Deed Restrictions Against Sex Offenders?
I'm a small-time rural developer with several 2-acre tract developments, bust mostly deal with five acres and up.
Anyone see a problem with having a deed restriction against anyone who is required to register as a sex offender from living on the property? What about violent felons?
My understanding of the federal law is that we're free to discriminate against anyone except for protected classes (race, creed, color, national origin, family status, disability, etc.) To date, rapists and felons are not protected.
Would I run into problems with any states on this??
By the way, my restrictions always end after 20 or 30 years, so its not like its a lifetime ban.
In case anyone is wondering, we had a sex offender buy from us, and it was a nightmare, we felt we had to disclose to all other purchasers, and so forth. He's not living on the property, but it's just hanging over our heads forever.
Have you run this by your attorney?
I wonder how such a deed restriction (even if legal) could achieve your objective where someone, after buying in one of your communities, gets convicted. It would be a Catch 22--if you found out that one of the residents got convicted after purchasing one of your homesites, you'd probably have to disclose that to the other residents and potential purchasers. The "cure" (deed restriction) might be almost as bad as the disease.
Nancy,
I ran it by my attorney and he said it was okay. I'm an attorney, too, but I don't practice and prefer to seek the advice of others.
If an owner was to be convicted of rape, according to the deed restriction he would simply have to move out of his house. He may not live there.
I was just curious if anyone had ever heard of there being a problem with this type of restriction. Attorney's opinions are just that, and you can always find one to argue the opposite side!
Frank
17 year old boy and 15 year old girl are sexually active and mutually consenting.
They get caught in the act, and the girl's parents charge the boy with statutory rape because the girl was not legally old enough to give consent. The boy pleads guilty on the advice of an inexperienced public defender and becomes a registered sex offender for the rest of his life. He is given a one year sentence and with good behavior is out in five months.
Twenty years later, this man tries to buy one of your lots, but because of the deed restriction is not allowed to occupy the property, even though he has been a law-abiding and productive member of society ever since his juvenile indiscretion?
If your deed restriction expires after 20 years, why should it still apply to a convicted sex offender 20 years after his only offense?
Just food for thought...I don't want to engage in a debate.
All right, how about this angle. You have the deed restrictions. So now you have to do a back ground check on all residents every ??? month. You can not assume that just because they are required, that they do in fact register. and if they do register, you can not count on them telling you about it. What if you miss one and a person gets sexually assaulted. Your association could be liable because you did not enforce your own rules. If you make rules, you are responsible for enforcing them.
Brenda
Heres the skinny:
Federal law states that sex offenders have to disclose their whereabouts at all times to the state they reside for purposes of tracking. They have to disclose to you that they are a sex offender on any application they may fill out. However you cannot add it to your deed restrictions, as the person has been punished already (prision)and therefore it would be discrimination for them to be told they cannot live in a particular place as that could be construed as a continuation of punishment after time served for the crime. However, I would always check with an attorney on this first to cover all the bases (my caveat...)
Here in Calif. the problem of sexual offenders almost never comes up in the areas of great wealth and great presance. The reason of course is simple, we have a problem defining what is an offense and what is just normal everyday conduct in LaLa land.
My neighbor but one was in her time the busiest lady on Sunset Blvd. She had more milage on her then an Airport Cab and the blue hair to match. But then as it must to all men and a few women, time crept into the calculation and she was no long a desirable mercantile person.
The time had come to hang up her spurs, and the whip and the funny cut out black leather skirts. She was over the hill and this occasionaly convicted sexual ex criminal is now living amongst us.
I find her a great help to the community. When one of my daughters would ask me a question which reduced me to blind stammers and an inability to look her in the eye, I would send her to Sallys house and there she got a briefing on life in the streets and all the highly technical things of which I being 82 and pure as driven snow have no knowledge. That is that I could talk about.
I have had a problem all my life. My feelings toward sex is as long as you stay off my front lawn and only copulate with members of your own Phylum I care not. And every time I get the question I cannot answer I thank God for Sally.
Though she's been belted and a flayed,
By the living god that made,
She's a better man than I am Gunga Kin.
May this Sexual Criminal of many solicitations stay in this dingy slum forever. She has educated at least two generations that I know of. Every neighborhood needs one.
Lucius the pure. 8-)
Lufos,
A registered sex offender is someone who has committed a rape or child molestation of some sort and is required to register with the local athorities as a "registered sex offender." A prostitute would not qualify.
Bgrossnickel, I do not HAVE to enforce my deed restrictions, I merely may. There is not a property owners association. My restrictions provide that they can be enforced by me, any other customer, or the duly elected authorities of the township and county. I don't use property owners associations, because all they are good for is getting people together to sue the developer somewhere down the road if anyone becomes disgruntled for any reason.
Dave1, I anticipated the problem you cite, and it does seem unfair. So here is the wording I use:
"No person who has been convicted of burglary of a dwelling, arson, rape, robbery or kidnaping shall be allowed to reside on the property. Any person who is required to register as a sex offender as the result of a conviction resulting from a non-consensual act is also prohibited from residing on the property."
This takes care of statutory rape.
[ Edited by FHurdle on Date 05/04/2004 ]
FHurdle,
I have a small problem with your definition of a sex offender. You are correct in that a sex offender is a person who has committed a rape or child molestation, but it is also anyone who has mooned, flashed, or even peed in public (including hike through the woods and not having a restroom around). They have convicted people of a sex offense for these.
Recently a guy swerved to avoid a girl who ran out into the street. He got out of his car and grabbed her arm to chastise her for not paying attention. She ran away and told her parents. He is now a registered sex offender.
We, for some reason, don’t want to believe that innocent people find their way to a guilty verdict through our judicial system, but it does happen.
It also seems that you are doing yourself a disservice. There is a lot of potential money in sex offenders. Most people don’t want to rent to one, so opening your place to them would put your property in high demand.
I understand your fear of them offending again, but consider this. The recidivism rates for sex offenders are actually some of the lowest rates, at less than 6% (much lower if you only look at the nonviolent ones). The average of every other crime is 63%. The big news stories you hear where a sex offender kidnapped a kid and murdered them, account for only 0.5% of all sex offenders, but account for over 90% of the sex offender news casts.