From Your Homeowner Liaison

By Sonja Perez, CAAM, CMCA SRCA Homeowner Liaison

Scottsdale Ranch Community Association Documents

Community documents can seem daunting, especially if you have just purchased a home where the paperwork is a mile high. The community documents are a great read, if you’re into that sort of thing. If you’re not, they can be cumbersome and boring.

All community documents are important but for the day to day basic rules there are only a few places you need to reference. All statements below pertain to the Scottdale Ranch Community Association documents. Document contents can vary from one association to another. Here is the breakdown.

Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions (CC&Rs) are limits and rules placed on a group of homes or condominium complex by a builder, developer, neighborhood association, or homeowners association. The CC&Rs are the “big Kahuna” of the governing documents. They specify the Association’s authority and obligations and define the rights and responsibilities of Association members (owners). Every owner must abide by all the rules, restrictions, terms, and conditions found in the CC&Rs. If there is anything in another governing document that conflicts with a provision of the CC&Rs, the CC&Rs win (and the conflicting provisions are considered invalid). In Arizona the community CC&Rs are required to be a recorded with the County Recorder.

Articles of Incorporation, also referred to as the certificate of incorporation or the corporate charter, is a document or charter that establishes the existence of the corporation.

HOA bylaws are governing guides. Bylaws are about the government of the corporation. They cover things like how often the Association has meetings, how many people are on the board, how often membership meetings are held, what constitutes a quorum, terms of office for the Board of Directors and the powers and duties of the Board.

SRCA Administrative Rules & Architectural Guidelines – The One Stop Shop

The SCRA administrative rules stem from the rules contained within the CC&Rs. It is common for an Association to adopt separate, usually lengthier and more specific, “rules and regulations.” The Association has wide discretion to adopt rules and regulations (provided they do not violate any state or federal law and do not conflict with the terms of the CC&Rs).

The administrative rules cover anything from landscape maintenance, parking rules to watercraft rules for lakeside residents. SRCA combines these more specific rules with the Architectural Guidelines into one document. These guidelines provide information from regulating the height of walls, setback rules for tree planting to the guidelines for painting your home. It is really a one stop shop for the day to day do’s and don’ts of the Association.

Because the rules and guidelines can affect how the property in the community is used, a potential buyer should study them and determine whether they can live with them before making a purchase. For example, you might have second thoughts about purchasing in the community if you find out that you cannot store your RV on the property. Current owners should also be familiar with the rules and guidelines and keep up with any changes.

When changes are adopted by the Board of Directors, the changes are published in various ways to the community. Changes are announced through the community email blast, website and the SRCA magazine.

All of the SRCA community documents can be found on our website at www.scottsdaleranch.org. As always, if you have a question or unsure about a rule or architectural requirement, please contact the SRCA office. We are here to help!!

Upcoming Holidays

Hard to believe it is almost that time of year for holiday decorations. Please keep in mind the timeframe for the placement of holiday lights and decorations.

Holiday lights and decorations may be installed no more than thirty (30) days prior to the identified holiday and must be taken down within fifteen (15) days after that same holiday.

To review the full rules for Lighting, please refer the SRCA Administrative Rules and Architectural Guidelines, page 51 which is available on our website at www.scottsdaleranch.org under Resident Resources.