Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

When you bought your property in a development with an association, you bound yourself to comply with the rules of the association. When a development with an association is created, the developer who subdivides and builds the development has lawyers draft up a document called Conditions, Covenants and Restrictions, CC&Rs; for short, that governs the association and the development into the future. That document is then recorded in the County Recorder's office. Then each deed to each buyer for each residence in the development contains a clause making it subject to the CC&Rs;. Every time the residence is sold, the transfer carries with it the obligation to abide by (and have rights under, by the way) the CC&Rs;.

So I'm not sure exactly why you think your home and property is not really yours. You bought it subject to federal, state and local laws. So you can't run a meth lab there, or remodel without permits, or open a convenience store in your house, or run a book-making operation, but you still think it's "yours" subject to those limits. You also bought it subject to the CC&Rs; and are obligated to abide by them as well.