Legal Question in Disability Law in Virginia
Property Rights for People with Disabilities
We live in a community with a homeowners association that does not allow fences to be constructed forward of the back corner of the house. The door to the garage is on the side of the house and we would like to have the fence built to include it so that our son who wears braces on both legs can access the backyard without having to go up and down the porch stairs in the backyard. Are there any federal or state laws that protect our rights to construct the fence to meet our needs that we could submit to the architechtural review committee in support of our request.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Property Rights for People with Disabilities
Your best approach (in my opinion)would be to
simply set out in writing your request to the HOA for the variance and the reasons for it.
Then, if your request is denied, you can begin to consider your appropriate action in response to the denial and the panoply of federal and state law as well as local ordinances which might
possibly be applicable to your situation.