I will never by a house in Tampon Springs.

It seems like one of the parties should have folded long ago. I don't see much reason for either party to have pursued this. $1,000 leash violation is extremely high. I'm pretty sure that you would have to pay less of a fine if your dog got loose and killed somebody anywhere else...

No one forced this man to live in a deed-restricted development. When you purchase a home in one of these areas, aren't you agreeing to abide by the rules? It's not like the rules were sprung on him by surprise.

While i think most HOA deed restrictions are ridiculous, he agreed to them when he purchased the property. If you wanted to walk your dog off leash, go to the dog park.

I would never by a house in an area with a HOA because of these kinds of rules.

That said, the homeowner moved into his house fully aware of the HOA rules. He chose to break them because of the mentality that "they apply to everyone but me". He refused to pay the fine and, as is their right, the HOA foreclosed on him.

Sorry, but the fault with this lies with the homeowner, not the HOA.

Did he know about the rule when they bought the home?

I can't stand when people think their pet is the special exception to a rule. If it says only service dogs are allowed inside, don't bring your Chihuahua in in a carrier and expect it to be cool. If there are leash restrictions, expect to get dinged if you ignore them. One asshole pet owner can ruin things for everyone who does follow the rules.

@chatterboxwriting:

Ya, if its in the deed, it isn't a surprise.

@h3llc4t: Kind of like in the movie Marley and Me....Pretty hilarious scene of the dog ruining it for everyone else......

And if you read the article this one line sums the entire situation:

"Wirth admits he still walks Cole without a leash."

So screw him.

Wait a second... the house is owned by his wife. How can the man's debt be collected upon by using the wife's property?

If my wife was in debt and going to collections, they couldn't take my car.

Something here doesn't seem right.

All dog owners think their do is so sweet and well-behaved, till they get away from them and maul some little kid to death. THAT'S why we have leash laws. Don't like it? Buy a farm.

In an HOA outside of Phoenix, I was threatened with losing my home over the height of a playground in my backyard. To make it even more madening, a) the playground was put up (apparently) two owners and fice years before I bought the house and b) the nasty letter was my very first contact from the HOA on the subject. I took the tarp off the top and that made them happy.

Then I moved to Kansas City. Six month in, I get a letter from the HOA telling me the fence around my backyard needed to be removed because it was too close to the sidewalk and I had not asked before having it built. Which, if you are playing along at home, should not suprise anyone that the fence was there when I bought the house.

Once I convinced them of this, they still wanted it to be come down or be moved, but they were willing to pay for it (I was amazed). I pointed out that this would mean paying for a new fence, moving or replacing the watering system, new landscaping, and new sod. They decided it was not that much of an eyesore, and they could live with it. I would bet, however, the next owner gets the same letter, though

This guy is a real estate broker, so there isn't even an argument that he didn't know what he was getting into when he bought the house. Him and his wife choose to move into a planned community with a particular set of rules. He chose not to follow those rules, seemingly because he thinks he's above them. He was given multiple opportunities to remedy the situation on his own, and he refused to do so. If he was paying a lawyer, he knew (or should have known) that if he didn't pay up foreclosure would be an option. He chose to refuse to abide by the court order (pending appeal, at least), and is now going to have to find a new place to live. Maybe this time he'll find a place with rules that he can follow. Basically, he's getting exactly what he deserves.

@h3llc4t: Agreed. He knew the rules, he broke them. Sure, $1000 fine for walking a dog is out-fricken-ragious, but he knowingly broke it.

Many pet people treat their pets like children, thusly automatically assume their pets are better than everyone else's. Which entitles them to circumvent the rules.

Bollux!

@Shadowfire:
The fine is levied against the property owner who is responsible for the conduct. The rules are probably written in a way that allows them to levy a fine against the home owner for the transgressions of any occupant of the home. He's an occupant of the home, the homeowner is responsible for his conduct while he's inside the subdivision.

Last summer I went on a walk with my wife through our neighborhood in San Diego, and in a nearby yard there were a few Hispanic people and two small dogs yipping around without leashes (there was also no fence). As we were walking, I made a comment to my wife about how the dogs should be on leashes, and right after saying that one of the dogs came running over to us on the opposite side of the street.

Sure enough, a black SUV happened to be speeding down the street at the same time, and the dog was literally about 4 feet away from us when the SUV ran him over with both tires. The worst part is that the dog didn't die right away; he immediately started writhing and convulsing in pain as one of the people in the yard rushed to pick him up. My wife started screaming and I tried to get a license plate number, but it was too late.

As an animal lover, I was more pissed off at the people who didn't use a leash in lieu of a fenced area. So anyway, screw this douchebag for being stubborn and not following a simple rule.

And crap like this is why I bought a older, less nicer home outside a HOA rather than new one in a HOA.
Its my land, Ill be damned if I'm going to let anyone tell me what to do with it.

I have a wack job neighbor who refuses to leash his cocker spaniel. Our HOA strictly forbids dogs off leash, but he just doesn't give a damn. He says since the HOA isn't a municipality, they can't fine him and it will never hold up in court.

He even took to decorating our patio with American flags. Isn't that kind of him? He think we want American flags decorating our patio.

He's a vet and an ex-sheriff, and he carrys. So we think it's just best to keep the peace.

Of course he knew about it when he bought the home. It is a deed restriction.

The referring story states he regularly walked his dog without a leash so even if he didn't know originally, he did eventually. Given that he still does it, even today, he is not terribly sympathetic.

I really hope that with the last sentence of the post the Consumerist is not supporting a homicidal nut. He's going to shoot and kill soeone if he doesn't get his way? How is that an even remotely defensible position?

@synimatik: We treat our pets like children- naughty, belligerent children. We know they are troublemakers, so we don't take them into situations where that would be a problem, like shopping malls or public events.

@wchamilton: In this case, the rule is perfectly reasonable. Dogs need to be walked on leashes for the safety of everyone.

And one other thing (this story has me peeved for some reason)... one thing my mother always told me about dogs is "you can never say your dog doesn't bite. All you can say is your dog hasn't bitten anyone yet." So it doesn't matter how sweet and lovable your dog is... once they take it into their heads to bite they'll bite, especially if the dog is particularly protective of its owner.

@chatterboxwriting: Some of the rules are long and buried in a 2 inch thick booklet. Some are just plain ridiculous. Still I would pay the fine although the fine is way too high.

@chatterboxwriting: Exactly. I used to live a condo building that required us to stop our cars to let the gate to the parking structure close properly to prevent thieves from getting in. I got dinged with the $200 fine a couple of times, and paid up, because hey, they caught me and I had agreed to their terms. I don't remember plotting a homicide over it. This dude is mental.

I still can't believe HOAs are still allowed to exist. The whole concept is borderline illegal and actually IS illegal in some places.

@Gokuhouse: As it said in the article, if the HOA does not enforce this rule now, it will lose the ability to enforce it in the future. That's how these things work, they must either be applied evenly or not at all.

@pecan 3.14159265: In fact, everywhere I've ever lived, it's local (city, state, or county) law.

While the $1,000 fine seems high the rule itself I believe is reasonable since the dog could inflict harm on someone. If the homeowner wanted to contest the price of the fine based on principle is one thing but him letting it get to this point is just ridiculous.

@1stMarDiv: Was it necessary to point out it was a Hispanic family?

@Esquire99:

Good luck trying to collect. His house is in Florida. That means that if his wife declared homestead (and it meets the other rules for homestead),the HOA can piss up a tree until...Until they are chunking snowballs at one another in Miami Beach. Florida offers absolute protection against any lawsuit or lien on your primary residence. (This is why O.J. Simpson moved to Florida. He could moon Ron Goldman's family from his homestead -protected crib because it is virtually untouchable EXCEPT for the first mortgage during the owners lifetime)Since the HOA doesn't hold the first mortgage,if he stays there until death,they are out o' luck.It's when you try to sell or refinance that they can cloud your title with a lien or fine.

One of the reasons that Snarkysnake has a home in Florida...

@JGBrock: Sometimes I feel that some HOAs are all bark and no bite. That's why someone of these violations go on for so long from the previous owner until the next buyer is willing to cave in to their demands.

Just yesterday I ran over an off-leash dog on my bicycle, breaking its leg. The owners saw me coming and did nothing to even grab the collar of the mutt. They can thank heavens I didn't crash or they would be facing a 6-figure lawsuit. Folks, if you love your animal, put it on a leash. Would you let your toddler run around in traffic?

Because I own a 160lb black Great Dane, I always have to go above and beyond to be respectful when walking him outside of my home--on a humane pinch collar, with a short training leash and always with a poopie bag. He's better behaved than any small dog I've ever met, but he has to be because of his size.

I frequently run into neighbors walking their dogs off of a leash, when we have an HOA code and a county ordinance. A few of them must a death wish, because they automatically charge at my dog barking and snarling, totally ignoring their owner. I have a horrible feeling that one of these days we're going to end up with dead Terrier, and I'll be in a heap of trouble simply because my leashed dog who was protecting his owner committed the crime of being a large breed.

We have a ridiculous law with a fine like this but no one really pays attention to it. People that have well-behaved dogs let their dogs walk with them leashless and everyone lets their cats roam. I'm not saying the man shouldn't be held accountable for breaking the rules, but I can see how it happens especially if you've lived in your home for years.

@John: I wondered that too.

@John:

About as necessary as pointing out the black SUV…not everyone's a racist, you know.

@Jim Topoleski:
Any particular justification for your claim that they're borderline illegal? Deed restrictions have a pretty solid foundation in Property Law, and have been around for a very long time. I'm not sure why you think they're borderline illegal, when in fact they are very much legal. Since property law is a state issue, states and municipalities are free to legislatively change it if they want to, allowing them to refuse to allow HOAs in their area. I can't imagine this is even a remotely common practice, as many people prefer HOAs because it keeps their property values up.

a $1,000 off-leash fine is standard in Baltimore -

[weblogs.baltimoresun.com]

It's an insanely high fine, and a lot of HOA rules are ridiculous -- but as others have said, this particular rule is reasonable, and the insanity of the fine doesn't even compare to this guy's crazy attitude that the rules he signed up for don't pertain to him. He's at fault here.

First off these spelling mistakes are really bad. Can you use your spell check?

Second, he should of folded a long time ago. I agree that a $1k fine is excessive, but to lose your house over it is just plain stupid. And over a lease too?

@lemortede: But as someone else has pointed out...walking your dog on a leash is a rule pretty much in every city and county. It's not like fencing, where you can put up a fence on non-HOA governed land. This is about walking a dog on a leash, in which not doing so may put many people in jeopardy. I'm supposed to take it on your opinion that your dog is gentle and caring? What if the dog chases after a squirrel and gets hit by a car? what if the car swerves and hits someone else?

Hmm...I'm more interested in the "Stand your ground" law than I am about this guy and his dog. Go figure.

@wchamilton: What they always say at our local animal shelter to prospective adopters, "anything with teeth can bite".

@Jim Topoleski: Even if it wasn't "legal" anymore, wouldn't past contracts still apply until they expired?

@Tuuurd_Ferguson: Yup. Unless they introduced the restriction later on without informing him.

@wchamilton: If you provoke an animal, you can never tell what happens.

@WiglyWorm: Yea, but in doing their action of using courts and running up the cost, they made it impossible to ever pay the fine. Who has 100k? No one.

They should have put a lien against his house that could have just sat there. They would have got their money eventually if the guy tried to sell the home or if he died. Instead they wasted a ton of money because they can and are foreclosing on a home just for that reason.

@Snarkysnake:
Given the fact that the home is already in foreclosure over this, I think your analysis might be a little bit off. Not that there aren't judges who simply ignore the law, but I think the fact that the HOA was awarded a judgment, and has already been allowed to put the home into foreclosure at least presumptively defeats your analysis of the issue. I don't know anything about Florida property law (I am aware that they have some screwy laws that offer some extra protection for the homeowner), but your argument obviously doesn't mesh with what the courts have allowed. Maybe they were wrong and will be overturned on appeal, but as it stands, it seems the HOA has won.

@TinkishDelight: Just because you've lived there for years doesn't mean you're not subject to the neighborhood rules. Letting animals roam is dangerous, not only for the animals, but also for people. And well-behaved animals are not perfect - they are animals, after all, and will bite when provoked.