REAL ESTATE

Safety Dispute: Residents of a new housing development in Trabuco Canyon are at odds with the builder, Brighton Homes, over its refusal to close and lock the entry gate.

Brighton doesn’t want to discourage prospective buyers with a locked gate while many of its homes are still for sale. Some residents complain that an unlocked gate compromises their security.

It is an object lesson in the need for home buyers to read the fine print in their homeowner association rules: the CC&Rs--or; covenants, codes and restrictions--that are often so confusing but always so important.

Andrew Bisom, who purchased one of Brighton’s homes in the Rancho Cielo community, said the security gates were a big marketing tool when the Santa Ana builder first started selling homes in its Brighton Glen and Summit projects. The homes are priced from about $330,000 to $450,000.

As part of their $124 monthly association dues, residents received special magnetic cards that opened the gates for them. In addition, Brighton kept a guard on duty during the day as construction continued.

Brighton halted new construction while it tries to sell already-built homes in a sluggish market. And with no construction materials lying about, Brighton no longer needs a guard on the site, said project manager John Sands.

But with about 20 homes left to sell, Brighton doesn’t want prospective buyers running into a locked gate or having to call in advance for appointments to view the models.

So the builder plans to keep the gate open and unlocked from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily until the remaining homes are sold.

Bisom said he and other residents believe that Brighton is depriving them of a property right--24-hour security--that they are paying for in their monthly homeowner association dues.

When the question of the locked gates came up at an association board meeting, the residents discovered that three of the five directors represent Brighton.

That is normal in most new developments. State law recognizes the huge investment developers maintain in a project until the last of the homes are sold and gives them the right to maintain a majority on the association board.

In a letter to homeowners, Sands points out that the CC&Rs; give Brighton an easement over the common area for purposes of marketing lots. The rules also give the developer three votes for each lot it owns, versus one vote per homeowner. So Brighton, with 70 raw lots and 20 vacant homes, has 270 votes to the homeowners’ 155 votes.

But Bisom, an attorney, isn’t daunted. He vows that the issue will soon be in the courts.

Meantime, the homeowners recently rejected a proposal to increase their association dues by $21 a month to pay for a daytime guard.