HOPS vs H.O.A.

Does any one else have a problem with their HOA and the location where their hops are on your property? We have a garden behind the hops on the side of the house. We have been reminded that vegetable gardens need to be behind the house. So we will be moving the veggies straight back so that they are behind the house. But the hops we dont want to move. We are calling them decorative vines. There is also heather and lavender planted between the barrels that the hops are in. I'm going to redo the trellises for next year. An info would be great.

This the first year at the house also, so this is all new to us.

Hops by Rob Bone III, on Flickr

I know nothing about HOAs but since hops are not technically vegetables maybe your good.

Hops are flowers.

Thats what were thinking.

they can get you for not submitting a landscaping design plan. Some HOAs will get mad if you add a flower bed to any part of your yardh that is visible to the street.

I grow mine in the back yard on a fence that is lower then the wooden one, so I do not have to fight with them.

Wow, HOAs need to lighten up. That is ridiculous.

TyTanium said:

Wow, HOAs need to lighten up. That is ridiculous.

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Not all HOA's are that picky, but I'm glad I don't have one.

TyTanium said:

Wow, HOAs need to lighten up. That is ridiculous.

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Some HOA's need to lighten up.

I have a friend in a particularly rediculous one that has a $50k min req'd maintained landscape. Has to submit a written declaration and a list of plant materials each year to show compliance.

OP, sounds like you need to get intimate with your HOA regulations. You should have gotten a copy of those prior to the sale of the house.

If you did, and you just gleaned over it prior to closing, then you need to sit down and re-read it word for word. This world is full of yutzes who have nothing better to do than make another persons life hell.

The neighborhood is new, a year or two, and others have done changes to their houses and landscaping that is against HOA policy. Fences that built up halfway on the side of the house and other garden issues.

Someone people just have a stick their butt about following everything the letter. Moving the garden is only going to place it 16 ft further away from the street and across the yard on the property line. Oh and we have more room there, so it's going to get bigger next year. So we are to following the HOA guidelines, but they are not going to be happy about it. The hops are staying where they are. We did put a plan in for the back patio, but the plants can change once the layout is approved. We'll be fine. Just wanted to know what others have experienced.

I live in the 'hood, so I don't have to worry about HOA policy. I could probably grow a number of questionable things in my front yard if I wanted. I agree with the consensus that hops are a flower. There are many places in the country where people grow them as a fence vine for privacy, and they don't even harvest them (which is just wrong!).....

Stauffbier said:

I live in the 'hood, so I don't have to worry about HOA policy. I could probably grow a number of questionable things in my front yard if I wanted. I agree with the consensus that hops are a flower. There are many places in the country where people grow them as a fence vine for privacy, and they don't even harvest them (which is just wrong!).....

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And yet, they are the ONLY ones who don't seem plagued by nutrient defiecencies, pests, moonlight boogeymen, infra-ready helicopters, etc...

HOAs are powerful. You can not blindly do whatever you want or you risk a lawsuit and liens. You need to review the exact language of your covenants and restrictions to determine if the plants are acceptable or not. Once you have done a thorough review of these documents you will have a good idea as to wheter or not you are in compliance. If you still feel like you are in compliance then you need to ask the HOA exactly which article/item they feel you are violating and go from there. I would love to see the exact language in your covenants and restrictions. Good luck!

Oh my goodness! Your ugly viney thingys are really reducing the overall property value in your neighborhood! Remove them immediately!

/snob/

Am I right, or what? MAN!

I'm going to donate the beer I brew with the hops grown at the house to the next neighborhood pool party and name it after the neighborhood. I'm in Dogfish territory and I have some DNA yeast left also that will be used, so there got to be a few beer loves there.

I'm actually on the board of my HOA. We're extremely laid back and don't get involved much. Most of our involvement with individual homeowners involves either non-payment or refereeing disputes between neighbors. We've allowed a lot of leeway in most of our rules, especially in regards to the number of vehicles a household can own (supposed to be 2, we have limited parking), and the painting of doors/garage doors, trim, etc.

That said, you won't win this battle if you go head-to-head. If you want to keep the hops, I seriously suggest speaking to someone on the board and being very respectful about it. If there's one thing I've learned from my time on the board, its that the HOA will win every argument on topics that are covered under your agreement. We've won every single legal action that we've taken against homeowners. We don't do it much, but when we have to, we don't hesitate.

In my current house, the HOA meets every year in my driveway after we all get done shoveling the first snowfall. We have a beer, then vote to table all issues until the next year's meeting and have another beer. We can't dissolve it because then the authority for all those decisions goes back to the city. Instead its just kept in a coma and used as an excuse to drink.

Now we are buying a new house in a different community. It came down to the decision between the house I liked (no HOA) and the one my wife liked (very big subdivision with a strong HOA). She was winning the argument...she is the SWMBO...until they turned over a copy of the 83 page HOA agreement. Yes, 83 pages. 40 of the pages dealt with landscaping. My wife looked up her three favorite trees, discovered they were on the "banned" list and that was the end of that house.

I live in a HOA. Its good if you want to resell your house. Your neighbor cannot put a rusted and wheeless truck in his front yard.

I keep mystuff in the backyard and under that 6 ft wood limit.

But for a house that I want to retire and die in.. No HOA there.

GVH_Dan said:

Now we are buying a new house in a different community. It came down to the decision between the house I liked (no HOA) and the one my wife liked (very big subdivision with a strong HOA). She was winning the argument...she is the SWMBO...until they turned over a copy of the 83 page HOA agreement. Yes, 83 pages. 40 of the pages dealt with landscaping. My wife looked up her three favorite trees, discovered they were on the "banned" list and that was the end of that house.

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"Oh no, we can't let anyone plant THAT tree! 2928 (6 blocks away) is allergic and might get a sniffle."

It was 40 pages because every tree listed then had an explanation of why it was banned. "Allergies" was one but there was also stuff like "messy seed debris", "unsightly" and "Not in keeping with the theme of the neighborhood". The only one I could have accepted was "invasive".

I"m pretty sure hops wouldn't have been allowed there either. I would also be willing to bet there was a dress code for working in the front yard in there, too.

This is all good info. We (and I'm guessing everyone) got an email reminding us that vegetable gardens need to be behind the back wall of the house and need to be moved at the end of the season. We'll move the two small vegetable gardens, but might have to but a proposal at the end of the growing season (when the hops are done) for the changes to the beds that we already did.