Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Feud over sign could force Fairfax’s Olde Belhaven to sell square

The feud that consumed Fairfax County’s Olde Belhaven would span four years and cost the community as much as $400,000, and it was ignited by one of the smallest of sparks: an Obama for President sign.

The modest placard Sam and Maria Farran planted in their yard during the 2008 election put them on a collision course with the neighborhood homeowners association. It was four inches taller than the association’s covenants allowed.

“Need I say more! This would lead to chaos,” a neighbor fretted in an e-mail about the precedent that would be set if the sign wasn’t removed. “Our property values would be put at risk.”

Such HOA disputes are as suburban as cul-de-sacs and two-car garages, but few metastasize into legal battles that spend years in the courts, break legal ground and bankrupt the HOA.

READ MORE:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/fairfax-homeowners-group-humbled-by-court-battle-with-residents/2013/02/09/d46f9bec-6652-11e2-93e1-475791032daf_story.html

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