It doesn't specifically say we can't have this in our driveway.

Welcome to HOA living...and YES they can restrict what is in your driveway... It is in physical view. You do not know the situation with those other trailors to make assumptions. Are they there overnight? A few hours? Are they stored somewhere else? It's best to ask permission than forgiveness in a HOA... Welcome to the club!

You are sooo starting off on the wrong foot... You do NOT want to do that or play on words in a HOA... A trailer is a trailer and it is in view. The rules say you can have one but NOT in view. So just park it in the garage or the backyard that is fenced. Otherwise, your just asking to be harassed and pointed at for a very loooong time... This is a good heads up...

The garage will be full of motorcycle stuff and no room for a trailer. The backyard is fenced, but the opening isn't large enough to get a trailer back there. It seems so silly that we'd have to rent out a storage unit to put a trailer when there's plenty of room in the driveway for it!

The HOA should revise their wording to just "trailers" if they want us to comply without putting up a fight!

Mary

Please do not get started by "fighting" the HOA over some wording. Have you closed on the house yet. If not, in the long run you might be better off financially and for peace of mind to not live there.

Otherwise the alternatives as I see them are to make room in the garage or widen the fence opening to allow for storage of the trailer behind the fence.

Hope this helps.

Mary does the contract you signed at the closing give you xx amount of days to back out? Or the loan docs if you got a bank loan?

With others, don't even think about parking your trailer in the driveway.

Again dumb idea if I ever heard one... Sorry but got to call this one as it is.... Asking forgiveness in HOA is NEVER EVER the way to go. Your logic has no logic. You move into a HOA to "hold" your home values by keeping the place neat and orderly. The first time you see someone in violation your going to complain and then say the HOA is not doing anything. Look at yourself... Moving in and parking a trailor in the driveway... Gee you think someone will complain about you?

THINK!!! Put the trailor out of view or store somewhere else. Common sense...use it....

You hav ALOT to learn... You are a renter now. It is different when you an owner and live in a HOA. You do not know about their fine system or if they have one. My gut feel is your the type who will withold your dues in protest too if you get one. Hate to tell you but HOA can and will remove your trailer and send you the bill. Do not pay that bill? You can get a lien on your home.

I would suggest strongly in your bad decision making here. You are going to pay dearly and not talking money.

Sounds like the OP has a really bright future in her new home. Yes move in and violate the HOA rules and then argue "motorcycle trailers" in your opinion don't count.

And now the OP wishes to turn her new neighborhood and community into what she just decided to leave. Noise, garbage, trash, and the who gives a damn attitude.

That should play well in her new home.

So why would someone like this choose to move into an HOA neighborhood? Oh it was nice. Till we moved in!

I just wonder why the lawyer, the real estate agent, the seller, or the OP might not mention there was an HOA in place. Just a big surprise.

No doubt shortly after moving in the OP will be looking for supporters to change the place into a community just like the one she rented in.

Sounds like someone who should have done some work finding out about the property they were buying BEFORE they now ask others to adjust their lives to accommodate them. I have the have my motorcycle trailer parked in my driveway because I say so....

Wonderful......

And by the way, we live a very nice neighborhood where people are a friendly community respectful of what other neighbors want to do...of course to a point. We'd stay if the landlord didn't want her house back.

Another tale of how HOAs impose crazy restrictions on the residents in the making.

When you sign the contract to purchase the property you are in fact legally agreeing to abide by the HOA rules and regulations.

Guess that applies to everyone else but the OP.

We are trying to help you. We ARE board members and HOAS members... You are not telling us something we have not heard or seen before. Just telling you the results you expect are NOT the realty of what is. Your willing to pay a fine has no business in deciding to violate a rule. I can decide to speed because I have enough money to pay the ticket.... Not logical.

As for informing you of the HOA existance? It is YOUR responsibility to be informed. It is PUBLIC information. Some states do require the seller to provide at closing but otherwise it is YOU.

Mary

Your life will be easier if you make other accommodations for that trailer.

My last HOA did not allow boat and or any trailer parking at all. We never challenged anyone as long as they did not disrespect/challenge us. Could they bring the boat home, clean it, maybe even leave it overnight? Well the strict answer was no they could not, but if it happened once in a while (same with overnight street parking) we ignored it.

Even when some of our Chief Complaining Officers (CCO's or busybodies) did report it, we said we would look onto it. By the time we looked into it, it was gone.

An HOA across the street from us did not even allow motorcycles on the property at all. Imagine the fix you would be in if you had bought in there without knowing.

Nothing like planning to make enemies with the neighborhood right off the bat.
I would recommend not doing that and asking fro a clarification of the bylaws, along with a copy of any related rules & regulations that you might need to know about.

You write that the covenants read as follows: "no boats, boat trailers, house trailers, campers, mobile homes or any part thereof may be stored or permitted to remain on any residential site for more than 48 hrs unless stored in a garage or other fully enclosed space or screened so as not to be visible from any street or lot"

The way I read it is that this covenants was designed to prevent boats, boat trailers, campers, or mobile homes from being parked in the driveway. The covenants are pretty specific and the author of them went out of the way to single out boat trailers and not any other kind of trailer. They did not mention tractor trailers. They did not mention car trailers. And they certainly did not prohibit motorcycle trailers.

What could the reasoning for this have been? Maybe boat trailers, mobile homes, and campers are used less frequently then other kinds of trailers and so they singled those types out because they didn't want a semi-permanent thing set up in a driveway. Maybe they just have a bias against watersports and camping. The fact of the matter is that they clearly defined what is and is not allowed to be parked.

Now does this mean you will avoid trouble by parking your motorcycle trailer in the driveway?

No.

Based on the number of comments left on this thread your HOA board will send a non-compliance letter your way and threaten you with fines. You could inform them of their incorrect reading of the covenants but then there are a couple of situations that may result from doing so.

One, they may leave you alone after realizing that you were right, or two, they proceed with legal action in which you surrender and pay the fine and legal bill or worse, go to court and fight it out risking more (and paying more too).

Now considering the comment by Karen regarding disclosure, if there were legal action against you by the HOA you could potentially go after the seller for the costs incurred from your legal fight.

I would also agree that by parking your trailer in the driveway and risking a fight may also encourage the HOA to nitpick your every action. They may see you as a problem homeowner and scrutinize everything you do (and quite possibly selectively). Garbage cans? Expect to get a letter. Hedges uneven? Expect to get a letter. This happened to me. I stood up to a bully board and I became a target. I was cited for illegal signs (despite the fact that board members and their friends had them in their yards), denied documentation or entrance to meetings, and I had code enforcement called on my property almost weekly (Bahia grass can shoot up pretty tall after a good Florida rain and the HOA thought this violated some code).

Of course if you are willing to risk it then great. There is also a chance that you would be ignored and that neighborhood living would be peaceful for you.

Mary,

The HOA papers really are not worth the paper they are written on.

Just park your trailer in the drive, then see what happens.

If nothing, then you are fine!

If they give you a hard time, go to the HOA pres. home.

He is the guy parking the other trailers on HIS drive that you noticed.

Pretend that he is REALLY important, and say you would like to park YOUR trailer on the drive too.

If you appeal to these jackasses ego's...you have a good shot at doing what you want!

Mary,

Please don't due what you are planning to do. Have you moved in yet? if not, how long before you plan to move?
In the meantime, I would suggest making sure you contact the HOA management company to inquire about what to do with your trailer.

The other thing is if this is an open (non-gated) HOA, make sure you find out and understand the actual boundaries. What you describe, even if it is right across the street from you (the garbage cans on the street) that side of the street may not be in the HOA and therefore not subject to the rules and CC&R's.

The first HOA I lived in was like this. I just advise that you check on these facts before doing anything remotely against the rules and restrictions governing your home/lot.

Now, if you find that all these issues and violations you've noted are actually in your community then go ahead and move in and follow the rules for your lot. Do whatever you have to do to comply with the rules. Then wait for a few months and take pictures noting all the violations in the neighborhood that are not being enforced.

There may be a reason - such as maybe no one does care. Maybe the HOA board has decided upon a strategy of "Selective Enforcement". Just document it all.
Then a few months later approach the management company seeking a "Variance" to park your trailer in your driveway. If they resist, then you can seek a hearing per the procedures in your governing documents.

At your hearing, you can again ask for a variance and use the logic of all the other violations in the neighborhood.

If they still resist, then you have to decide what to do next. Remember, you might be wanting to live there a long time. Life is too short. Is this a battle you want to fight for the long haul?

Just stuff to consider.

I'm glad there are a few people on here who share my point of view! Okay I agree that people should keep their yards mowed and tidy. But you know what? I live in a non HOA neighborhood now and EVERYONE around me keeps their yards nice because as a homeowner, or even renter, they take pride in their yard. Nobody needs to have an association breathing down their necks to mow their yard. I do however find it extremely ridiculous that you can't park your OWN VEHICLE if it's a camper or a boat or a trailer in your driveway! Really, are Mr and Mrs Snooty going to drive through the neighborhood and go "Oh my I would NEVER buy a house in a neighborhood where someone parks a camper in their driveway! Such animals!"

Am I going to have to worry about EVERY LITTLE THING I do in the front yard because of this HOA? Can I put a lawn chair on my front porch or is that too folksy? Can I sit in the chair on my front porch during daylight hours or will people driving the neighborhood think I don't work and therefore I must be riff raff and they won't live there? Can I plant a flower in my front garden or will the color of the flower clash with the color of the house and it will need to be dug up?

You can see where things can get VERY nitpicky. However I have checked this HOA's website and the last newsletter they have updated on there is from 2007 so I'm thinking maybe nobody really cares.

Mary they're not saying you can't park the trailer in your drive, just that if you do,you need to screen it. And yes it may be nitpicking and ridiculous but nobody forced you to buy there but when you did, you agreed in writing to abide by the CC&R's, even if you don't like them. But they are not cast in stone, they are amendable if you can get a large enough percentage of your fellow homeowners to agree.

Jon,

Do you still beat your wife/girlfriend? Seems to be the theme with your posts of late. I recall you making personal attacks on Helen, then recently Out and now Mary.
This post of your is another classic example of you pontificating from your soapbox.

The way your phase this you are not giving a direct response to the OP. Instead you are making a character assassination by addressing your response to the rest of the forum. You seem to be stating the obvious for the rest of the forum and we just don't need your editorial.

Why not address it to her and give your opinion? or better yet, offer her advice on how you as a board member may have handled this type of issue in the past. If you have no experience that directly relates, then why reply at all? Maybe offer her ideas on a compromise or other suggestions that might end up as a win-win for her and her HOA. I saw a lot of suggestions along those lines.

is your ego really that badly in need of reaffirmation from the rest of the forum members that you manage to have grasped something here and need to add your negative comments to it?

Your response is of no value to the discussion and has no redeeming qualities (This time).

Both you and Melissa started off with rude comments. Seems to be the theme for this forum.

You don't have to be a bully, most of us already know you are. Do you have to come and attack this person to claim your territory as the forum bossman or something?

Step back and read your post again when you are rational. Tell me if you gave advice or just used her to further your bias and hatred of HOA members?

Just saying

Kevin,

You may be right. However, I have seen where a judge might rule against it because even though not technically spelled out, the "intent" of the rule was for no trailers.

Each judge may rule differently, you never know. It's a good argument nonetheless.

True.

When I went to court and watched the HOA attorney go against a homeowners attorney it was very interesting. The homeowners attorney argued the letter of the law, pointed to documents and actions of the HOA, and made their case, while the HOA attorney argued intent and what the neighborhood believed to be true - not what was true.

In the end the HOA lost BUT prior to that hearing the HOA attorney got another judge to side with them on a variety of little issues, such as forcing the homeowner's attorney to recuse themselves from the case and getting every delay they could get.

Little johnny,

You are nothing more than a bully and a troll who suffers from a Napoleon complex because you bully anyone who has a differing opinion. You must be a hoot to have as a board president.

You amuse and amaze me to no end. How you can self justify your writings and bully the rest of this site into not touching you. The few folks who have spoken their minds you just launch into personal attacks on.

Well are you still beating your girlfriend? That's the theme you present here.

You make up things and then rant about others doing that. You have very limited knowledge and from now on everyone should consider anything you write as suspect because you are nothing more than a troll who has spent way too much time on your HOA board (if true) and way too much time on this site.

Responding to every thread does not make you an expert on anything. Attacking people the way you do diminishes what little credibility your may have had. I am sure others reading these posts will look at yours with a little less credibility just because of how you approach dealing with people.

Go ahead and search out other threads now and attack those OPs for coming to this site with a question.

If this site is only for current board members then many people should be kicked off like the person who signs all her posts as a "Past Board President".
I have served on the board of three HOA's How many have you served on? Oh yeah, just the one....

You're a troll and a blowhard. You have a very narrow mind view of things. My advice to you, don't ever open your mind for you might spill some and you certainly don't have any to spare!

Amazing, PeterD3 sounds JUST LIKE MikeR15. Do you think . . .?

Just as it seems that Matthew in AZ formerly was Larry from AZ. But, maybe not.

Carol,

I agree with you. I think Matthew is really Larry.

Ah, nice point; Tim; perhaps Peter is just trying to mimic MikeR15. (But, why???) I do remember seeing Peter's name in the past, but it's been a while, it seems.

Right, I got his point.