Ask the Law Guy

Ask the Law Guy

Have you got a question about:

The law?
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A legal problem?

E-mail it to me and I'll pick the most interesting to answer here.

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I appreciate the GOOD advice. I plan to call my probate attorney to followup.

I am a member of the board of a homeowners assocation in North Carolina. A homeowner in our community refuses to follow one of the HOA covenants because he says he did not have a copy of the covenants at closing, despite requesting a copy from the HOA. Who has the ultimate responsibility for ensuring that a buyer has the covenants of a community into which he is buying?

Restrictive covenants on real property are recorded in the deed or other instrument that creates them. Any purchaser after the recording is deemed to have notice of properly recorded restrictive covenants, even if he was not specifically told of them. Any property purchaser should search title records for easements, right of ways or other restrictions on land.

We recently purchased 7 wooded acres of land and are building a new home. I have posted No Trespassing/Private Property signs all over. My not so nice neighbors took it upon themselves to remove the signs, bend them and toss them into my garage. The house is still under construction. I had a sheriff's deputy assist me in putting new ones back up. My reason for having the signs up is to protect myself against law suits from people entering the property and getting hurt or damaging my property. Am I wrong in doing this? This is becoming a major issue with the neighbors. It is in the country and only 4 homes on the street.

You are free to post whatever kind of signs you choose on your property. If your neighbor is tearing them down he is trespassing by removing the signs and also maliciously damaging your property, a misdemeanor.

I'm not sure the signs do much to keep someone from suing you if they get hurt while on your property, though. They could help you establish that any uninvited person on your property was trespassing.

Your best option may be to talk things over with your neighbor. If he continues to remove your signs you would probably need to catch him in the act to prosecute.

Important fine print

The owner/operator of this website is Bryan Gates, an attorney in Winston-Salem, N.C. E-mailing a question to a website (even a cleverly designed website) is no substitute for live, in-person contact with an attorney if you have a legal problem. In order to avoid legal troubles of my own, I cannot answer questions about the laws of states other than North Carolina. For more information about The Law Guy, check out:

www.attorneygates.com

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