I had a similar issue with HOA, I had a 1000+ dish mounted on a pole on my Patio, what was thought to be Limited Common Element, (for my exclusive use) , I even got permission from the HOA to pour in a new concrete patio as it was just dirt and some grass that turned into mud every time it rained, 11 years later I get a letter from a Law firm representing the HOA, to remove the pole and dish and all the concrete on the patio and restore it back to the way it was previously, I had 60 days to do it or they would do it and sue me for the expense. After a review it was found that my patio was registered as Common Property and not Limited Common Elemen, when the property plan was registered at Land Title Office, the drafted plan showed it as Ltd. but that was not what was registered 15 yrs prior. Anyhow after talks with my lawyer, I decided to fight this, but also contacted several concrete cutting contractors to remove the patio, all of them were too busy to even bother providing me a quote for less that 800sq ft of concrete as it wasn't worth their time or effort for such a small job, So I decided to wait for the HOA to try and do it, of course they ran into same issue, although One contractor did show up but knew there was a dispute between me and my HOA, and he agreed with me and refused the job, stating it wasn't worth his time. Then I served my HOA with a court summons to sue them for all this. But my lawyer also advised me that selling my Condo would be the easiest and cheapest way of settling this. So that's what I did, I sold it and of course once I sold it, I had to leave $10k in trust to pay for concrete removal, the HOA had 1 year to remove the concrete. Otherwise I get my $10k back, well just over a year later I finally got my $10k back and the HOA decided that they liked the new owner of my condo and decided to drop the whole matter, mainly since No more Satellite dish existed. I got a good enough price for my Condo I was able to buy a House in a small town, never again will I move into an HOA.
The HOA could do this because when they approved the concrete 11years ago, they didn't take it up for a majority vote with the other owners, for approval which was required. The HOA at the time just approved it, that wasn't my fault but it would take years to get to court and no guarantee I would win or get my legal fees back. I dropped the lawsuit after i sold the condo, had to for them to approve the property transfer. This whole incident started when a few enemy neighbors got elected to the HOA council and decided to make my life difficult. Bottom Line avoid HOA's if at all possible.
