Illinois Becomes Second State to Enact Right to Garden Bill - Institute for Justice
Illinois Becomes Second State to Enact Right to Garden Bill - Institute for Justice
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday signed the Illinois Vegetable Garden Protection Act (HB 633), a bill that will preserve and protect the right of all […]
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Does this override all HOA rules?
Yup, HOA ordinances can't override Municipal or State law. This bill specifically prohibits municipalities from prohibits gardening, so it will also prohibit HOA restrictions as well. Unfortunately, I can see HOAs starting up lawsuits over that
ugh i want to start a veggie garden on my parents property just to piss off their neighbors.
So far, all the sites I've found are talking about city ordinances against gardening, not HOA bylaws.
However, an HOA cannot legally enforce a rule that contradicts a state law. The worst HOAs will still try to enforce illegal rules. Which means you have to sue the HOA.
Ye, the article says it prevents local govts from enforcing hoa-style laws, but didn’t say anything about hoas themselves.
Idk how those work legally, I luckily don’t have to deal with them.
If the state explicitly protects the right, no authority below the state can prohibit it.
Very important detail there, I didn't even consider that until y'all said it.
I've got an idea to fix the bad HOA issues if anyone wants to hear me out. It's a simple, practical solution.
If an HOA wants to form, it must first get enough residents to hold a fair democratic vote as to whether they should exist at all. The time leading up to the vote would be short, maybe a month, tops. This time would allow the potential HOA to state its case, and what value it intends to provide specifically in writing.
At any point an audit could be called by majority vote, and any HOA lying about the books, or that can't prove that it specifically is responsible for raising home values, they would be forced to close down.
My understanding is that a lot of HOAs are formed prior to occupation (during the development phase).
This is a deal done between the developer and city to lower costs. Suburbs are expensive per/capita to administer and maintain, so I think the hope is the HOA takes some of those costs.
Regardless, any HOA (to my knowledge?) Must be voted is regularly (in my city condo syndicates need to revote the board every year, I assume the same applies for "flat condos"/HOAs). All financials also need to be public, there's no room for shinanigans (I've been trying to dump my board seat for years, keep getting voted in under protest).
All that to say, HOAs may be a requirement of the local government, but the is nothing stopping the members from voting in a new board and dropping the HOA down to bare legal minimums.
HOA aren't governmental organizations, they are contractual organizations which makes it more complicated than something like a municipal government. They are private entities more akin to a nonprofit corporations than a government. It will really depend on the language of the law. If it actually guarantees the right to grow a garden then it should override HOA rules, if it just restricts lower levels of government from banning gardens then it is unlikely to affect HOA rules.
It seems to be the former - guaranteeing the right to grow a garden:
Section 15. Right to cultivate vegetable gardens. Notwithstanding any other law, any person may cultivate vegetable gardens on their own property, or on the private property of another with the permission of the owner, in any county, municipality, or other political subdivision of this state.
It probably depends on the specifics of the HOA. The article says the bill protects the right to garden on one's own property. Technically, my condo's porch belongs to the HOA and is reserved for my private use. So, I don't think this bill would override my condo's rule forbidding vegetable gardening on the porch.
(Note: I do not live in Illinois anyway. And the reasoning for the rule is "we don't want bears raiding porch gardens")