Dear Owner:

​This firm represents the REDACTED Homeowners Association, Inc. (“Association”).  As you may have heard, the Association’s Board of Directors (the “Board”) has recently become aware that certain Lots were not properly annexed into the Association, even though the original development company intended to create one community encompassing all the Lots in each section of the REDACTED Subdivision.  This issue was discovered, to the surprise of the Board and the other owners, after my review of a title report covering the Association (for an unrelated purpose).  All Lots within each section of the community should have been added to the Association at the time the subdivision plat for each section was recorded among the Land Records for REDACTED.  The failure to do so was an oversight, either by the original Developer or subsequent Developers.

I spoke to a representative of the original development company for the community.  He confirmed that the original Developer did, in fact, intend to create one large community.  As each section of the community was developed, the Lots should have been annexed into the Association.  Because, as it turns out, certain sections were not properly annexed, we are attempting to correct this mistake.
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​Rather than state all of the facts regarding the alleged Developer(s) omissions, I have enclosed for your review a copy of a document titled, Supplemental Confirmatory Declaration of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (the “Supplemental Confirmatory Declaration”) which summarizes the facts surrounding the issues now faced by the Association.  Please review this document, and the other enclosures to this letter.

​If you have received a copy of this letter, you are an Owner of a Lot that was not properly annexed into the Association.  The Board is seeking the consent of each of you to be bound to the Association’s covenants so that it may continue to preserve, protect, and enhance your property values, and so that you can continue to be part of the Association.  Many of you have already signed the voluntary dues form that was created and circulated by the Board, and have been paying the annual assessment to the Association.   Others have regularly paid assessments throughout your ownership of your Lot.  While these actions demonstrate your intent to be bound by the Association’s Declaration, Amended Declaration, Supplementary Declaration, By-Laws, Rules and Regulations, and any amendments thereto (the “Governing Documents”), these actions are not sufficient to legally add your Lot to the Association.  In order to formerly add your Lot to the Association, you must sign the enclosed Consent Form and return the original executed document to my attention.  All signed Consent Forms will be attached to the Supplemental Confirmatory Declaration, which will then be recorded among the Land Records of REDACTED, Maryland.  In other words, by completing the enclosed Consent Form, your Lot will be officially added to the Association, so you will continue to receive the benefits of membership.

​An invoice for Association dues is also enclosed.  If you have not already paid your Association’s dues for 2018, please use this opportunity to do so now.  Kindly complete the enclosed dues form and return it, along with payment for your dues, to the Association as soon as possible.

​It is the Board’s hope that all of the Owners within the Greenbrier subdivision will sign these Consent Forms.  Doing so will allow the Association to continue operating to the community’s benefit.  As a practical matter, if all of the Owners complete these Consent Forms, the amount of attorneys’ fees incurred by the Association to remedy this issue will be limited.  However, the Board realizes that one hundred percent of the Owners may not consent.  Should this occur, a lawsuit will unfortunately have to be filed against those Owners who have not consented to annexation.  The lawsuit, which would be filed in the Circuit Court for REDACTED, would seek an Order binding all of the Owners who do not voluntarily consent to be bound to the Association and its Governing Documents.  Such a lawsuit will require each Owner and the Association to expend significant monies for lawyers to litigate this matter, which the Association would strongly prefer to avoid.  It is therefore the hope of the Board that you complete the enclosed Consent Form.
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​As background, please allow me to summarize the Association’s legal authority for its position.  Simply put, there is an enormous body of law throughout the country, and more specifically in Maryland, supporting the position that if a Developer or Builder creates a community intending for all subdivided Lots to be part of that community, a court will bind all of the Lots to the Governing Documents of that community under what the courts term a “common scheme” or “general plan” theory.  This law may be found in the Restatement of Law, Property – Servitudes, Sections 1.7, 1.8, 2.1, 2.5, 2.6, 2.9, 2.10, 7.10, 8.1, 8.3 and 8.4.  Also, the American Jurisprudence Proof of Facts (62 Am. Jur. Proof of Facts 3d 1), contains an extensive overview of the “common scheme” and “general plan” theories and how the courts have ruled on similar cases across the country.

​In addition, the appellate Courts in Maryland have adopted the “common scheme” approach and have applied it in many cases to facts similar to the situation we face here.  See Point’s Reach Condo. Council of Unit Owners v. Point HomeOwners Ass’n, Inc., 213 Md.App. 222 (2013); Roper v. Camuso, 376 Md. 240 (2003); Schovee v. Mikolasko, 356 Md. 93 (1999); Bright v. Lake Linganore Association, Inc., 104 Md.App. 394 (1995); First United Pentecostal Church v. Seigbert, 22 Md.App. 434 (1974); Turner v. Bracato, 206 Md. 336 (1955), and other cases cited therein.  Those cases clarify that, in instances where a developer (1) subdivides and conveys property with the intention of creating a general scheme, (2) the majority of the Lots are subject to the restrictions that reflect that general scheme, (3) the Lot at issue was intended to be part of that general scheme, and (4) the purchaser had actual or constructive notice of the restrictions, then the Lot is bound by the restrictions.  Extrinsic evidence may be used to satisfy these tests, and it is our position that such evidence in this case will show that all Lots within the community were in fact intended to be annexed into the Association.  Therefore, we strongly believe that a Judge in the Circuit Court for REDACTED County will likely order that the Lots whose owners do not voluntarily consent to the Supplemental Confirmatory Declaration will nonetheless be bound to the Governing Documents.  The Board strongly hopes that, in light of the foregoing, litigation regarding this matter can be avoided, and that all affected Owners will execute the enclosed Consent Forms.

Please take the time to read the enclosed documents.  If you are willing to confirm that you are a part of the Association, please complete the enclosed Consent Form and return the original, executed form to the Association’s attorney: REDACTED as soon as possible, but no later than May 30, 2018.  Again, any Owners that do not provide the Board of Directors with a fully executed Consent Form will necessarily be named in the lawsuit which will be filed to compel annexation.

Of course, if you have any questions about the current situation, the underlying process of annexation, or anything else related to this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me directly.  I may be reached by email (REDACTED) or phone (REDACTED).

​Thank you for your prompt attention to this very important issue that affects your property.