Help me fight my mother-in-law's HOA...

[Eric Larsen]

Here's the deal:

My mother in law lives in an HOA-ruled CCR community in Las Vegas. She has a new hobby -- keeping freakin' chickens in her back yard for the eggs. She's had four birds since April. She recently scored four more birds from friends who were ordered to cease and desist from their HOAs.

She is 100% in violation of the CCRs. But I have made the hens a habitat that is unobtrusive. They're out of sight, out of mind, and there really isn't any smell because any droppings dessicate immediately. They make that "awww awww awww" hen sound, but it's hard to hear unless right next to their habitat.

Of the 30 families in the HOA, 29 are OK with her chickens and one is not. There are a couple dog owners in the neighborhood that have miserable curs that bark continuously for 15 hours a day. That's OK, but eight hens are not.

They're having a meeting this week to discuss the chicken "issue."

My job is to argue on behalf of my mother in law. (Perry Mason, I am not.)

My plan of attack is to argue that while she is certainly violating the letter of the CCRs, she's not really violating the spirit -- her birds are less annoying than the neighborhood dogs.

I could come up with all manner of pets that are FAR WORSE than chickens -- beagles, cockatoos, howler monkeys, you name it.

Worst case scenario, I plan to use the "nuclear option." That is, "Deal with the birds, or I'm going to have to kill them. And if I'm forced to play Henry VIII, I'm going to buy my mother in law two beagles and a Moluccan cockatoo. And then you can all invest in earplugs and wish nostalgically for the days when my mother in law only had eight quiet chickens."

BTW -- Did you know that a Moluccan cockatoo scream is only five decibels less than a jet engine at takeoff? At 135 decibels, it's one of the noisiest things on earth, and perfectly acceptable according to the CCRs.

(Comparatively, The Who only managed 126 decibels to make the Guinness Book for "world's loudest rock band.")

PS -- Personally, I think it's ridiculous to keep chickens when eggs are a buck a dozen. But it makes her happy, and I've got to come up with a strategy.

[Neal Clayton]

honest solution: don't live in a place where 30 people would take time out of their day to go to a meeting about someone else's pets.

my personal definition of a homeowners association: a means for people who lack taste, substance, and planning/architecture knowledge to pretend that they don't.

[Charlie Schultz]

You might try to lobby for a change to the rule(s).

[Belinda Barfield]

Just a question. . . Do the city or county ordinances prohibit keeping poultry/livestock within their respective boundaries?

[Dennis Peacock]

All I have to say is that I'm really GLAD that I do not live in a HOA.!!!

I honestly wish you the best....as I have nothing I can offer.

[Jim King]

Dont talk bad about Howlers, Amos and Andy will feel bad, they think they are little people.

[Lee Schierer]

I think you will have an up hill fight, particularly if the local ordinances have zoning restrictions against livestock. Chickens are not normally considered pets. Pet stores don't usually sell them. They are considered farm animals or livestock. That many chickens will produce more eggs than she can eat, if she is selling them she may be in violation of operating a home business too.

I would get the signatures of the 29 people on a letter saying it is okay with them prior to the meeting. If you have than many in favor go after an amendment to the HOA rules or call for an election of officials and get a new HOA president who is on your side.

If you get the beagles pen them up and have a couple of rabbits or a cat to turn loose in the yard at 6:00 a.m. to get them going.

Or give the complaining neighbor free eggs....

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Have your mother-in-law move outside the HOA.

[Jason Roehl]

All I have to say is that I'm really GLAD that I do not live in a HOA.!!!

I honestly wish you the best....as I have nothing I can offer.

Same here. From what I hear, my neighborhood used to have a HOA, but it fizzled years ago. Most people here keep up with their properties, and there's not a lot of riff-raff or rentals, so I really don't have much to complain about. To top it off, we are on city water and sewer, but just outside city limits. With a high-dollar neighborhood right next to us in the same boat, we're not likely to be annexed, either (it would double our taxes and only add trash service, the rich folk would fight it).

When we went looking for a house, any houses in a HOA-governed neighborhood were automatically eliminated without a second thought.

[Belinda Barfield]

I live in a HOA governed condo complex, which is a real PIA!

[Mike Henderson]

Having lived in both a HOA complex and a non-HOA complex, I'll take the HOA complex any day. But that's not answering your question.

Since you have 29 out of 30 homes on your side, why not modify your HOA documents (called CC&Rs around here). But you could still run into county or city problems. Often the county or city has pretty strict limits on farm animals in non agricultural zoning areas.

And if you do amend the HOA documents, you'd probably want to limit the number of chickens someone can keep and specify no roosters because of the crowing.

The chicken situation is a common one around here. Most people just stay under the radar and their neighbors don't object. But once someone complains to the city or county, the chickens are gone.

Mike

[Eric Larsen]

Just a question. . . Do the city or county ordinances prohibit keeping poultry/livestock within their respective boundaries?

No -- defying all logic, it is perfectly legal to keep hens in Las Vegas residential areas. Roosters must be in agriculture-zoned areas.

[Rick Huelsbeck]

Don't know anything about HOA's never had to deal with them, seems if local zoning is ok with the Chickens local HOA can't really do a lot about them.

What I find strange is the ad at the botom of the page on how to build a chicken coup for $98

[Kenneth Hertzog]

Like Lee said
maybe the complaining neighbor isn't getting enough eggs :-)

[Dan Friedrichs]

You've got 29/30 on your side and the city doesn't care? Get the rules changed.

Having been to many high-stress HOA meetings, I'd suggest being as polite and appologetic as possible. "She didn't realize they weren't allowed....they mean so much to her....just the honest mistake of an elderly woman who wants some companionship....", etc. And with 8 hens, how could she possibly be eating ~50 eggs a week?! Sounds like some neighbors could use some free-range non-cage eggs...