"真倒霉！我们小区业委会简直是把之前住户的怨气全撒我们身上了。"

All of this is over 8 inches of brick that doesn’t infringe on anyone’s property. We are in contact with a few law firms but we don’t want to have to deal with years of litigation and bullshit for the original seller to not even be able to foot the bill.


Small claims court is very low cost and that's where this is going. You also don't need lawyers there. You can get a summary judgement on petty crap like this. They signed away their rights to enforce this issue when they issued that letter. Otherwise it was signed in bad faith and could unwind the entire house sale if you wanted to get out.

Have a lawyer write a cease and desist letter. You'll pay a small fee for that but it will put them on record that you know they have no case and pursing this will end up in court.

This isn't going to go away and putting your head in the sand is not a solution. Welcome to home ownership in an HOA.

Or get on the board and end the frivolous efforts yourself.

Their statement that allowed the house to close was about any fines/assessments which the previous owner paid to be able to close. I am sure if you reread that letter you will find no words about violations but words about assessments and fines. Payment of those did not negate the volition just cleared the financials for closing.

One would only hope you have pictures with dates that show the altered driveway was there before you bought. You might be able to make a case but its doubtful as you are now the owner of the house that is still in violation of the rules®s.

You should request a hearing with the board on this manner, detail your views to them, they may grant an exception but doubtful as if the do it for you they have to do it for everyone.

A key question to ask during the inspection period is do you have any outstanding violations that you have been fined for in the past? Along with inspection of all condo documents, meeting minutes and financials.

I’d like to suggest that - if they have not already done so - OP first attempt a friendly communication with the HOA Board on this matter, and simply lay out the facts: they were unaware of this conflict, can the Board graciously agree to grandfather this item and put it aside so that OP can can get on with enjoying their first new home?

Sure, the Board might be jerks about it. But there’s very little downside to attempting a friendly discussion that might make the matter go away quickly and easily.

I’ll mention that if the Board is PO’ed at anyone, it’s not OP; it’s the previous owner (who somehow managed to escape their wrath) and also possibly the mgmt company (who may have dropped the ball during the sale).

(I recently stepped down from serving 3 years on my HOA Board, and that experience is why I will often suggest that people attempt to go “Friendly First” if their HOA singles them out for any issue. One of the (many) reasons that HOAs suck so badly is that they make a lot of mistakes).