It’s been nearly six months since Hurricane Harvey and much of the Houston area is still recovering.

In some cases, homeowners say HOA rules are their biggest hurdles as they try and rebuild their lives.

“We lived here for 43 years,” said Tony Cernosek of Meyerland. He and his wife raised three sons in the home that used to stand on the lot where we met him.

They decided to demolish and rebuild thanks to what three feet of water did to it.

“We just want to get started, get the home built, and get our lives back,” said Cernosek.

They’ve spent thousands of dollars on a new home plan. It should already be under construction on their longtime lot; but it isn’t, they say, thanks to Meyerland’s HOA.

“There are 22 sections that have different deed restrictions,” said Cernosek.

For instance, the front-facing carport they want to replicate is no longer acceptable in their section.

Although we counted at least three homes with front-facing carports or garages right around the corner.

“You would think they would do everything they could to help people rebuild,” said Cernosek.

KHOU 11 News reached out to the Meyerland Community Improvement Association.

Its General Manager said the HOA sympathizes with homeowners and is working on homogenizing rules.

“With all that said, the Association Board cannot override the lot owner voted restrictions – only new revised restrictions can change them,” Amy Hoechstette wrote in an email.

Until that happens, new projects are at the mercy of old rules.

“It’s not ideal,” said Cernosek.  Read more:

SPRING, Texas – A family in Montgomery County is at a standstill with their neighborhood homeowner’s association. The Bender’s Landing HOA Board doesn’t like the very thing Susan Durgapersad says is keeping her family safe.
She called consumer expert Amy Davis for help when her HOA told her she needed to remove the safety fence around her swimming pool.

The fence was installed the same year the home and pool were built in 2014. Their homeowner’s insurance company told Durgapersad they are required to have a fence around their pool. But in 2016, the HOA told the family to take it down, claiming the fence is “not compliant with association guidelines.”

“It provides safety for the entire community and our family,” Durgapersad told Davis. She lives on a corner lot in the subdivision with no perimeter fence around her big yard. Without the safety gate around her pool, anyone could wander into her yard and fall in.

“The pool fence is not an eyesore. It blends into the home. It matches the home.. and there’s probably 50 fences of this same type installed in this neighborhood,” Durgapersad explained.

We sent Channel 2’s chopper Sky 2 over the subdivision to confirm that. In a matter of minutes, we spotted 7 pool fences just like Durgapersad’s.

By email, Bender’s Landing HOA president Bruce Johnson contends that corner lots like Durgapersad’s can only have a non-privacy fence constructed of iron no more than 4 feet tall.

“A privacy fence goes around the perimeter of your yard. A pool fence is totally different,” argued attorney David Kahne. Davis asked him to read Bender’s Landing’s deed restrictions and weigh in.  Kahne pointed out that the subdivision’s deed restrictions make no mention at all of pool fences. Read more: