2026-09-10 · Iowa · Courts

An Iowa golf-course subdivision got an order tearing down a backyard structure, a $100-a-day charge running until compliance, and its attorney fees on appeal. The owner's two best legal arguments were never decided, because they were not preserved. United Properties Investment Company, L.C. v. Kratzer, No. 25-0497, was decided by the Iowa Court of Appeals on June 10, 2026.¹

The facts

Bryan Kratzer and Becki Moore own a home in The Ridge at Echo Valley in Norwalk, abutting the Echo Valley golf course. The development and the course are commonly controlled. The lots are bound by a Declaration of Covenants, Conditions, Restrictions and Easements requiring architectural review committee approval for all improvements, imposing a fifty-foot setback for lots abutting the course, barring signage without ARC permission, and barring anything that distracts from or diminishes play.

From 2021 Kratzer displayed political signage. In August 2022 he began building a backyard outbuilding facing the golf cart path without submitting plans, and continued building through a cease-and-desist letter and the ensuing lawsuit. He later put up further signage facing the course, including a spray-painted “FU E.V. NOT TEARING THIS DOWN,” which drew member complaints and caused the operator to route tournament play and prospective-member tours away from those holes.

The district court found multiple covenant violations, ordered the outbuilding and a second shed removed, imposed $100 per day from May 10, 2024 until compliance as an equitable charge and continuing lien, and awarded $24,000 in attorney fees.

What the Court of Appeals decided

It affirmed the violation findings on de novo equitable review, deferring to the district court's credibility determination that the developer's representative was more believable than Kratzer on the claim of verbal permission.

The setback exception is narrow. The covenant's twenty-foot exception applies only to in-ground pools and detached garages, not to accessory buildings generally. The structure sat twenty to twenty-seven feet from the line, so the fifty-foot setback was violated.

Fees follow to the appeal. The court awarded a further $12,717.25 in appellate fees under the covenants' lien-and-obligation provision, applying Bankers Trust Co. v. Woltz, 326 N.W.2d 274, 278 (Iowa 1982): a fee clause not expressly limited to trial fees also reaches appellate fees. The $24,000 trial award was remanded for the district court to rule on three unaddressed billing objections.

The record title holder was properly dismissed. Under an installment land sale contract, equitable ownership passes to the vendee and the vendor holds legal title as security and as trustee for the purchaser (Junkin v. McClain, 265 N.W. 362, 365 (Iowa 1936)). The title holder's interest is not implicated by the vendee's covenant violations.

Publication status: we could not confirm a National Reporter citation, so whether this opinion is published — and therefore controlling under Iowa R. App. P. 6.904(2)(c) — is unconfirmed.

1. United Properties Investment Co., L.C. v. Kratzer, No. 25-0497 (Iowa Ct. App. June 10, 2026), opinion (PDF) ↩
2. Iowa Judicial Branch, Court of Appeals opinion archive, 2026 — official case summary ↩