jules9687 t1_j52lim8 wrote on January 19, 2023 at 11:26 PM

Sharing my experience with fencing from when we lived in Long Reach as a warning of how much CA hates fencing.

We bought a house with some 6 foot fencing on one side of the property. At closing we received the standard letter that the seller obtained from the village that blesses the property with no extant covenant violations.

7 years later we go to sell our house and obtain the same letter. We had done some exterior (non-fence) changes to the house while we were there but did all by the book with approvals and didn't expect issues. Long Reach decided they no longer liked the 6 foot fence and opted to withhold the letter from us, threatening the sale.

I can't say how thankful I was that Google Street view had a photo that included the 6 foot fence that was dated before our original purchase AND we had that letter from our purchase closing.

Long Reach still fought us over the fence, but they did eventually release a letter to us that had a special addendum re. the fence because of all the documentation we had. Long Reach also told us that they fought over the fencing because it was the only violation they could find on our property, and that they had to find something because they had received an anonymous type-written complaint about one of our previously-approved exterior changes.

Long story short, CA, Long Reach especially, HATES fencing.

kris10185 OP t1_j52pevx wrote on January 19, 2023 at 11:53 PM

This is very helpful thank you! That's so frustrating I'm sorry you went through such a hassle

kevinxb t1_j5kew6p wrote on January 23, 2023 at 5:15 PM

I have owned two homes in LR and I would not say CA hates fencing. There are specific guidelines, especially for fences, and the person handling letters of compliance in LR was issuing them incorrectly.

We had a similar issue with some landscape edging that we got a compliance letter for in 2011, but the village found it was not actually in our property file when we went to sell the home 6 years later. We had to reapply for it despite having photos that it was already there when we bought the house.

As for the complaint, the village is not even legally able to provide updates on a complaint to the person who made it in case it ends up going to court. So I'm not sure why they told you they "had to find something" just because someone made a complaint.

Rashaverik t1_j533lhb wrote on January 20, 2023 at 1:33 AM

Out of curiosity, when did you sell your home?

jules9687 t1_j535520 wrote on January 20, 2023 at 1:44 AM

About 4 years ago.

Rashaverik t1_j53b9oe wrote on January 20, 2023 at 2:29 AM

There was an issue with a past Covenant Advisor, probably the person who did the inspection for the original Letter you received when you purchased the house.

My own home was issued a Letter of Compliance back around 2010, and there were at least a dozen violations until we renovated much of the exterior. A LoC should have never been issued.

What it comes down to, the Covenant Advisors after the problem person, who handled the issuance of the LoCs were directed to correct past mistakes. Rather than admitting what had happened with the past Covenant Advisor. It was real easy to put the blame on the residents considering very few of them had images to back up their claims.

jules9687 t1_j53cgi8 wrote on January 20, 2023 at 2:38 AM

That's so messed up but was the impression we got of what was going on. I'm beyond thankful Google Street view came through for us.