What is the responsibility of the HOA in maintaining landscaping?

Q: In our single-family gated-community, the builder installed a 10-foot strip of frontage landscaping on the private property of each home consisting of plants, trees, grass, decomposed granite and irrigation system for the same area. Our covenants, conditions and restrictions address the landscaping installed in the front yards of lots as part of the initial construction of this community. It defines installed landscaping as the "landscaping, together with related irrigation equipment and systems serving such landscaping..." Then it states: "Maintenance and repair of installed landscaping shall be the responsibility of the association, and the costs of such maintenance shall be common expenses..."

I consider the responsibility of our homeowners association to be limited to maintenance and repair, yet our association, when confronted with maintenance of tree roots appearing on the surface of a grass area, removed a large section of grass, installed concrete curbing at the edge of the remaining grass, then installed rock instead of grass. The cost of this project, $3,000, was beyond the costs of our regularly scheduled maintenance and repair. This remodel expenditure occurred within the maintenance easement on the private property of two residences.

The board president said that he didn't know another way to deal with it. We have only 65 homes in our neighborhood. That's quite a chunk of dough to be spending under the name of maintenance when that exceeds the monthly cost for maintaining the landscaping in our entire neighborhood.

When I asked our board to get a legal definition of maintenance and repair, they refused.

Is our HOA going too far in such remodels on private property? Are they acting in the best interest of the HOA by refusing to spend a couple hundred on an attorney to define the HOA's responsibilities?

A: In responding to your question, I was able to review Section 9.6a and 9.6b. of your governing documents. Section 9.6a states that the association is to maintain and repair the installed landscaping and that it shall be the responsibility of the association. The cost of the maintenance shall be part of the common area expenses. It defines the section of landscape that is to be the association's responsibility as the installed landscaping.

Section 9.6b states that each owner shall be responsible, at his or her expense, for the installation, maintenance, repair and replacement of the landscape, irrigation equipment and systems on his or her lot, except for the installed landscaping.

In reviewing your governing documents, I think you believe that the association is limited to maintenance and repairs. You may believe that the work that was performed by the association as the result of the tree roots went beyond maintenance and repairs but was in actuality, a remodeling which occurred within the maintenance easement on the private property of the two residences.

It would be worth the money to have legal counsel clarify the parameters, as to whether the association can make major changes to the installed landscaping without the approval of the association members.

Barbara Holland, certified property manager, is president and owner of H&L Realty and Management Co. To ask her a question, e-mail support@hlrealty.com.