Enforcing Illegal Garage Storage

My HOA has CC&Rs that clearly state that garages are not to be used for storage, but we have many residents (owners and renters) who do instead of parking their vehicle in them. This creates many parking problems for everyone, but I want to focus my question of the enforcement the storage problem.

There are five parking spaces per garage. The garages are exclusive-use common area, owned by the Association, but the management company does not have keys or remotes to get into the garages. Besides, the idea of garage inspections will have everyone up in arms, including non-violators.

I have been told this is "un-enforcable" and is an invasion of privacy.

I'm just putting this out there to see if anyone has come up with an ingenious way to enforce this.

I have searched past posts about this, but didn't find anything recent on this topic.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Beth

Have you talked to your board about this? If not, that's where you should start. You might also want to talk to some of your neighbors (homeowners) and see if they're having a problem because of the storage issue. If so, all of you need to go to the board to discuss enforcement.

I'm not sure about the invasion of privacy argument (unless someone's going through the storage stuff), and as for the unenforceable part, it would appear you'd have to notify the owner, give him/her a chance to move the stuff or file an appeal. If they refuse, the board might be able to issue a fine (check your documents first!) or consider legal action. So the issue might not be that the CCRs are unenforceable but impractical (or no one wants to go through all that trouble, because it would create an uproar, as you stated.)

Are there any parts of the common area where free standing storage sheds can be built or purchased and people told to put their stuff in those places only? The owners could buy their own shed and be responsible for maintenance or the Association could buy them and assign a shed to each homeowner. Once the sheds are installed, give everyone a deadline to get their stuff out the garage and if they don't, it'll be considered abandoned and the association will get rid of it.

I am on the Board. The problem is the management company does not have access to the garages and the doors are never opened, so we can't even see inside the garages to send a violation notice, but some of the garages have been packed full of junk for years. Neighbors complain all the time, but we can't do anything.

Building a storage shed is an interesting idea I had not heard before, but we don't have space for it and those homeowners who are in compliance would end up paying for those who are not. That would not be fair. Those residents that have too much junk should be the ones paying for storage, but from their point of view, why should they when its free in their garage.

I'm just hoping to get some new ideas on how to enforce this.

Beth,

First of all, most new homes don't plan for storage. Therefore, owners are limited on what can go where. That said, you're trying to enforce the wrong thing.

If you really wanted to enforce the storage issue you concentrate on the vehicles.

Example:

1) Adopt a rule that between the hours of x and y vehicles parked in the development must first be parked in the garage and then in the driveway.

2) Institute mandatory parking stickers.

3) Due to the stickers, you now know how many vehicles belong at each residence. Between the hours of x and y patrol the area. If a garage can hold 2 vehicles and the owner has three vehicles with stickers, if more than one vehicle with a sticker is parked in the driveway, you know that they are violating the parking rule. It doesn't matter if they are using their garage for storage or not, they must fit their vehicles in the garage between the hours of x and y or be in violation of the rules/regs.

Now, with that all said, if someone tried to institute such a plan in my development I would be leading the charge to kick those members off of the Board and replace them with others who wouldn't institute such procedures.

However, it is an option to obtain what you are trying to obtain.

Our 2 car garages are private and the rules also state they can only be used for parking. Few use them for parking. It will be very difficult to enforce what goes on inside a garage. So like Tim says concentrate on enforcing the parking outside of them. This is your best bet.

Richard,

Are you saying that the parking permit is only to use the additional parking spaces or is the parking permit to park a vehicle on the property?

I would require parking permits for all vehicles. This way, based on permits, you now know how many vehicles each unit claims to have. Then if you see a vehicle with in the additional spaces, you can verify if it should be parked in the garage (based on that unit only having two vehicles registered) or if it can be parked in the additional space.

I would also make the additional space a first come first served vs. assigned.

Don't forget to include guest passes that can be checked out at the office or through security.

That typically works just as well if not better than other enforcement actions.

This further underlines the advisability of Tim's recommendation. Concentrate on enforcing the parking outside the garages. Attempting to enforce what goes in someone elses' garage is very difficult.

I feel I need to repost this section.

Even though I provided a method to help the OP and others enforce parking in garages, I did plainly state:

Now, with that all said, if someone tried to institute such a plan in my development I would be leading the charge to kick those members off of the Board and replace them with others who wouldn't institute such procedures.

When there is differing opinions amongst the BOD, the Board should consider seeking a legal opinion on the issue.

Except if you read the earlier post you will notice that Tim is opposed to actually enforcing such ideas! Hard to understand.

Right, Thomas, I noticed that tim walked around the topic and viewed it from a couple of different vantage points.