Norchester Home Owners Association 
‘The Primary Purpose Of A Homeowner Association Is To Maintain And Enhance Property Values.’ 

If you buy a home, or even a lot, in the Norchester Subdivision, you automatically become a member of the Norchester Home Owner Association (HOA). The HOA is a non-profit business entity.  The official entity name is the Norchester Maintenance Fund, Inc. (NMF). 


The HOA helps ensure that our community looks its best and functions smoothly. For instance, if the pump in the community swimming pool stops working, someone has to take care of it before the water turns green and toxic, right? Rather than expect any one individual in the neighborhood to volunteer their time and money to fix the problem, the HOA is responsible for getting the job done. 


Annual Dues: To cover typical expenses, the Norchester HOA collects yearly dues from all residential owner members. The dues are the amount specified in the current HOA By-Laws.  For the year 2024, the dues are $700 per lot for Sections 1, 2, 3, & 4 . Owners of a second contiguous lot in all Sections pay 50% of the basic lot fee for the second lot. The dues schedule was approved at the Jan. 21st, 2019  Homeowners meeting.  (See Cathy's Page.) Information for dues payments is on the High Sierra page (GoTo).


(Typically, if a HOA doesn’t have enough money in reserve to cover necessary expenses, it can issue a special “assessment”, or an extra fee, in addition to the annual fee, so that repairs can be made.)


The Norchester HOA has a Board of Directors, made up of homeowners in the subdivision who are elected by all homeowners. The Board manages the funds in the Norchester Maintenance Fund (NMF), funded by the fees mentioned above. These Board members have regular meetings where owners can gather and discuss major decisions and issues within their community. For major expenditures, all members of the HOA usually vote. (In case you wonder, these Board members are volunteers and receive no compensation for serving on the Board.)


In addition to maintaining the common areas, the HOA is also responsible for seeing that its community members follow certain rules. Homeowners receive a copy of these rules, known as “covenants, conditions, and restrictions” (CC&Rs, or in our case, Deed Restrictions), when you purchase a property in Norchester, and you are required to sign a contract saying that you will abide by them. (Note: If you are renting a property in Norchester, you are under the same Deed Restrictions as the property owner.)


Please read all of the Deed Restrictions to understand them completely. Neighborhood word-of-mouth may not be reliable. If in doubt, ask any member of the Architectural Control Committee (ACC) for reliable information and their help.


Deed Restrictions can cover everything from your type of mailbox, to the type of roof, or features in your yard. The HOA may even regulate what color you paint your house, and what kind of windows that face the street. Any requests for meaningful changes to the exterior of your home must be submitted to the Architectural Control Committee for review before proceeding ( GoTo ). This Committee is made up from your Norchester neighbors, not some detached 3rd party. The goal is not to meddle—it's merely to maintain a neighborhood aesthetic. 


If you violate the HOA rules, there are consequences – which are intended to provide protection for the neighborhood in general. They can be everything from a letter request to correct a minor violation, to legal action in severe cases. (A simple guide to Norchester's Deed Restrictions is shown below.) Norchester has a management company (High Sierra Management or HSM) that will normally notify a homeowner of suspected violations. If a solution cannot be reached with HSM, a homeowner can contact the Board to seek a solution.  ( GoTo High Sierra Management page.)


Some HOA’s have created a bad image across the country because of their rigid, detailed deed restrictions. Horror stories are frequently in the newspapers. Norchester’s Deed Restrictions are fairly conventional in the genre, and the implementation over the years has been relatively genteel. Problems occur – and the Board of Directors stands ready to find a win-win solution when these problems occur. 


Deed Restriction Compliance

Our HOA's best way to gain compliance with our deed restrictions is the integrity of the individual homeowner coupled with a fair administration of the rules by the HOA. If a homeowner chooses not to follow our deed restrictions, then our HOA is placed in the undesirable condition of trying to enforce the rules by imposing fines or, after extended non-compliance, ultimately filing a lawsuit against the homeowner. The HOA and the homeowner are then in a lose-lose battle. It has been the goal of the current HOA Board of Directors to avoid this lose-lose position by engaging in discussions with the homeowner; to reach an amicable solution. This has worked most of the time. However, the deed restrictions must be fairly applied to all residents. Consequently, the HOA will resort to legal action if necessary to protect the Norchester Subdivision.   


Simple Guide to Typical Deed Restriction Violations

It is useful for Norchester to have clear guidelines regarding situations that violate our current By-Laws and Deed Restrictions. Because of the difficulty to the average Property Owner in reading and interpreting our current documents, the NMF Board compiled and approved the simple list below. Its purpose is to help Property Owners understand key Norchester deed restriction violations and potential consequences. (The current By-Laws and Deed Restrictions are the actual governing documents):

1. All trailers, double-axle trucks, buses, RVs and boats that can be seen from the street are prohibited. Violation letters will be sent.
2. Cars are prohibited from parking on the grass. Violation letters will be sent.
3. Any inoperable vehicles which can be seen from the street are prohibited. Violation letters will be sent.
4. Discarded furniture, paint cans, other large household items no longer in use, limbs of trees or other yard debris must be kept in the back yards behind gates or fences out of sight from the street. Violation letters will be sent.
5. All off-site Property Owners of rental houses and abandoned houses must maintain yards by having the grass mowed, the shrubs trimmed, and the sidewalks and driveways swept by the off-site homeowner. Failure to do so will result in fines to the off-site homeowners. Violation letters will be sent.
6. Yards where grass has not been mowed all month, sidewalks and driveways have not been swept, and weeds sprouting in the driveway and sidewalk cracks will receive violation letters (if also approved by a NMF Board member during the drive-by inspection each month). 
7. Airbnbs, short-term rentals, and businesses operating out of the homes are strictly forbidden by our deed restrictions. The NMF will get a monthly update as to what our attorneys are doing to halt these practices as they are reported.
8. HCFCD properties. (This is a priority during April through October.) The NMF Board will work with HSM and Precinct 4 to get these lots mowed twice a month or every three weeks if possible.
9. Falling gutters, peeling paint or siding, and rotting boards need to be repaired, replaced or painted if any of these problems can be seen from the street. Violation letters will be sent (with the approval of the NMF Board member during the drive-by inspection) each month. 
10. Other lawn violations must be approved by NMF board member during the monthly drive-by.
11. Dumpsters must be removed within six months of the beginning of a remodel project unless homeowner applies and receives an extension from the NMF board. 
12. Fences are not required in Norchester deed restrictions. However, homeowners with fences must keep them in good repair. Any new fence or replacement fence must have ACC approval in advance.
13. Holiday Decorations - must be removed by the end of the following month that the holiday occurred. Therefore, Christmas violations will go out on February inspections rather than January inspections. 
14. All trash cans will be permitted to be in view of the street as long as they are next to the garages.
15. Any mold violation letters must be approved by the NMF Board member during the drive-by inspection each month.
16. All pine needle roof issues have to be approved by the NMF board member during a drive-by. As long as most of the roof can be seen, home is not in violation.

The NMF Board will review and approve sending of violation letters. At the subsequent Board meeting, a report will be given to all Board members to review in advance of the meeting so if there are questions or concerns, they can be discussed at the monthly board meeting.

All homeowners will be given a two-week advance notice of the HSM monthly “deeds violations inspection” via a posting on Nextdoor Norchester. The goal is to have to send out as few deed restriction letters as possible. With the rental properties, it is up to the Property Owner to enforce Norchester’s deed restrictions on his Renter; and the violation letters will be mailed directly to the Property Owner. 

If violations are not corrected in a timely manner, the NMF Board will assess a fine. A synopsis of the fines is on the NMF Documents page on this website – GoTo.  

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