CA case law parking restriction on public street

Is anyone aware of a recent California court decision that overturns/modifies the 1978 CA appellate court decision on an HOA enforcing its parking restrictions. In 1978, the CA appeals court ruled that the association had the authority to enforce its own parking rules in public streets if the CC&R’s stated that the Association had this authority.

Our HOA has been in existence since 2006. The HOA restricts overnight parking on driveways or on the associations private streets. However, the public street in the project has been managed by the city. The CC&Rs state "Parking and other activities on the public streets within the project shall be in accordance with all laws, statues, and ordinances of the applicable government agency.

Until 3/15/13, almost every homeowner on the public street, parked at least one vehicle on the street. However, on the 15th, the HOA began ticketing and threatening to tow vehicles. When I contacted the city to ask why the HOA was enforcing parking, the city indicated that case law had been presented which enables the HOA to enforce its restricted parking policy.

Until now, I have been under the impression that the HOA would need to modify its CC&Rs, specifying that it would enforce its parking policies on public streets. Does anyone know of a court decision offering a different perspective.

Some time back I took a run at this. Our Attorney said it may be possible if we "adopted" the streets from the town. Our Board almost went into cardiac arrest when I proposed it. As of now, Our streets, owned by town, are administered only by the Town.

Paul T

Gary you signed a document agreeing to abide by the Covenants of the HOA when you bought your home. If one of those Covenants prohibits on street parking by homeowners AND the HOA has the power to fine and/or tow, I wouldn't park on the street if I were you. Even if previous Boards have turned a blind eye to on street parking, evidently this Board has chosen to enforce the Covenant. Somewhere in your Covenants will be a phrase similar to: No covenants, restrictions, conditions, obligations or provisions contained in this Declaration shall be deemed to have been abrogated or waived by reason of any failure to enforce the same, irrespective of the number of violations or breaches which may occur.

You do have an option though, if as I suspect that over the years more and more homeowners have parked on the street. I mean what home doesn't have four or five cars nowadays, not to mention garages overflowing with crap that won't fit in the home but the owner just can't bear to part with. If that is the case for you and your neighbors, you can gather signatures to hold a Special Meeting for the purposes of repealing that particular Covenant. If enough of a percentage of homeowners agree to amend the Covenants and remove that Covenant AND the amendment is properly filed with the County then it will no longer be a violation to park on the street.

The ones to ask are the HOA Board what they believe gives them the power to enforce when your CC&Rs state otherwise and yes I did miss that in your original post. IF your documents have no other restrictions than the one you quoted then I don't see how they can enforce on public streets. Usually the only way they can do that is if it is a covenant that the homeowner agreed to abide by. All of the homeowners that got tickets should request a hearing on them before paying any type of fine or were they only warnings of what could happen? Does the BOD have the proper signage required to tow? I suspect the next Board meeting will be interesting.

BTW this is the closest article I could find on your question but it is from 2008:
Parking Wars

Melissa,

That is an incorrect statement for CA and perhaps other States.

Per CA Civil Code §1354, The covenants and restrictions in the declaration shall be enforceable equitable servitudes, unless unreasonable. As I understand it, CA courts interpret this to mean that if the parking regulations are in the deed restrictions, then the Association may enforce such restrictions on it's members (but not the general public).

In this AZ Republic new article it mentions how the AZ legislature is trying to prohibit, or at least limit, HOAs from enforcing restrictions on public roads. This indicates to me that in AZ, HOAs may enforce parking restrictions on public streets for it's members.

In MARYLAND ESTATES HOMEOWNERS' v. PUCKETT, which seems to be referenced in many cases in other States, seems to be the basis for enforcing parking restrictions on public streets on Associations members.

DITTO

TimB4: excellent understanding

Based on your posts and my research, I agree with you.
Unfortunately, since the Board doesn't agree, you might need to involve the legal system to get a definitive ruling.


Hopefully what the Association provides will provide an answer.

Keep us posted.

Tim

Gary

I believe that this really becomes a contract law discussion. The BOD will argue that the use restrictions state "no overnight parking within the project, which would include the public street." On the other hand, there must have been a compelling reason for the authors of the CC&Rs to specify that public streets would be enforced by the city.

What do your Covenants specifically say about parking? Without this one can only venture an opinion with no facts to prove nor disprove.

The whole point many of us have been making is the Covenants can "tighten" up local regulations so I would say if the Covenants says no overnight parking on the street then that is the way it is even if they also says trhe association wil abide by and let the city enforce parking regulations.

I would say your arguement is along the lines of a City building code says no fences over 8 feet tall. Your Covenants say no fences over 4 feet tall in the association and at the same time your Covenants say all local building codes will be abided by. Thus you are claiming upto 8 feet tall fences are allowed.

Again, without seeing the Covenants it is tough to side with someone.

Gary you didn't say anything about there being a prohibition against overnight parking on the street or driveway in the CC&R's only that "Parking and other activities on the public streets within the project shall be in accordance with all laws, statues, and ordinances of the applicable government agency?"

This does NOT TO ME conflict: There shall be no overnight parking on the street or driveway. At all other times "Parking and other activities on the public streets within the project shall be in accordance with all laws, statues, and ordinances of the applicable government agency?"

The CC&R's need to be read in their entirety, you can't pick and chose things you like to make your point and ignore the parts you don't like.

Great reply by Glen.

I have another question for all of you. The city has an ordinance that prohibits restricting parking on a residential street without 75% of the residents on the block petitioning for the restriction. Recently, the city petitioned the homeowners and 13 of 14 voted against restricted parking.

Can the HOA enforce its overnight parking restriction that is in direct conflict with the ordinance above?

This topic seems to keep popping up on my thread and others that I have reviewed. I am fully aware that the agreement is between the homeowner and the Association. Also, I understand the contractual obligations. I would like you to examine this issue in a different light.

The developer built a street; and then, they decided that because the street is outside the community's security gates, they would give it to the city. There are 14 houses on the street that are part of the Association (492 total homes). Seven years after the street was developed and five years after the street was ceded to city, a new board is appoint.

The new board decides that they want to stop vehicles from parking on the public street. The board goes to the city, who agree to restrict parking under a city program. The agreement is predicated on the Association agreeing to manage the issuance of permits. After agreeing to the terms, the Association informs the 14 homeowners that no permits will be issued and they must park their vehicles elsewhere.

The homeowners contact the city. The city contends that they agreed to restrict parking, with the understanding that each of the 14 homeowners would receive two permits to park on the street. Since the permits are not being issued, the city cancels the agreement with the association and removes the parking restrictions. This is where it gets interesting.

Rather than go back to the previous state, the BOD decides that it can enforce its parking restrictions. Without notice, the BOD authorized the security company to start ticketing vehicles. After three tickets, fines are levied. The basis for the BOD decision is an attorney has interpreted the use restrictions based on new case law involving parking restrictions on public streets.

Everything that I just told you is noise. As you pointed out there is a contractual obligation for me and the BOD. The question is where is the BOD getting its authority to enforce it parking restrictions on a public street? There is one reference to public streets in the contract. It states that parking shall be in accordance with the laws of the city. That is the only statement in the contract.

I believe that the statement is specific. I have to follow the laws, ordinances, etc of the city. The BOD believes that it has the authority to further restrict parking on the public street. Like you, they are telling me that when I signed the CC&Rs, I agreed to not park on the street. So, please tell me where the contract ends?

If the board has the authority to restrict parking on my street, won't they have the same authority on the next street over? The next public street has homes that belong to the association facing the water. The street predates the development and has another development on the other side of the street. The project ends at the middle of the street. The association isn't ticketing on the second street. If they have the authority to restrict parking on public streets, why aren't they ticketing on the one side of the other public street? Isn't this a form of selective enforcement?

Sorry for the long answer. I hope this information helps you to better understand why this issue is not straight forward.

Gary,

More tough love. I tried to search for your previous threads but could not get the search function to work. My memory is that your parking problems stem from owning a vehicle that does not fit inside your garage. I do not know in which order you acquired the home and the vehicle but I doubt that they were both purchased sight unseen on the same day.

It sounds like for a time your BOD let things slide but now there is a new sheriff in town. If I remember correctly, there is also some agreement between the city and the HOA to allow the association to police the streets. No matter how you slice it, you are up against a brick wall.

Having spent a significant part of my life waging a legal battle that ultimately went south, I would recommend you rethink this whole situation. Either the home or the vehicle has to change and the choice is not mutually exclusive. If you cannot live with a vehicle that fits your garage then find a place with a larger garage.

Please understand that I am not condoning the association's or the city's positions. I think both stink. But at some point you knew that the vehicle was not compatible with the garage and that there would be a problem with parking it outside.

Now, if I were in your position, I would announce to the association that I am moving out and turning my unit over to a non-profit group as a halfway house for the criminally insane. Then I would ask for a reasonable accommodation under FHA rules: I would ask for permission to install a bench outside where they could sharpen their axes. That oughta frost a few pumpkins!