Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Indiana

Re: Subdivision covenant

Homeowner associations are membership organizations composed of all persons who purchase in the subdivision. There is a required annual election. Wresting control from the "family that made these rules" would be your first goal - you and any other neighbors you can convince to want to become involved in your small community. Otherwise you might have recourse to suing the homeowner association for being unreasonable, failing to have elections, or just plain deriliction of duty. Except for the alternative to get involved in the association to change the rules, litigation can become very expensive as well as time consuming and there are no guarantees. You might also consider a petition signed by the neighbors showing who is in favor of less restrictive covenants or rules to determine whether the present administration ought to change its ways to stay in office or whether you have enough support to take over.

Re: Subdivision covenant

If these restrictions are covenants to your deed, then they can be enforced by anyone with an interest - like anyone in the neighborhood - with a lawsuit against you. These covenants are very difficult to modify, so unless the covenants violate some public policy - such as a restriction on race, ethnicity or religion - they you should apply your mind and soul to the process of gracefully accepting them. If the restrictions are not covenants that run with the land but are more like a homeowner's association's rules, then it's politics as usual. Learn all you can about the association rules, attend meetings, rouse your neighbors from their lethargy. Maybe they all want you to have a kennel of dogs and others of God's creation.