Recent News and Articles on the Keywords: covenant + condo + sacred  Related to the article below (Last Update: 12/1/2008)

News results: Standard Version | Text Version | Image Version

Browse Top Stories Recent Last hour Last day Past week Past month Archives All dates 2005-07 2004 2002-03 1996-2000 1970s Other dates Other dates Other dates: [hide] - Blogs News Alerts RSS | Atom About Feeds Your search - covenant + condo + sacred - did not match any documents. Suggestions: Make sure all words are spelled correctly. Try different keywords. Try more general keywords. Try fewer keywords. Try Google Blog Search. Also, you can browse today's headlines on the Google News homepage.

Recent News and Articles on the Keywords: covenant + 0.19 + web  Related to the article below (Last Update: 8/7/2008)

Contrans Income Fund announces second quarter results Canada NewsWire (press release), Canada - If the Fund exceeds these covenant limits the lenders can restrict the Fund from paying distributions. The Fund monitors its compliance with all covenants ...TSE:CSS.UN

Just how sacred is a condo covenant?

Q: Our 15-unit condo association includes three rental units. We need to protect ourselves against investors. Can we amend our covenants to make any future sales owner-occupied only? If so, can you give me the wording for that amendment?

A: Seattle attorney Ken Harer of the Condominium Law Group says he's seeing an increasing number of condo associations limiting rentals, and there are valid reasons for doing so. Lenders are reluctant to make home loans if more than 25 or 30 percent of the units in the association are being rented. Obviously, if buyers can't get loans, the value of the entire building declines.

Additionally, many boards are interested in restricting rentals because of their concern about it becoming an apartment house, Harer says. "They want to restrict turnover. They also think owner-occupants are more likely to take care of the property and pay their dues on time."

So the answer to your first question is yes, you can amend your covenants. However, "It's a challenging amendment to make because state law requires 90 percent of the current owners to agree," Harer explains. (That's 90 percent for condos built after 1990, when condo law changed; those built before then need to check what their declaration says about such a vote.) To make the vote palatable, some associations choose to grandfather in existing rentals and create a hardship exception for owners who must move for reasons beyond their control (being called up for military duty, for example).

Your covenants will tell you what you need to do to enact an amendment. As for how to word it, Harer says there's no boilerplate language you can use because the new amendment must comply with the wording of your declaration. An attorney well-versed in condo law can craft the amendment so it will do what you want it to do and withstand challenge.

Q: My Bellevue neighborhood has covenants that protect views and privacy provided by trees. Two neighbors, both of whom have been here at least a decade, have asked me to remove 30-year-old trees that block their view. These trees give me privacy from a busy highway. Is there a statute of limitations on covenants that have never been enforced?

A: Not as you describe it. However, there is a general statute of limitations — six years — that can be invoked once a covenant has been breached, but that's generally used in black-and-white situations where the homeowner's actions have clearly broken the rules, says attorney Marion Morgenstern of Strichartz Morgenstern. (One example would be installing roofing material prohibited by the neighborhood covenants.)

In your case, it could be hard to determine at what point the trees were in violation, and complicating this is the fact that your covenants protect both privacy and view. So on the face of it, it appears you and your neighbors have a valid argument. If your situation were to escalate and end up in court, Morgenstern says, the specific language of your covenants and the history of their application would be relevant to the outcome. In other words, at this point there's no way to predict whether you'd win or lose.

So here's Morgenstern's advice: Consult an attorney knowledgeable about restrictive covenants to see what yours require of you and your neighbor, and to strategize a solution. "Oftentimes it's possible to reach an accommodation," she says. For example, it may be possible to prune a view corridor. Or perhaps your neighbors would work with you to remove the trees and replant a shorter species that still would give you the privacy you desire. "If everyone is willing to talk and try to find a resolution, that's the best solution," Morgenstern says. "It's the neighborly thing to do."

Q: We've been offered the opportunity to purchase the home we currently rent with owner financing and excellent terms. Is there anything we should be careful about before committing to this?

A: Indeed there is, says Chris Benson, a real-estate attorney in Federal Way. Begin by finding out whether the seller has an outstanding home loan. Most include a clause stipulating that if the owner sells (or transfers an interest in the title to the property), the lender "can call the entire loan, payable and due right then," Benson says. If that happened, you could face foreclosure, he says. You'll also want to do a title search (title companies do this as part of buying title insurance) to make sure the seller actually owns it and that there are no liens on it to cloud your ownership. A title search also will tell you whether the property comes with any easements or encroachments.

Benson says you may want to set up a contract-collection account to handle payments; this protects you in case the seller dies or otherwise makes it difficult for you to prove your financial claim to the house.

Finally, as with any home purchase, the terms are negotiable. You may want to consult a real-estate attorney to make sure the purchase-and-sales agreement does what you need it to do.