When an Air Force Veteran purchased her home in a North Las Vegas homeowners association (HOA), she thought she was setting herself up for a quiet life living next to the city’s golf course. Instead, she says she quickly found out there was a major downside to living so close to the course, since her home was constantly being hit by errant golf balls.
To add insult to injury, she says the HOA is demanding that she pay to repair the damage that these balls have caused to her home’s exterior, which has added up to thousands of dollars. Now, she’s asking local ABC News station KNTV Channel 13 for help with getting the city’s golf course to put up protective netting between her home and the greens.
But it sounds like both the HOA and the golf course are resistant to the idea, leaving the homeowner to continue footing the bill for repairs.
What’s worse is that Channel 13 says that the woman’s neighbors are also having the same problem, highlighting just how far the issue goes.
Las Vegas Homeowner Fighting City Over Errant Golf Balls
The homeowner spoke to Channel 13 anonymously, showing them the damage that she says her home suffered after golf balls hit the side of the building. She says that this problem has been going on for the decade she’s owned her Sun City Aliante Community Association home, and over the years, she’s been forced to shell out what she estimates to be $20,000 to make the repairs.
Her daughter was also interviewed and said that the extra costs are emptying her parents’ bank accounts, and she’s not sure what kind of future they will have if they have to keep paying. Their solution? They’d like to see the Aliante Golf Club put up a net between the property and the house. However, the city of Las Vegas (which manages the course) says that’s not in the cards.
“The City of North Las Vegas was recently notified of some issues facing a homeowner on the Aliante Golf Club regarding damage to her home,” the city said in a statement shared with Channel 13. “While golfers on public courses are responsible for damage they cause to property, City officials met with the homeowner and committed to increasing education about golfer responsibilities with additional signage in the clubhouse and on the course.”
However, the homeowners can’t imagine how the city will be able to keep track of who is hitting the balls that are causing the damage to enforce the policies.
Meanwhile, the HOA seems like it has also washed its hands of the problem, telling Channel 13 that the potential for these kinds of issues was disclosed to the homeowners when they purchased the property.
This Isn’t a New Problem for the Course
In 2008, local CBS News station 8 News Now reported on complaints from homeowners living alongside Aliante Golf Course, saying that their homes, their neighbors’ homes, and even their bodies had been pelted by golf balls coming from the golf course.
“I expected occasionally maybe somebody would hit a golf ball, but I’ve repaired in the almost four years that I’ve owned this house about 100 golf ball strikes,” Ken Lanier told reporters at the time. “I never expected that. I never expected to be hit by a golf ball, or my wife to be hit by a golf ball, or to see the damage done to the houses around me by golf balls. And I never, ever expected the association not to care.”
At the time, the family requested that the golf course add some netting to protect their homes, but it doesn’t seem like that request was fulfilled.
According to Golfweek, most homeowners don’t have any recourse in this situation because oftentimes the HOA and the golf course are owned by different companies. Additionally, the blog says that some golf courses are even permitted an easement with certain properties, allowing golfers to come into your yard to look for their lost balls.
So what’s a homeowner to do? Well, if you’ve fallen in love with a home that is situated next to a golf course, you may want to check with your HOA to see what the policy is when it comes to damage caused by golfers. If you don’t feel like you’d be adequately protected, you may want to keep on searching for a new home so that you can avoid finding yourself in the same situation as these Las Vegas homeowners.