ABOUT OUR ASSOCIATION

Is There A Homeowners' Association in Four Hills Village (FHV)?

No, there is no Homeowners' Association (HOA) in FHV. The characteristics of an HOA are that residents must join upon purchasing property and that members must pay dues and assessments set by the association. The HOA Board sets the dues and assessments, and makes or enforces rules such as those contained in covenants; a real HOA board can impose fines and even foreclose on a property for residents failing to pay dues or assessments or follow the rules. Thankfully, Four Hills Village has no Homeowners' Association!

What makes the FHVNA different?

• We strive to identify and publicize issues and concerns of FHV residents, provide them with information and get their feedback. Our policy is to have a public survey for major issues affecting our neighborhood and report the results to interested parties such as the City and our City Councilor. These surveys have had an impact on City actions.


• We don't believe that covenants are enforceable and we don't believe we have the right to tell you what your house should look like.
• We communicate with our members via our website, email newsletters, and twitter (we no longer use Facebook due to their privacy practices). We have meetings only as needed or required. Meetings are announced via the website and/or email, and minutes are posted promptly.


• The FHVNA works with elected government representatives to make Four Hills Village a better place to live.


• We don't make you pay dues in order to have a vote in your community!

Bylaws & Standing Rules

Four Hills Village Neighborhood Association Bylaws (pdf), approved 11/30/2015 Four Hills Village Neighborhood Association Standing Rules (pdf), to be to be updated in 2016

FHV Covenants Are NOT Enforceable

[August 25th, 2015] You do not need anyone's permission to paint your house, change your door, or make any other purely cosmetic change to your home. If you are planning on construction (building a wall, adding another building, etc.), please contact the City Zoning Department for information on what permits you may need.

[June 8, 2010] For more information on FHV covenants, please see our detailed discussion (PDF). In a nutshell, we are advised that FHV covenants are not enforceable, based on past related court actions. However, City ordinances, which may contain the same prohibitions as those in the covenants, are enforceable by the City of Albuquerque only. Any resident may request enforcement of City ordinances.

Currently, our R-1 zoning permits chickens, goats, horses and sheep in FHV. Therefore, it will be hard to get the courts to prohibit these animals. Prohibition is particularly difficult if (1) the enforcement action is selective and does not try to remove all covenant-prohibited animals, or all covenant-prohibited RVs, etc., (2) the enforcement has been neglected for several years (the former lawyer for the FHVHA kept a donkey and a goat on his property for many years), and currently residents are keeping poultry, birds and a goat , and (3) an enforcement action has already been denied by the court (which happened in the mid-eighties in FHV).

Furthermore, lawsuits are not necessary. The City’s animal laws already prohibit keeping animals in such a manner that they create noise, emit odors, or otherwise cause a nuisance in one’s neighborhood. We all want a nice neighborhood, and if someone is not being a responsible animal owner it is appropriate to call the City, and the City will visit the homeowner and, potentially, issue citations if the matter cannot be resolved through other means.

Of course, anyone can sue anyone over anything. Residents can go to court, acting either individually or in groups (associations), so the associations in FHV can take someone to court. It all boils down to who is willing to pay to go to court, and whether an individual or association is willing to cause the ill-will and disruption that lawsuits engender.

Note: This article was written in consultation with attorneys, however, we're not pretending to give legal advice, just passing on the best information we have.

Your Goals

We want to know what most concerns you and where you would like us to focus our attention. Please let us know at info@fhvna.org.

Questions?

contact info@fhvna.org