Rules and enforcement
Every rule below cites the section of the Declaration that authorizes it. Read the source yourself and hold the Board to it.
What the Board is asked about most
Four of five noticesLawns, landscaping and yard condition
Declaration 5.15, 5.17Grass is kept under six inches. Weeds and overgrowth are not allowed to spread. Trees are kept free of disease and infestation. A new home is landscaped within ninety days of occupancy.
What the Board actually looks at
Whether the yard is being maintained to the standard of the street it sits on, and whether a condition on one lot is affecting a neighbor. A lawn a week past due during a stretch of rain is not the problem this rule exists for.
Signs
Declaration 5.18Signs are not displayed on lots, including in yards and windows, and no advertising of any kind. Each home may have one nameplate of up to forty-eight square inches showing the occupant's name, the address, or both, at the front door or freestanding in the front or side yard no more than twelve inches above grade.
Signs Michigan law protects
Some categories of sign cannot be prohibited by a community association under state or federal law. If you believe a sign you want to display falls into one of those categories, submit it for review rather than guessing, and the Board will respond in writing.
Exterior condition and disrepair
Declaration 5.17Homes are kept in lived-in condition and free of visible disrepair: broken fixtures, materials left out, cracked exterior structures, staining, and vegetation growing into the building.
Vehicles, boats, trailers and parking
Declaration 5.22Boats, recreational vehicles, trailers and commercial vehicles are kept in a garage. Short-term exceptions are set by Board rule, so ask before you need one rather than after. No parking on grass, no inoperable vehicles in view, and no automotive repair work on a lot. Township and county ordinances apply on top of this.
What changed in the 2027 Declaration
The earlier covenants barred storing these vehicles anywhere in the community. The 2027 Declaration instead requires them to be kept in a garage and lets the Board publish short-term exceptions, for example while a boat is being loaded or a trailer is in use for a project.
The rest of the use restrictions
Summaries. The Declaration governs, and each section number links to the documents page where you can read the full text.
Animals
5.13Township law and Association rules govern how many animals may be kept, replacing the old limit of two dogs or cats. Animals are leashed off your own lot and waste is picked up. Dog runs are not permitted.
Trash and refuse
5.20Containers are kept out of view except on collection day.
Leasing
5.23A lease runs at least 180 days. Short-term rentals of the kind listed on Airbnb and similar platforms are prohibited. Leases are registered with the Association.
Fences, walls and pool enclosures
5.10Fences, walls, retaining walls and solid hedges require written approval before installation.
Pools and hot tubs
5.14Permitted with review. A pool area is landscaped. Above-ground pools require approval. A recreational structure, a pool included, sits no nearer than forty feet to the front lot line or to a side line adjoining a street.
Trees on lots
5.16Removing a tree over six inches in diameter requires approval first.
Storage buildings and outdoor storage
5.4Outdoor storage and accessory buildings are restricted. Submit anything you intend to put up for review.
Antennas and satellite dishes
5.21Allowed with review of location, within the limits federal law places on these restrictions.
Flagpoles
5.24A flagpole requires approval before installation.
Home businesses
5.1, 5.25A quiet home office and homeschooling are permitted. Customers on site, signage and added traffic are not.
Weapons and fireworks
5.12Restricted on lots and in common areas.
Wetlands, open space and drainage
5.26, 5.6Protected wetland, natural drainage ways and open space are not filled, graded, mowed or built on. Township and state permits apply, and this is the restriction most often broken by accident during landscaping.
Minimum residence size is set separately for each subdivision and carries forward from the original plats. Declaration 5.2
How enforcement works
Declaration Article VIIOne sequence, applied the same way to every lot, recorded at every step. A fine cannot be levied before written notice and an opportunity to be heard, and only from a fine schedule the Board has adopted and published.
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Observed
A condition is recorded with the date, the time, the location and a photograph. Photo metadata is used to confirm when and where the picture was taken. Nothing proceeds on an anonymous assertion alone.
Recorded in the register -
Written notice
The owner receives written notice describing the condition, the section it falls under, and the date by which it should be corrected.
Declaration 7.9 -
Cure period
At least ten days to correct an exterior condition before the Association may act on it, except where delay would materially increase the risk of harm.
Declaration 7.5 -
Hearing, if you want one
Before any fine, the owner may be heard before the Board or a committee the Board designates. You may also ask for mediation, or for a hardship variance if applying the restriction would create a practical difficulty you did not create.
Declaration 7.9, 7.2, 6.5 -
Decision and fine
If a fine is levied it comes from the published schedule, is assessed against the owner and the lot, and is collected the same way dues are. Correcting the condition promptly ends the matter without a fine.
Declaration 7.9, Article IV -
Resolved and closed
The matter is closed in the register with the outcome and the date. The record stays, because a pattern over twelve months changes how a later matter is handled.
Declaration 7.8
Repeated and deliberate violations
Three or more violations of the same or a similar provision inside any twelve month period counts as repeated. A violation committed knowingly and in deliberate disregard counts as willful. For either, the Board may impose fines and pursue remedies without the standard cure period, still after notice and an opportunity to be heard.
Declaration 7.8
Costs
Where the Association prevails in enforcing the governing documents, it may recover damages, fines, expenses and actual attorney fees, and secure them by a lien on the lot. This is the part most people do not read until it matters, so it is stated here plainly.
Declaration 7.4, 4.12
Fine schedule
Declaration 7.9No fine may be levied unless the Board has adopted and published a schedule that sets the violation and the amount. That schedule is published here so every owner can see it before it is ever applied to them.
See something? Drop a pin.
Open the map, tap the spot or type the address, choose what you saw, and add photographs or video. The Board gets the location, the evidence and the section of the Declaration it most likely falls under, so a matter can start without a round of questions.
Then you follow it. Every step is recorded, from received to inspected to an outcome, and you see the result. Reports go to the Board only. The owner concerned is never told who reported, and no neighbor can see a report.
You sign in with your verified owner account so the Board can trust and answer every report. Conditions that break a Township ordinance can also be reported to Independence Township directly.
Received a notice?
You can respond in writing, ask for a hearing before the Board, or request a hardship variance, all from the owner portal. Every response is attached to the matter and timestamped, so nothing turns on whose memory of a conversation is better.
Respond or request a hearingWhat this is not for
Noise at midnight, a car blocking a driveway, an animal running loose, anything criminal: those go to Independence Township or to the Oakland County Sheriff, who can actually act at the time it is happening. The Association enforces the recorded covenants, and cannot respond in the moment.