Covenants
The provisions in our Covenants describe how we as a neighborhood wish to conduct ourselves in order to make it an enjoyable place to live and to provide everyone with the proper expectations for property maintenance and other issues.
Everyone that lives here has agreed to these covenants and by choosing to live here, has agreed to abide by them.
Popular Covenant-Related Topics
- Swimming Pools
- Vehicle Storage
- Accessory Buildings
- Fences
- Lightposts (not regulated by covenants, beyond that they must be operational)
- Mailboxes (not regulated by covenants)
Enforcement of All Covenants
Article V, Section 6 of the Karrington Woods covenants states that the committee of officers have the duty of "enforcing the terms, conditions, and restrictions contained in this Declaration."
The following enforcement policy was also discussed and approved unanimously by residents at the annual meeting.
If a violation occurs, the following steps will be followed by the Homeowners Association:
- Written, personal, or E-Mail notice to homeowner with expected compliance timeframe.
- Written notice sent from an attorney via Certified Mail with expected compliance timeframe.
- An injunction against the homeowner will be sought, using the services of an attorney. Legal fees and expenses related to these actions will be levied against homeowner per Section 8 of the Homeowners Association covenants.
Steps #2 and #3 will incur expense in the form of attorney's fees, so when this happens, we will communicate the action being taken to the association membership so that everyone understands that money is being spent on such enforcement.
As there is no "enforcement committee,"" the officers and members of the Architectural Review Committee address complaints as they are raised. With a few exceptions, we have not had many problems with resolving concerns amicably. The exceptions, however, require us to determine how we will escalate issues that cannot be resolved.
Recent issues in other subdivisions in the Milwaukee area have demonstrated the need to enforce the rules of the subdivision when one homeowner decides not to comply. In the past, we have been reluctant to take further action, but doing so has increased the number and the severity of problems that we've had to deal with.
As a result, we are working with a local attorney that has expertise in homeowners associations. While we will limit these legal services as much as possible, they are a necessary expense and the amount of legal fees incurred will be a direct result of the number of times we need to proceed past Enforcement Step #1.
It is our hope that clarifying the two most frequent/egregious issues here, we will not need to take any of these steps at all. If you have any questions about this issue, please feel free to contact any of the officers.