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LAYTON — Dozens of Layton homeowners are being welcomed into an HOA that they never agreed to join, and for some, it’s happening several years after they moved in.
It appears to be a big mistake on the part of the developer, and the homeowners will have to pay for maintenance that was never disclosed to them before they moved in.
Layton’s city attorney said this is all because the developer made a mistake.
When choosing a home, whether there will be a homeowner’s association with covenants, conditions and restrictions, can be a big deal for some people.
Anica Smith said she checked before buying in the Kennington Place Subdivision.
“There was nothing recorded with the property,” she said. “We were not made aware of any HOA or CC&Rs made with our home.”
She’s a realtor and she knows what to look for, but she’s not the only one surprised about this.
Neighbors like Heidi and Silvio Favero told KSL they found out by a letter that caught them off guard.
“We received a letter in the mail asking us to pay around $200 toward an HOA that we never heard of the entire time we lived here,” Heidi said.
Silvio Favero said it was a consideration for them before buying the home.
“We just don’t have the why, and nobody’s been forthcoming with that information for us,” he said.
Gary Crane, city attorney for Layton, said according to city ordinance, developments built along Layton Parkway have to take care of their part of that park strip. He said the developer, Castle Creek Homes, should have known that.
“Almost all phases of this subdivision, he had filed a set of CC&Rs for except, I think, just one phase,” Crane said.
Crane added as long as the landscaping is kept neat, the city won’t enforce the ordinance. But the homeowners will have to take care of it, somehow.
“How they do that is up to them. The city is not going to force them into an HOA relationship, after the fact,” said Crane.
Castle Creek Homes said while the CC&R was left out of closing documents, there was an addendum added for each home, with exception of a few, that had a different builder that said an HOA would be formed at a later date.
Anica Smith, who we talked with there, was one of those homeowners who signed with a different builder.
“I think right now, they’re just scrambling to say, ‘OK, we have to pay for this, but who’s going to pay for it?” she said. “It’s just not fair. It’s not the way we work. It’s not the way real estate works.”
