Evicting nuisance homeowners

My community has restrictions on vehicles over 1 ton. They are not allowed at all unless they can be parked in the garage with the door closed. And very few can fit in these garages.
But one homeowner drives a semi truck. Hes been parking at the entrance to our subdivision for several years. The management company has been not been diligent about enforcement but would occasionally send him a notice to park elsewhere. He would comply for a while and then start doing it again. He was even so bold as to put gravel in the grassy area so his tires didn't get muddy.
Now we have a new management person(but same company)and new HOA board members who are willing to be more aggressive.
The city also has ordinances about large trucks on residential streets. They are not allowed.
My question is...when do we stop tender-footing with this guy and begin fining him? One of the board members has sought legal advice on forcing him out of the community which is my preference because he's been a nuisance for yrs.

The city is only concerned that the semi truck is not on the street and not blocking the sidewalk. Any HOA violation is up to the association to deal with.
The man has moved his truck to where the back half is in his garage but the front half is in the driveway but the garage door will not close. A clear violation of HOA bylaws.
But the city doesn't have jurisdiction from this point. The property management company needs to begin fining him to force compliance.
But I heard today the trucker home owner is threatening to sue the Association. But another bylaw clearly states that a homeowner is liable for any legal fees the Association incures.
Also, as a truck driver with a CDL(commercial drivers license) he is responsible for making sure his truck is legally parked at all times. Which means he could lose his CDL and his livelihood.
It seems the man is playing with legal fire from all angles. But he seems to have a sense that he's entitled to break the rules.

I doubt, along with Melissa, that the Property Mgr. can fine the Owner. The Board generally must vote to fine someone, but cannot unless your documents permit the HOA to fine and the violations that can generate fines are spelled out. It also might be that your documents or your state require that this owner be called to a hearing concerning his reacted violations.

So....what do yours say, Douglas, about fines? Are you on the board?

I doubt too that the Board of directors ("the HOA") can evict anyone, Owner or tenant. Some documents say that the Board can remove common area amenities privileges, e.g. access to a swimming pool or gym, if Owners don't comply with the rules. Ours do. What do your say, Douglas?

Below * links to a 2011 Tennessee appeals court decision upholding a judicial order for forced sale of unit & expulsion of the owner. This was brought forward as a "not too common" American example in an upcoming law journal to be published in my jurisdiction.

( Concern is raised - in the absence of U.S. 5th & 14th Amendment property protections - that some anti-social expulsions were successfully obtained because of mental illness or some sort of disability eg several children with disturbing autism; a caregiver with a bad temper; a boozy racist attitude; flat out paranoid bio-hazards etc. More than a dozen unit sales & personal expulsions have been ordered by courts in that researcher's jurisdiction & mine since 2008. a 2008 one is almost identical to the Tennessee eviction of 2011 )

* "TENNESSEE court upheld a judicial EXPULSION/ UNIT SALE for hoarding/ biohazards/obstruction"

http://ontario.cafcor.org/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=46&func=view&catid=11&id=18652#18652

So, DouglasN.

Did the 2 board members say why they aren't enforcing your HOA's rules??? Did you even ask them that question? Do you personally know if your HOA has a fining system and procedures in place? In many HOAs, fines can be doubled if the violators repeat the violations. This gets violators' attention in my HOA, I promise you.

Does your board have open meetings that Owners can attend?? If so, attend and take a few other owners with you who dislike this eyesore. If the Board only has closed meetings, maybe you can get signatures on a letter to the Board demanding that they enforced your rules. At the very least you can write to the whole board c/o your property mgr. asking them to take action. Simply speaking to a couple of board members rarely is effective.

Have you even looked at your governing documents to see what you personally can do? Most, for instance, say that Owners themselves can enforce the restrictions via court action. Your would find this right of yours in your CC&Rs (aka: covenants; restrictions; declaration).

The thing is, DouglasN, that you'll have trouble selling if prospective buyers see that eyesore she they come to preview your home. You need to take action and not sit back hoping someone here or elsewhere will rescue you. Tough talk, but true.

Home values are NOT part of the HOA responsibility. It is the HOME ATTRACTIVENESS the HOA is responsible for. You want to make your home more ATTRACTIVE to potential buyers so that they will purchase your home. Home VALUES are based on REAL numbers. Those are houses that have sold/foreclosed in a few mile radius of the home of similar size and bd/ba options.

I did not buy a house because I hated the wallpaper. Did that make the house VALUE plummet? No. It just made the house less ATTRACTIVE to me to buy. It's the same in a HOA. The appearance of the homes leaves an impression on POTENTIAL buyers if they perceive it is of good value. The reality is once you get the financing, that is when the bank decides what the actual home value is. Doesn't mean the actual asking price.

If letters haven't worked and you really don't have a fining schedule or protocol for imposing them, it's probably time to go ahead and sue the guy for violating the CCRs. Sometimes a lawsuit is what's necessary to get people to behave themselves.

In the meantime, suggest that your board send a letter to the homeowners about rule enforcement in general, reminding everyone that when they moved into a HOA, they agreed to comply with the rules. The board should admit that some (most?) rules haven't been enforced as consistently as they should have been, but starting now, that's going to change. Tell the homeowners the board is looking into establishing a fine system and would like their input on whether this is a good idea, how much fines should be, which violations warrant a fine, how the appeals process should run, etc. They can even ask homeowners what type of violations are especially vexing - those could be the areas where more stringent enforcement can begin. Be sure to use your website to post this information, if you have one. Hopefully, the homeowners will see the board is trying to be fair - and send a message to those who don't seem to think rules apply to them (like this guy).

Finally, be prepared for pushback, whether it comes from the truck driver or someone else. Our association attorney served on a rule enforcement panel at our local CAI meeting and commented when boards decide to crack down, there will always be people who will screech about selective enforcement and "my rights are being violated" and whatnot. However, if you stand your ground and continue to enforce the rules consistently and fairly, sooner or later, the naysayers will pip down. Sure, they might vote you out too, but that can happen anyway. Bottom line is, everyone yells about "property values", and they have to understand if they want them to increase, everyone needs to cooperate in complying with the rules designed to make the community more attractive, as Melissa noted. If there's a rule no one likes or needs to be tweaked, the CCRs provide instructions on how those can be amended.

Thanks to all of you for your good advice.
I'll keep you informed as this progresses.

And so the pushback begins. Keep on enforcing the rules and make sure you do it fairly - eventually, the jerks will get the message, especially if you hammer the homeowners who are renting the houses out, which is what you should do. Homeowner/landlords have to be held to the same standard as owner occupants - it's their job to keep their tenants in check. If they want to deal with the headaches of fines, possible lawsuits and perhaps damage to the streets that heavy trucks can cause, so be it.