When Home Owners Associations Attack-Can't Park Truck In Your Driveway

W

WhatInThe

SF VIP
Another story of a home owners association run amok suing to stop a man from parking a pick-up truck in his own driveway.

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index...._not_welcome_in_fayetteville_development.html

Here comes he should've read the fine print on of the 100 pages of contracts, mortgages and agreements one signs by the end of a home sale. But is it even a legal or realistic mandate.

Condo Commandoes-eeeek
 

I agree.... that's BS.. Just about everyone I know that drives a pick-up uses it for private transportation, not for commercial purposes.. AND it's not an eyesore or a rusted out piece of junk propped up on crates.. That's just silly.
 
First, it's totally insane. He is doing the right thing in suing them. but, I am surprised that the homeowners association "owns" the driveways. I would not sign up for a deal like that.
 

AZ Jim said:
First, it's totally insane. He is doing the right thing in suing them. but, I am surprised that the homeowners association "owns" the driveways. I would not sign up for a deal like that.
Click to expand...

They say it's a so called common area so the driveway is part of a road or street? I wondered who cleared the snow in that picture. Who mows the lawn. I love how they call the fine print 'covenants' instead of rules listing them in large print under HOA rules. My thing is can they legally even declare the driveways common areas. I wonder what a deed map would actually show.
 
Never ever buy into an association unless they mow your lawn and plow your snow too....I think that's it's totally wrong to limit parking in front of your own home. After all the money you paid for it too. No...no...no...no!!!
 
AZ Jim said:
First, it's totally insane. He is doing the right thing in suing them. but, I am surprised that the homeowners association "owns" the driveways. I would not sign up for a deal like that.
Click to expand...


It's the same thing as when you move into a historic district. They tell you what you can do to the outside of your home including what color you can paint it. All outside improvements have to be approved.
 
I could see it if it was a problem for other residents backing out of their own driveways and a large vehicle blocks the view of oncoming traffic. But that does not look like the case here. Some of the large sport utility vehicles are harder to see around than this truck.
 
Neighborhood associations can be a necessary evil but I still hate them. Ours bans pickup trucks with advertising on the doors or back gate. That seems to be a reasonable accommodation. There are a couple of pickups in the neighborhood with advertising, but they slap a plain white magnetic panel on the side that covers the graphics when they park. I guess there was a fight about that a few years ago and the residents won. One of my friends was the board secretary for her association one year and she said there was an elderly resident who handed her a 3-7 page list every week or so of people in "violation" (or his interpretation thereof) of something, i.e. 4710 Winderly has hose in driveway, 4719 Winderly has tape on broken window, 5319 Cheyenne has toys in the front yard overnight, 5927 Cheyenne has dying bush in front yard. Apparently, he has nothing else to do and this is his "hobby".
 
When we were buying a house in Colorado, it was under a HOA and we never had a problem with them. Our neighbor across the street did. They gave him a Notice about not watering his lawn enough and the lawn turning brown. He complied and his lawn came back to full green. We got a Notice from the HOA that our garage doors (2) needed re-painting, in which all we said "ok" to each. They bought our paint and we painted the garage doors and had enough left over to paint our front porch.

We had a full size Dodge Pickup that we'd either park beside the curb or in the garage, but that was the only thing we had in our front area. It wasn't a "Business" type truck. We kept our front/rear lawns mowed and fertilized (when necessary). Use an Edger on the sideway and driveway.

Like anything else in life, "comply" with the rules and requests and there won't be any problems.
 
I saw this HOA action on the news awhile ago, and shook my head. What Nonsense! I suppose there are some advantages to being part of a HOA, but if this is how some of these organizations think, I wonder if the hassle is worth it. I'm sure there is a need for some rules and restrictions in a densely populated environment, but the rules also should reflect some common sense.

After years of living in the deep woods in the country, I would probably have lots of trouble adjusting to living in such a place....I'd probably get arrested for hopping off the riding mower to take a whiz.
 
Torrens title over here means your house and land are free from this kind of outside interference. Only the local government authority can order you to do something. For example, we once owned a block of land in a country town and would sometimes receive a letter from the local council telling us to get the grass slashed. Which we did. The neighbours were probably the ones who alerted the council of the problem, which is OK by me.

Strata title is different. Properties owned under strata title are subject to rules developed by the body corporate that consists of representatives of all the property owners. The body corporate levies fees and is responsible for the upkeep of all the common areas, including common driveways, walkways, stairwells, garbage bin areas, the colour scheme of the exterior of the properties. By responsible, I mean financially responsible using the levied fees.

Are HOAs the same as body corporates?
 
Our rules state that there is to be absolutely no parking on the road, you must park in your own driveway and leave the road for guests. Problems arise when some who only have a one car driveway get a second vehicle and attempt to park it on the road but there is always someone hot footing it down to the office to complain.

No For Sale signs on the lawn, they must be in the window. That seems to me a little ridiculous but it is the Rules.

Only two pets allowed, no exceptions.

No commercial vehicles. etc. etc. etc.
 
We own a home in Florida and also have an HOA. No crazy rules like this, but they do not allow boats or travel trailers in the driveway, which both are understandable, however, we do have some people that resist these rules as well.

We also own a Duplex on Myrtle Beach that we rent out year round. We also belong to their HOA and they have some very strict rules. The Duplex on Myrtle is beautiful and I bought it from my Uncle's estate. The only issue that I have is that a lot (most) of the people there are pure snobs. I was a professional myself and had a very good income being an airline Captain. However, because I do not posses a PhD or a Master's degree, my wife and I seldom were invited to any functions. This is why we decided to rent it out full time. I didn't want to associate with those people. Our renters are outstanding people and are both retired professionals. This was our first year of owning it and they sent us a Christmas gift, which was a $100.00 gift card to Red Robin, my favorite place for hamburgers.
 
HOA's keep, or try to, the neighbor CLEAN and there is nothing wrong with that. A nicely groomed (lawns) that have no clutter in them are darn nice to see and reflects nicely on the people living in those neighborhoods. Same goes for Trailer Parks. I've seen some that looked pretty bad from the road and then there are those that look magnificently beautiful!

Bottom line: For those that want to do what they want to do, don't buy in an HOA area. Plain and simple. As for us, we didn't have a problem following rules, just like living in the apt. complex we are right now. There are rules and we follow them!
 
Ridiculous! When I owned that house I hated so much my nice neighbors sometimes parked their truck in front of my house on the cul-de-sac. They asked if I minded and I stated no because it also looked like the truck belonged to my house if their was someone casing the neighborhood.

The one that gets to me is not hanging laundry out. I love to put laundry out and if I buy a mobile in a park, I'll find a way to do it their too.
 
Dame Warrigal said:
Torrens title over here means your house and land are free from this kind of outside interference. Only the local government authority can order you to do something. For example, we once owned a block of land in a country town and would sometimes receive a letter from the local council telling us to get the grass slashed. Which we did. The neighbours were probably the ones who alerted the council of the problem, which is OK by me.

Strata title is different. Properties owned under strata title are subject to rules developed by the body corporate that consists of representatives of all the property owners. The body corporate levies fees and is responsible for the upkeep of all the common areas, including common driveways, walkways, stairwells, garbage bin areas, the colour scheme of the exterior of the properties. By responsible, I mean financially responsible using the levied fees.

Are HOAs the same as body corporates?
Click to expand...
They seem to be the same thing.
 
I've heard so many negative things about HOAs, I'd never buy a house in one of those developments. When I buy a house, it's mine, and I want the freedom to do as I please with it and the lot it's on. Of course there are city codes to abide by, but I have no problem with that. Mostly things like no 6' tall weeds in your front yard, lol...people like that they can crack down on.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top