny of the small mind.
if you want a garden dont buy a condo, if you hate yardwork buy a condo, hoa, protect people from those that feel they need to mark thier mark homes "beautiful" or those that severly neglect them, she knew what she was buying and expected them to make an exception for her
They did make an exception for her. In writing. And now they're going back on their word.
I'd buy a giant size of round up and spray every living plant at the condo association . . . can't always waiat for kharma in my book!
So stupid . . i bought a 117 year old house in a very small town and i can raise chickens here if I want. I have flowers but they are not as pretty as hers. Makes you want to horsewhip someone.
This is why I wish I were rich - to give this woman unlimited funds to get the best snarling attorney and fight the HOA for as many years as it takes to destroy them morally and financially - plus, I would give her the money to go someplace else and take her mother's flowers with her.
I don't understand why a person like this woman can't bill them for her time, then put liens against THEIR places when they don't pay.
The best thing about this is that the flower nazis are going to hurt themselves with regards to selling the units they themselves live in.(when the time comes)I mean really,after all who would want to live there after reading this story.
This is a wonderful example of why HOAs are the wrong way to go. Better to not give up your property rights, especially to some group which likely gets a kick back from some landscaping company.
Kimberly, Sell your condo and move to Sebring Florida. We own a townhouse downtown and the HOA has actually encourages homeowners to beautify their little patch of earth.
Years ago as a pre-teen, my son read a book called "The Giver". In this society, everyone had to be the same with no individualism. Perhaps the HOA needs to read it!
Perhaps the HOS already had read it!
There is also a book by horror writer Bentley Little titled "The Association" in which the HOA goes absolutely crazy - possessed by the devil crazy - and I didn't find it to be very far from the truth! In my experience, HOA's are incomprehensibly irrational - they need to read "The Giver" and "The Association".
Dude, you seriously need and editor or a ghost writer. This was so painful to read I couldn't even pay attention to the story
@me - dude, maybe YOU need 'an' editor if you're going to comment :)
A HOA is most definitely NOT a democracy. It's a dictatorship.
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