My dealings with the local HOA ...

[280z1975]

My advice in this situation is to not get confrontational. It may be too late after the first exchange. This is all just speculation but it may be that there are other reasons behind this, not just that they're being jerks. Perhaps you were working on your car at 11 o'clock one night and making a bit of noise while a close neighbor was trying to get to sleep. Maybe at one point you did have parts scattered and things looked a bit messy. My guess is that it's an immediate neighbor who then raised a stink and tried to turn it into some sort of code violation. While you can certainly go on the offensive and try to force them to play by the rules I think in the long run you'd be better off trying to get them on your side. It may be a simple misunderstanding. Maybe if you explain that it will only be a couple of weeks or that you'll keep the noise down or that you'll keep things orderly this problem will go away. Squabbles with neighbors can quickly escalate and become extremely frustrating.

The situation is far from confrontational. I did give the lady a peice of my mind when I called, but it wasn't uncivalized. I was just a bit nasty to her because they claim to have this great HOA but never do anything about the 'real' problems .... I was told "Vechicles Non-daily driven vechicle must be out of street view". Hell that applies to EVERYONE at some point.

I never work on my car after 7pm at night (my job allows me other times to work on the car, mainly noon to 6pm). So that isn't the problem, nor is junk cluttering the street. It's also not my neighbors (I know them all), but is in fact someone involved in the neighborhood or Management company that does drive arounds and inspections of the subdivision.

Mike, if you haven't read the letter attached in a previous post you can get the full scope of how vauge it is ...

With that said ... in 6 weeks this will be a mute point as the car will be refreshed and finished and I will be moving. I'm done with the subject, I need to spend my time working on my car and not worrying about the letter writing, but very powerless HOA we have. If I can find our HOA I will post some of the more inate rules they have written

It's not possiable to have it in my backyard as there is no way to get it there ...

[boostedz]

After reading through most of this tread I guess it would be of note that I wasn't complaining about my breaking of the rules of my HOA, but more that my car was away from public site and covered with a nice new car cover and yet my neighbors car has stood in the same place for two weeks directly behind my driveway.

It's not just my neighbor either, there is a VERY rusted truck that hasn't moved for TWO months on the street across from mine ... if they are going to complain against me, they need to get these other guys (or gals) to complie to ...

Then if that is the case you need to make a complaint of the same nature and follow up to make sure they have something done about it

[EScanlon]

Actually, I think that the point you are missing is that it might not even be a neighbor that complained.

From what you write " if they are going to complain against me, they need to get these other guys (or gals) to complie to ...", and from the letter you posted it isn't even the HOA that's doing the citing. It's a MANAGEMENT company hired by the HOA that's going around and inspecting compliance to the CC&R's. The FIRST sentence in the letter states "as agent for your Homeowners' Association", and nowhere in the letter does a penalty for non-compliance get stated.

That says that your HOA isn't the one being confrontational, nor the one that specifically singled you out....it's just some person who is paid to go around the neighborhood and "observe" and write up people for non-compliance to the written and codified CC&R's.

What your neighbor(s) are or are not doing is irrelevant. They may not even have ANY complaint with what you are doing at all. It's just some guy/gal doing his job.

Heck, his pay might even be docked if he does NOT write any tickets. Like the famous "ticket quota" that we accuse Police Officers of complying with (which I will neither deny nor admit exist), it's simply PART OF THE JOB!

So, if you were a Homeowner in that situation, I would advise you to get together with all the neighbors and rescind that part of the CC&R's or modify it such that what YOU are doing is in fact in compliance. Heck you might find that the HOA's contract with that management company is due and you get enough people to complain and that management company realizes that it's about to kill it's cash cow.....democratic capitalism at work.

But since you are NOT the Homeowner there (your parents are), then as you point out later you only have to put up with it for 6 more weeks.

But...you better look at the CC&R's where you are buying a home. You might find another covenant or restriction that you don't like there. I won't surmise as to what you have to do if you do find one, but I figure you'll either abide by it, or not and find yourself in the same situation later.

You did post that you weren't looking for advice....in a column MOSTLY frequented by guys? Heck, that's what guys do....we have a problem, we bitch about it to our friends in hopes of finding solutions and to receive advice and then, hopefully, resolve the problem.

If it was sympathy you were looking for, shouldn't you have said that? Or written it into your own personal Blog, or sent an e-mail to your female friends support group, after all that's what they are always bitching at us about...."I just wanted to talk about it......I'm not asking you how to fix it!".....

Don't take this as a personal attack, it is not.

FWIW

Enrique

[texasz]

Another issue that just came to mind is that this may also be a city ordinence you are in violation of and should that be the case then the fines could be VERY steap. My brother keeps his boat at our parent's place in the drive way...that is until two years ago when some jerk in the neighborhood complained about everyone (included addresses) and everone in the neighborhood with a boat/RV/camper/trailer/project car/etc was served by the city.

[280z1975]

Actually, I think that the point you are missing is that it might not even be a neighbor that complained.

I never said it was a neighbor, I said it my HOA.

What your neighbor(s) are or are not doing is irrelevant. They may not even have ANY complaint with what you are doing at all. It's just some guy/gal doing his job.

Heck, his pay might even be docked if he does NOT write any tickets. Like the famous "ticket quota" that we accuse Police Officers of complying with (which I will neither deny nor admit exist), it's simply PART OF THE JOB!

It is his/her job to keep things in order, but they don't. That was part of my reason behind the post. And none of my neighbors have a problem with what I am doing. In fact one of them came over to see how things were going today.

So, if you were a Homeowner in that situation, I would advise you to get together with all the neighbors and rescind that part of the CC&R's or modify it such that what YOU are doing is in fact in compliance. Heck you might find that the HOA's contract with that management company is due and you get enough people to complain and that management company realizes that it's about to kill it's cash cow.....democratic capitalism at work.

...snip ...

You did post that you weren't looking for advice....in a column MOSTLY frequented by guys? Heck, that's what guys do....we have a problem, we bitch about it to our friends in hopes of finding solutions and to receive advice and then, hopefully, resolve the problem.

The post was just what it was, a post about the stupidity of my HOA.

If it was sympathy you were looking for, shouldn't you have said that? Or written it into your own personal Blog, or sent an e-mail to your female friends support group, after all that's what they are always bitching at us about...."I just wanted to talk about it......I'm not asking you how to fix it!".....

Don't take this as a personal attack, it is not.

FWIW

Enrique

No offence or personal attack taken. And I have written about it on the little mini-diary I keep tracking my cars restoration, it just hasn't been uploaded. I never wanted sympathy, just a way to vent some of that anger directed my HOA for it's supidity.

[kenz240z]

It does seem kind of pointless for the management company to issue letters based on CC&R violations if nothing is ever done about it. The HOA for our neighborhood has the authority to impose fines and take legal action if violations aren't remedied in a timely manner. As in Gregg's situation, the management company for our HOA has a representative make periodic drive by inspections, and letters are issued for all observed violations, from peeling paint, weeds, underwatered lawns, overgrown lawns, unlicensed vehicles, etc...

This is on top of local city ordinances, one of which prohibits vehicles from being parked in the same spot on the street for more than 48 hours, and another which prohibits vehicles parked on the street from being within 10 feet of a driveway.

My wife and I are going to buy a house on a couple of acres outside of town, as soon as we can find one we can afford!