First, less address a general issue, that posters like Ted B, obviously
don't understand. This situation involves a condo. Condos must have
an association, because the property could not be run and managed
without one. Condos have property and maintenance issues which are
shared, ie roofs, walkways, snow removal, cutting grass, painting the
exterior, parking areas, etc. Without a condo association and board of
directors, there would be no one to make operational decisions
regarding the upkeep on the property. So, to simply say they should be
banned is silly.

Now for the specific problem, as someone already suggested, I would
first carefully read the master deed and bylaws. The master deed
should specify which areas are common and which are reserved for
private use by individual units. If these documents make it clear that
the area is not private to your unit, then I think you are in a pretty
poor position. I would then talk to the other 3 owners who have
fences, see how long they have been there, are they original owners,
what they know, have they been told to remove fences, etc. If you want
to fight it, having 4 to share the burden will help. I would then
meet with the board and find out exactly what their position is, how
they can prove the area was not originally that way, etc. If you can
find the builder who built the place, they should be able to shed some
light on the issue too. Try to find any original owners in the complex
who may remember how/when the fences came to be. One thing that stands
out, is that these fences sound like they are very obvious. It's hard
to imagine that some unit owners did this without the association
approving it, because when it happened, it would be very likely that
neighbors would be running to the association complaining or asking to
be allowed to put one up too.

What may be going on here is that the association, whether right or
not, believes these fences were placed there by owners over the years
without authorization and now they are trying to finally do something
about it. Clearly if this was how it happened, the fences should have
been addressed immeadiately. Now, the association may be trying to do
it when units are sold, hoping to avoid a big confrontation. Your
position should be that if yours has to go, they all have to go. I
think a court would find that reasonable. If the association can show
that the fences were in fact placed there by owners without
authorization, I think it very likely they will prevail in having them
removed if it goes to court. If it happened this way, what you have in
effect is 4 unit owners illegally taking property away from the other
130 owners. An interesting question here is whether adverse possession
law could be used, but I doubt it, even if the fences were there long
enough. The reason being you and the association are not totally
seperate parties. In fact, you are part owner of the area in question
through the association. And also adverse possession involves actually
taking title to the piece of disputed property, which isn't about to
happen here.

The final question is how far you want to pursue this and how much
money you are willing to spend. Another complicated question is
whether you have a reasonable case against the previous owner. He did
tell you the fence was there for 15 yrs and that several years ago the
homeowner assoc had repaired them. How did this even come up? Did he
just offer the info? If you can show the seller put the fence there or
was told by the assoc that the fence had to go, then I believe you have
an excellent case against him. If he had nothing to do with it and you
can't prove he knew the fence was not allowed, then I think you have a
poor case. And even if you do have a good case, the question is, how
much can you recover? If you incurr attorney fees fighting it, you
could sue for that. If you wind up removing it, then you also could
get an appraisal for what the property is worth minus the private
fenced area. The best benchmark for that is what similar units there
without the fence are selling for. If it's pretty much the same, which
would be my guess, then you don't have a good case for diminished
property value. You could put together the best case you can and take
it to small claims, but I doubt it's worth the legal fees of having an
attorney go after the seller, as the most you'll probably recover is a
few thousand bucks.