It is not what you transmit, it is what others receive

I recently moved to an area where several hundred homes are governed by a management company. One of the rules governing each of us as owners is: “nothing shall be done or suffered on the premises which shall be or grow to be an annoyance”. Well, something I did recently in fixing up my new place lead me to be reported to the management company by another owner.

I was baffled as to how what I had done could have annoyed anyone. Being reported didn’t feel fair to me, and fair is my core value, so this got me into looking into this. the first thing I found was that the legal covenants under which I and other owners are bound contain a core statement: “nothing shall be done or suffered on the premises which shall be or grow to be an annoyance”.

I then, again driven by a feeling of what is, and is not, “fair”, looked into this common covenant around property and found more current case law which clarifies annoyance to where: “reasonable people would be annoyed and/or aggrieved”.

Suffice to say, I am now in a position where I may choose to argue that no reasonable person could have been annoyed or aggrieved. That said, I am reminded of an adage I was taught when focussing on self-responsibility in my own personal development: