HOA Issues

[cyoda44]

Wow, so I really got some people stirred up since Friday, thanks for all the good advice.

Some highlights that I take away from this posts:

I don't want to park the boat there permanently, and I don't really want my neighbors doing it either, just a 48 hour rule, I'm still not sure if this is accepted or not, I will check on that.

I like the country, HOA's suck, I want some property that I can do what ever I want on it!!

I will not be attending board meetings or kissing neighbors arses, I will just move eventually.

I built a 400sqft deck and chopped down 10 12" thick trees in my backyard without approval from the HOA, thought about it but said f&%$ it, that makes me feel better.

I've paid $600 a year for the last 5 years for what? Nicely mowed common areas, some street lighting, and a couple trips to the pool!!??

best decision I ever made.... moving away from the neighborhood Nazi's!!!

[63Taylor]

I think the high notes have been hit already but I was curious to see how different all the HOA's seem to be. In Atlanta all three houses I have had allow for you to have your boat in your driveway between 48-72 hours at a time to bring it home and clean it or whatever. Never heard of a zero tolerance boat policy before reading this. I guess everyone's HOA just depends on the people running it. My last two here in Atlanta have been fine, I think they do a good job and have never given me any problem. In this part of NOrth Atlanta we have a high concentration of folks from other cultures and there are a few that without the HOA have no interest in lawn care whatsoever. My next door neighbor is the nicest guy you might ever meet but he is from India and they leave for months at a time and dont mow or weed or trim hedges for an entire summer even when they are around and dont really care about it, not their culture. I never complained about it, didnt have to, the HOA gets it mowed once a summer and bills them and had them trim the hedges once a year, before that the house looked like Boo Radleys. And they moved in after me so it is not like the problem was there when I bought my house.

I think when HOA's get in trouble is when they become real sticklers instead of just handling the major problems. Sounds like your neighbor was blatantly breaking the rules and you got caught in the crossfire, I am sure when they contacted him he probably said 'what about the malibu across the street". So he is who you should be mad at.

I am from the country in North Carolina originally and while I can get behind the whole personal property freedom idea it is sad to ride around Asheville and see tons of junked out rusted old cars, tractors, busses, and crap in front yards all along the road making one of the prettiest parts of the entire country totally junked up by people who dont give a damn

[sabre]

My HOA has similar rules. Interesting though, I can't park the boat in my drive way because we have a VERY similar HOA rule. However there's a loophole that I found and it appears to work. ALL the streets maintained by the HOA are considered Private (not maintained by public funds) and therefore the "Public roads" clause doesn't apply I CAN park the boat on the street indefinitely! I've gotten letters about the boat in the driveway but never on the street. Sometimes it's amazing how dumb some rules can be that I can have it off the street and not bothering anyone and get fined or I can put it on the street and no fines!

Just a thought but you might want to see if that applies in your situation also.

[Ndawg12]

My HOA has similar rules. Interesting though, I can't park the boat in my drive way because we have a VERY similar HOA rule. However there's a loophole that I found and it appears to work. ALL the streets maintained by the HOA are considered Private (not maintained by public funds) and therefore the "Public roads" clause doesn't apply I CAN park the boat on the street indefinitely! I've gotten letters about the boat in the driveway but never on the street. Sometimes it's amazing how dumb some rules can be that I can have it off the street and not bothering anyone and get fined or I can put it on the street and no fines!

Just a thought but you might want to see if that applies in your situation also.

We actually live right at the end of a cul-de-sac. And we've gotten letters from parking our vehicles there too.

[Ndawg12]

Knocking a little dust off of this topic. I was screwing around with Google earth and had a good chuckle (I have no problems calling myself out or making fun of myself). I noticed the pic of my house has my boat in the driveway...and the trash cans are out...that means it's Tuesday so it's going on at least 96 hours and my neighbors truck has a sunroof, I never knew that!! BTW I did buy that beater car that was mentioned, we spent a little more than $300 and we didn't buy it to p-off the HOA

Edited March 11, 2010 by Ndawg12

[board brained]

Usually covenants have a time period that they allow you to keep it at your house, like 12 or 24 hours before it has to be removed. Does it have any language like that?

My parents live in a retirement community and they have the same issue with the Strata I beleive. They have wording that lets them keep their motorhome there overnight 1 night only for loading / unloading. I can also park my boat there for one night only......not sure what HOA is as I am canadian and you know we just got running water and electricty up here so we are a bit behind you guys......

[WakingMeHappy]

Since your bringing the topic back I assume there’s been no resolution with your HOA. Have you formally requested a change to the covenants? I did go back and read the covenant article you posted. It doesn’t specifically exclude boats. It does say “recreational vehicles” but I take that to mean RV’s. You may be able to argue that point. Don’t know if it’s worth it though.

[Ndawg12]

Since your bringing the topic back I assume there’s been no resolution with your HOA. Have you formally requested a change to the covenants? I did go back and read the covenant article you posted. It doesn’t specifically exclude boats. It does say “recreational vehicles” but I take that to mean RV’s. You may be able to argue that point. Don’t know if it’s worth it though.

I did talk to some lady awhile back because they sent me a letter saying they were going to fine me at least $100. I had the option to show up at hoa meeting and state my case, write a letter that someone will present for me, or just pay it. I wrote a letter and I guess I wrote the right stuff because they dropped everything. The lady did tell me my boat has a 24 hour limit, not sure how I was supposed to know that based on what I've read

Hey WMH, can you change your avatar back to what ever it was? When ever I catch it out the corner of my eye it looks like a......just please change it!!!

[WakingMeHappy]

I did talk to some lady awhile back because they sent me a letter saying they were going to fine me at least $100. I had the option to show up at hoa meeting and state my case, write a letter that someone will present for me, or just pay it. I wrote a letter and I guess I wrote the right stuff because they dropped everything. The lady did tell me my boat has a 24 hour limit, not sure how I was supposed to know that based on what I've read

Hey WMH, can you change your avatar back to what ever it was? When ever I catch it out the corner of my eye it looks like a......just please change it!!!

That's wrong man, just wrong. But being I'm not home right now I don't have many pics to choose from. I'll think about it though.

Now, getting back on topic, if you have a 24 hour boat parking limit, just drive the boat around the block once a day.

[Ndawg12]

That's wrong man, just wrong. But being I'm not home right now I don't have many pics to choose from. I'll think about it though.

Now, getting back on topic, if you have a 24 hour boat parking limit, just drive the boat around the block once a day.

Ha! Good idea, but then they would make a rule that it can't show up twice within a 24 hour period. I swear we've got 24 hour surveillance on our house, except for those 3 nights our cars were broken into!!

I've got plenty of pics you could use!!

[Bill_AirJunky]

I just got word that an old problem I thought went away... is back.

We moved into a waterfront HOA 5 yrs ago, boat slips, docks, 300' beach, ramp, etc. Our place has an RV spot behind a 10' wide x 6' tall gate that we keep the boat in. Before we bought the place, I went to a board meeting & asked if there would be a problem with a boat with a tower being behind the gate, but still slightly visible from the street. The current board said there would be no problem. After we'd been here for a couple of years, one guy in particular decided to enforce the letter of the law, which is no boats visible behind a gate/fence. The board at the time fought about it in meetings for over a year. At one meeting they finally decided that the "spirit of the rule" was being honored. Boats with towers weren't really around when the rule was made, so our situation specifically was said to be OK.

Well, tonite he filed a complaint again. The guy lives 2 blocks from us. I haven't seen or heard from him in probably a year. None of the neighbors who live around us give a damn about the boat. And he has had a pile of bricks sitting in his yard for several years, leftovers from some project he did, which makes him a hypocrite.

I told the board some time ago that I was going to make a proposal to change the rules about boats. Make them legal on the streets for up to 24 or 48 hrs. Legal in the driveways anytime from April 1 to October 31. And legal behind a gate or fence anytime if it's appropriately covered & taken care of.

Guess I'm going to get to do just that. Should be lots of fun to put a petition together, put on my party hat & walk around the neighborhood getting signatures. Hope it gets him all bent out of shape.

Gotta love HOAs.

[RedOwl]

Every time I saw that guy outside I would dash over to his house with a digital camera and start taking pictures of things. The brick pile, his mailbox, his siding, roof, shingles, dog, wife, landscaping etc. It's amazing how self-conscious nosy people get in a very short period of time.

The problem with HOAs is that they are so rarely enforced with an even hand. You were lucky when you had a board that decided to "honor the spirit of the rule" or "common sense" as the rest of the world likes to call it.

I spend a lot of time dealing with HOA issues. They rarely end with all neighbors being happy with each other.

In this case, I hope you're the one that ends up happy and that guy has something to complain about at his book club meetings.

Edited March 12, 2010 by RedOwl

[MalibuTime]

I just got word that an old problem I thought went away... is back.

We moved into a waterfront HOA 5 yrs ago, boat slips, docks, 300' beach, ramp, etc. Our place has an RV spot behind a 10' wide x 6' tall gate that we keep the boat in. Before we bought the place, I went to a board meeting & asked if there would be a problem with a boat with a tower being behind the gate, but still slightly visible from the street. The current board said there would be no problem. After we'd been here for a couple of years, one guy in particular decided to enforce the letter of the law, which is no boats visible behind a gate/fence. The board at the time fought about it in meetings for over a year. At one meeting they finally decided that the "spirit of the rule" was being honored. Boats with towers weren't really around when the rule was made, so our situation specifically was said to be OK.

Well, tonite he filed a complaint again. The guy lives 2 blocks from us. I haven't seen or heard from him in probably a year. None of the neighbors who live around us give a damn about the boat. And he has had a pile of bricks sitting in his yard for several years, leftovers from some project he did, which makes him a hypocrite.

I told the board some time ago that I was going to make a proposal to change the rules about boats. Make them legal on the streets for up to 24 or 48 hrs. Legal in the driveways anytime from April 1 to October 31. And legal behind a gate or fence anytime if it's appropriately covered & taken care of.

Guess I'm going to get to do just that. Should be lots of fun to put a petition together, put on my party hat & walk around the neighborhood getting signatures. Hope it gets him all bent out of shape.

Gotta love HOAs.

Hey, I'll bet if you go back through your CCRs there's something about keeping up the yard, no junk, etc. I'll bet you can find something that applies to his construction debris sitting in his yard and bend him out of shape even more when you file your own complaint. Or, you could just take the high road and TP his house!

Edited March 12, 2010 by MalibuTime

[Bill_AirJunky]

........ take the high road and TP his house!

You may be on to something there!

[Malibuzer]

I am so glad that there are not a lot of HOA's up here. I park my 37 ft motorhome on the back yard and my boat in the driveway. I couldn't imagine living somewhere like that I might snap and become a card carrying gin owner.

[RedOwl]

I am so glad that there are not a lot of HOA's up here. I park my 37 ft motorhome on the back yard and my boat in the driveway. I couldn't imagine living somewhere like that I might snap and become a card carrying gin owner.

...didn't know you needed a card for it, but if necessary, I will definitely sign up to be a gin owner...

Edited March 12, 2010 by RedOwl

[obski]

Sorry to hear about the problems with the neighbors/HOA. That can sure make life difficult. Check out the neighborly relationships in the movie 'Lakeview Terrace'.

We haven't had any more issues, but again we built a whole architecturally similar outbuilding just for the 'Bu and motorhome. I have noticed that a good number of boats seem to be sitting in driveways over the summer. Doesn't really bother me any. Don't think I will be writing any letters of complaint to the HOA.

[Ndawg12]

Sorry to hear about the problems with the neighbors/HOA. That can sure make life difficult. Check out the neighborly relationships in the movie 'Lakeview Terrace'.

We haven't had any more issues, but again we built a whole architecturally similar outbuilding just for the 'Bu and motorhome. I have noticed that a good number of boats seem to be sitting in driveways over the summer. Doesn't really bother me any. Don't think I will be writing any letters of complaint to the HOA.

What if your neighbors had 1984 Gayliner with the tongue resting on a cinder block and boat covered with a caved in tarp full of rain water? And what if you were trying to sell your house at the same time?

[obski]

What if your neighbors had 1984 Gayliner with the tongue resting on a cinder block and boat covered with a caved in tarp full of rain water? And what if you were trying to sell your house at the same time?

Nothing is selling here right now anyway. That would be the least of my concerns. I'm sure there enough other anal folk that would complain.

[Ndawg12]

Nothing is selling here right now anyway. That would be the least of my concerns. I'm sure there enough other anal folk that would complain.

Agreed, if it bothers me then it definitely bothers some one else. I'll let them speak up.

[areamike]

Got any neighbors that aren't around much? Park it in their driveway...

[Ndawg12]

Got any neighbors that aren't around much? Park it in their driveway...

Actually the lady right next door is only home thurs-sat. She's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I think she'd catch on though after getting 2 or 3 letters about a boat she doesn't own.

[Bake's Marine]

I'm on the board for our HOA and we allow a 48 hour parking... bummer they are not more flexible but if its in the CCR's there is not much you can do.

-Paul

[Ndawg12]

Booo! A board member, let's get him!!

[nbeihl]

What really steams me is the cars that look like they took part in the Iraq war, and they are allowed to sit in front of the houses as long as they run.

Funny you should mention cars from the Iraq war... I am sitting here right now in my 'Iraqi time share' and I am pissed. My HOA (United States Air Force) seems to enforce some strict rules, but they have not acted on removing the 'blown up' Iraqi cars from my front porch. I will definitely look into the covenants to see how we can get that fixed.