No reply was received from the board of directors for the Stonebridge Townhomes HOA when asked for comment for this story.
A remiss response from an HOA is typical, according to the Ombudsman’s report and Kent County attorney Dean A. Campbell.
“This [family’s story] is something I hear about on a daily or weekly basis,” said Campbell who has practiced HOA law for 25 years.
In an attempt to govern the disputes that eventually arise out of common interest communities, the state created the Delaware Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act or DUCOIA. Its provisions are supposed to guide developers and people living in these communities on how to live peaceably, but Campbell said, “it’s a very long … confusing body of law,” that he said took years for many lawyers to figure out what the statute says and does.
The act is based on common law for deed restrictive covenants, Campbell said, noting “there’s really no regulation or oversight as to what goes into those rules.”
In the past, restrictions found in these deed restrictive covenants could be for something trivial, like forbidding someone from shaking a dust rag out of a window. In some cases, they excluded people of a certain race, ethnicity or religious affiliation. State legislators created DUCOIA in hopes of providing a roadmap for civility in old communities with old restrictions and new communities with different perspectives. In any case, many people are unaware of this law and ignore it even when they are.
