Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Virginia

homeowner association's right to exclude children's swingsets

In April of 2005 we purchased a home in a new subdivision. At the time of the sale, we read and signed covenants governing the subdivision, one of which read ''no swingsets are to erected in the front or side yards''. Upon moving in, we erected a wooden swingset in the backyard of our new home. Since that time, we have received several letters from the association mandating that we take down the swingset. My wife and my question is this: Does a homeowner association have the right to rule that children's playsets cannot be erected in one's backyard, or is this a violation a child's right and homeowner's right to have a new wooden swingset erected in one's backyard. As an aside, when we attended the initial homeowner association meeting in February, 2006, the subject came up and those families who have small children were told that the board would get back to us their answer on swingsets soon. In fact, on April 23rd we received a mailing from the board of directors asking us to complete a survey question (which was mailed to all residents) whether swingsets should be allowed at all. To conclude, our new uppercrust subdivision consists of a majority of 50-plus residents with college age children, so views are prejudiced. Please help.

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