Car Alarms

If the alarms are already violates a city, county, state, or federal laws then there's no need to put them in the HOA's documentation. Those laws override any HOA rules.

Our HOA because of our location deep in the country has actually made a policy that in the event of an emergency and if your vehicle has the "panic" button on your key they advise you use it to draw attention to your property......Some locales have made it an offense that after the second 'false" alarm you could recieve a ticket..........LindaC

Let me backup a bit. Our HOA does not have any rules for or against alarms. They have not talked about it. I don't have a car with a problem. I don't have a opinion either for or against. I just heard one go off the other day and wondered IF any other HOAs had done anything about it. I guess I was just trying to find a new topic to discuss away from some other more distasteful discussions.

I guess I didn't realize there was a difference. If there is, then it would be the type that indicates someone is breaking into a car. I would think that is they kind that usually goes off, but you can tell my never does or I would know the difference.

My point was that an alarm that goes off because a cat jumps on the car is a defective piece of junk. The argument that you can't help it isn't viable. You have the option of 1) getting a better alarm or 2) having the alarm disabled.

If alarms are an annoyance, you must have a policy that is uniform and clearly defined without regard to whether some people might have cheap alarms. Impact alarms (designed to go off when someone breaks your window) should NOT go off because someone stumbles and puts their hand on your car to break the fall, or if a 15lb cat jumps on the car (perhaps a full grown tiger, but not a cat).

I'm not sure if you can declare a car to be a nuisance, but I think you probably can. In which case you can dictate that they get rid of the problem, or get rid of the car.

You couldn't categorize it as a nuisance if you don't have any rules about car alarms. Nuisances must have multiple documented occurances of violations. If you don't have a car alarm rule, then you can't fine or warn someone about it, and you can't declare it a nuisance either.

Using my original question as a way to broaden the scope, what would you think about this issue?

Should you make a rule that is clearly not enforceable (or easily enforceable). For example, using the car alarm. If you make it a violation, but in order to fine the person, someone most make a report that can be substantiated. That means others than the property manager have to be the police. Should the HOA make the rule if you really have a hard time enforcing it?

Another example that is more concrete. Our HOA tries to make sure that all violations are notified by the property manager. Arizona has some issues with reporting exactly who made the violation notification so we stress getting the property manager to do it to avoid having homeowners become the bad guys. Anyway, the HOA now requires that trash cans cannot be put out before 4pm the day before trash pickup. I think it used to say the trash cans can't be out more than one day before. There is probably some logic in not having the trash out too early. However, we don't have our property manager make any patrols on the weekend so they would never (as of now) be able to see a violation. Should the board really make such a new rule?

I know someone recently mentioned about the board spending time on the important issues. Maybe this all comes down to just that. Again, I bring this up more for a theoretical intellectual discussion than to try to solve any particular problem. If you can think through more general issue, it just might make it easier for all of us to solve the bigger ones.

Here's a dumb question.... What if the car is really being stolen and the alarm is going off? Maybe by the time someone notices the alarm the person has run off like the alarm is supposed to do. How does anyone know that the alarm is a false one?

One day, I was walking my dogs and I heard a car alarm go off. It turns out an elderly lady was attempting to start her car. Somehow the alarm system got tripped. She was panicking as she could NOT get the alarm system to turn off. Luckily for her, I owned a similar model vehicle and knew what the problem was. Had the same exact issue myself a few times. I was able to get the alarm to quit after a few seconds and tries.

This was on a weekday and in the middle of the morning. Most residents were at work. So it wasn't really a nuisance if no one was home to hear it. What do you suppose one does about that situation if there is a "false alarm ordinance"? It was later found out the lady was diagnosed with early signs of alzheimers. This was an actual health sign since it was a "confusion" issue with the key fob that set off the alarm.

We also have an issue with residents owning the "Help I've fallen and can't get up" alarm systems. Those alarms go off multiple times. When they do the police or emergency services must respond immediately. I was on the "list" of one of those residents to respond. Many times, those would go off accidently or were falsely pressed. Several occassions the police literly busted the door down to get inside! Now the resident is left with a broken front door.

So it's not just car alarms that cause an issue, but the new health alarms as well. Where do you cross the line to ban? What about house alarms? I think that these type of systems should be up to the police to monitor and to issue violations for NOT HOA's. Individual's can't always tell if the alarm is false or if it is accidental. I've sat on my keys and set off my alarm before. Alarm controls and limits really fall into the hands of who monitors them. That's the police and emergency services.