Parking

Just wondering if anyone has ideas on how to handle parking violations from guests. This is our problem: We have rules est. to prevent on street parking for greater than 6 hours, no overnight parking, no parking w/in 50' or our gates, and no parking on any sidewalks. We have fines installed into our CC&R's and just recently changed our rules to include harsher enforcement (random towing/booting) for violators. Since voting thru the new enforcement (towing), many homeowners have complained that it takes away from our community to have someone randomly driving thru searching for profits. As the HOA President, I have assured them that the BOD will have in place rules to make the "towing patrol" random and not constant. This doesn't appeal to homeowners and they want us to resend the new enforcement tactic. Fines have never worked unless we have proof the car is associated with a specific home. Generally, the person being fined states that the car in question wasn't visiting them and unless we have a communist informant we really don't have a leg to stand on with regard to fines. HELP! Any suggestions would be appreciated.

TravisJ,

I can relate, although I don’t live in a gated community nor do I have private streets (I can not “boot” or tow). We are a sub-division of 275 homes with many hills and the streets are narrow (as it is). The streets are owned and maintained by the county.

In our CC&R is states no street parking, but that is extremely hard to enforce. We have tried just about everything we can think of doing, without illegally doing it.

I don’t even know if this is legal or not. My suggestion would be to warn all homeowners certified, signature request notifying them that this is one of the most abused rules in the community and each homeowner will be held accountable for any fines, fees and towing charges accrued by their guess.

If there is a “boot” on the vehicle they (violator) can not drive away, and then, the violator would have to call to have the boot removed. You then would know who they were and who they were visiting. You could then assess that homeowner any/all fees. Same goes with towed vehicles. In the “warning letter” you can list the number to call in the event that their guess vehicle has been towed or “booted”.

Perhaps, you could even have the homeowner sign and return the letter saying that they understand and accept full responsibility for the actions of their guests. I would also suggest having the letter returned now later than ____________ and stick to it. You’ll look like the bad guy the first couple of violators you have, but you must stick to your guns or they will abuse this rule you are trying to enforce!

You aren’t going to be liked, regardless of what you do. As the ole' saying goes “if they arn't complaining then you aren’t doing your job”!

Best of luck,
Keep us posted

Chuck W.

A certified letter w/signature (return receipt) does not have to be accepted. A letter requesting a signature and return does not have to be signed or returned. So this is at best a partial solution.

I am on the Board of The Colony in Concord, Ca. We all have 2 car garages and there are limited Visitor Parking. Residents who have more then 2 cars must park the other cars outside of the Complex on the Street (ample parking) If you have a visitor that is spending more than a few days, you must register him with the HOA Management office with make of car, license etc and for a maximum of 14 days. Residents caught using the visitor parking are tagged with a bright orange no parking sticker on the front passenger window that gives them 3 days to move their car or automatic towing. The tags are called into the Management Company and they followup. There are always a few A holes that try to circumvent the rules but they learn their lesson when cars are towed.

Harold, I agree with you on not making rules that are more strict than the original documents (unless the original documents provide for this), but if the association owns the roads or parking lots they can do what they please with them. If they post "No Parking" signs and signs indicating that violator's vehicles will be towed and follow any other legal conditions on towing, then they can tow without fear of a lawsuit.

"If they post "No Parking" signs and signs indicating that violator's vehicles will be towed and follow any other legal conditions on towing, then they can tow without fear of a lawsuit."
That's a big IF. And that's true on private roads only. But Travis didn't mention either signs or private roads in his post.

Uh Ron - what is your point? Now you are bringing up commercial parking lots with signs. What is the relevance to this discussion?
We still don't know if Travis' HOA has privately owned streets and is signed, and he seems to have abandoned this discussion. It is really moot without that information. Harold

I think we all have this issue at one time or another. We are a 62 lot s/d in Louisiana. In our parish (you guys probably have counties) there is actually an ordinance that allows citations to be issued for parking on the street overnight, or even worse---in the grass/front yard. Check with your local law enforcment group to see if you have anything similar you can rely on.