Parking and Towing in HOA Complexes

How do OTHER condo complexes handle this situation? We have a condo complex and of course, it is private property... Thus, if a vehicle is not up to date on its registration, the local police can do nothing as it is on private property..

Thus, how do other complexes handle this situation?

a) Vehicles that are owned by owners of a condo unit but leave them parked in their "owned" carport for months or in some cases, 2-3 years. Some of those vehices are:
1) have different State license plates(Our State law states that within 2 weeks, a vehicle must have an in-state license plate.... but since it is on private property, police can do
nothing.
2)some vehicles have expired license plate numbers of 1 to 3 years.... that they have not
been registered.

3)Because they have been sitting there for so long, they are dirty and have the look of
being an abandoned vehicle.

Our CC&Rs do NOT mention this aspect of vehicles.

If you check your documents, you'll most likely find a clause like this "3. Licensing. The Community's licensing requirements for personal vehicles permitted to park on the Common Area (including Reserved Common Area) are the same as enforced by the Commonwealth of Virginia and Fairfax County. Vehicles failing to meet these requirements will be immediately reported by any resident to police for action in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth and the ordinances of Fairfax County. Fairfax County Police are hereby authorized to enforce all provisions of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Motor Vehicle Code within the boundaries of the Association." ...and this "2. General. Parking in the Community is restricted to private, passenger-type vehicles normally associated with personal use." . In addition to the covenants set forth in the Declaration, all applicable Commonwealth of Virginia motor vehicle laws apply to vehicles parked within the Community". and this"8.Towing.(a) The Association has a standing arrangement with a commercial towing company to provide both on-demand towing and towing of all vehicles parked in fire lanes, parked across sidewalks, and parked on common area grass. Unless as required herein, any vehicle parked in violation of the Declaration or these regulations shall be subject to immediate towing without notice or process.

It's private property, and if the property is posted properly, and the state law allows you all to tow vehicles from your common area parking lots, then you can enlist the services of an impound tow company. Use and structured agreement and have them monitor the lots.

Although our county poliece department CAN enforce the laws on this type of an issue, they have bigger fish to fry usually. Check with your local laws on this issue.

Alex,

I find it hard to believe that anyone who visits Florida for more than two weeks must obtain Florida license plates.

We have similar laws in my state but the requirement to register is triggered by events other than just length of a visit. For example, accepting employment or attending school as an in-state resident are two of the triggers.

Before towing off cars with out-of-state license plates, you might want to research the actual requirements and not rely too heavily on word-of-mouth for legal advice.

Since your CC&R's do not address this issue I doubt that you have much authority to tow anyone's car. If you are concerned about the appearance (and I do understand your concern), have someone wash the cars once in awhile or at least hose the dirt off of them.

You implied that the carports are "owned" by the individual condo owners and not by the association. If that is the case, not only is it private property but it's their private property and not yours. Towing a car under that circumstance would require trespassing and could be prosecuted as theft. I would be extremely careful before I messed with someone else's vehicle.

Really? How do you know this? State the source. Is this merely your opinion?

As one official once told me, it's public information. If the person you speak to refuses, file an FOIA request.

As an added comment, I once needed to know what a client had paid in property taxes for his vehicle. The client couldn't tell me, so I phoned the taxing authority and asked. All I had to do was provide the plate number and the information was given to me immediately.

Sounds like state government at its finest.

We have statutes in AZ that prohibit the county recorder from displaying online deeds and other documents pertaining to a police officer so you cannot find out where the cop who gave you the ticket lives. But if you enter the officer's name in the assessor's website, up pops his address.

We also have statutes preventing you from publishing a police officer's home address on the internet. But when the sheriff runs for election, both the county and the state post his home address on their campaign disclosure websites.

Believe it or not, here in Connecticut I can go online and get copies of birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates, and I can also find out who has paid property taxes (and how much and when) by looking up the name or the address. I was actually able to go online and discover that an individual running for local office on the town council had not paid his property taxes. Doesn't work for every city and town, but it does for many.

Alex,

We have discussed the issue of proper vehicle registration with our local police department. Per those discussions we have learned that the Association can authorize the police to enforce existing statutes within the private property. We do this with annually with a letter. I've attached what our police require. Perhaps your local police department has a similar program.

As for towing, you need to check County Codes and City Ordinances. Typically there is specific signage (size, lettering size, verbage and location) that must be posted. If this signage isn't posted, the Association may be responsible for paying the cost of the tow/storage.

You also need to check your governing documents to see if towing is an option authorized to the Association.

If in doubt, or if there is any question, have your Association attorney look things over and advise you.

Tim

Same here. One board member wanted to know how me knowing or telling people stuff like that was legal. I told them it was public records and that everything obtained was from corporate filings, property taxes, or documents filed with the government.

One board member actually stole software from his employer (a huge defense contractor) to run the proxy voting on the HOA website and were upset that it was uncovered claiming I tried to get them fired. They were apparently unaware that when you make a website the source code can be viewed.

Another instance a real estate agent in the neighborhood was telling homeowners that they should sell their properties at a lower price because people don't pay more then market value. A simple record search showed him paying a lot of money on houses in our neighborhood during the boom, paying sometimes 20k more then market value on a property. I got the impression he was more interested in his business then the homeowners. (He even tried to get a special tax in place on the neighborhood to pay for beautification projects. Simple searches showed he was on a board with the representative on the board of county commissioners who proposed the tax).

When that was disclosed the measure fizzled.

In this day and age nothing is private.

Personally I don't see the big deal as long as it is parked in the individual's spot and the C&R specify nothing. Maybe have a community wash day. Invite a local school to do the job. Bring everyone together!

Tim - We've done this as well, but it's hit or miss sometimes. Most of the time, they will close the call (vehicle on private party) even though we've referenced the letter on file and asked them to take action. It's sad, considering what we pay in taxes.

It's not that I don't believe you.

Did you try calling the DMV in your state?

You might be running up against PD regulations, not necessarily DMV regulations or state laws.

But also, every state is different.

Yes, we called DMV - The will not release this information as it's considered private. They will not release this to you unless you're a licensed investigator.

Shelia

Referring to the OP:

The vehicles in question are parked in the owners carport as in private property. They are not illegally nor randomly parked around.

He was also complaining about vehicle registrations out of state and/or out of date plus some cars being dirty.

Our Covenants say any vehicle parked in a driveway (we do not allow street parking) must be legally registered and road worthy or is can be considered a nuisance and can be removed from the community. Never had to so.....yet.

What say you to his issues if they happened in your association?

Thanks

In addition, if your rent a cop came on my property, we could have some issues like he is trespassing. Might also be issues with a rent a cop even touching my car, but another issue.