Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Iowa

I live in a new housing development and the development owner's lawyer sent out a letter to the 14 home owners in Plat 2 ( he owns approx. 30 lots )of the development stating they were going to change the covenance from a minumum 1,500 sq ft ranch home to 1,350 sq ft. The developer has not sold a lot in over a year due to the economy.

The 14 existing homes are over $300,000 homes the developer is now building cheaply built homes all around us for just over $200,000. Plat 1 of this development ( over 30 homes ) has homes ranging from $300,000 to $500,000 and were not included in the letter sent last summer. What rights do we have to keep this guy from making our property values plummet? Because he owns most of the lots in Plat 2 he can set the standard? How can we get the covenance changed to make him build homes that are consistant with the neighborhood? Do we have any recourse?

Thank You


Asked on 8/04/09, 1:49 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Robert Luedeman solo practitioner

Without having any idea of what the restrictions are in your grant I can't form an opinion as to whether this is a legitimate request or otherwise. At the very least what you're looking at is complex litigation without any guarantee of a good outcome for your money. At the very least you should be forming an association with your neighbors to see if you have any consensus on how to proceed or how to fund the litigation that is going to inevitably follow.

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Answered on 8/07/09, 7:22 pm


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