Can Association suspend parking privileges?

Started by JoanneL • 5 replies • 1388 views

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JoanneL (Virginia)
Posts: 22

Posted:

When homeowners are a yr behind on their dues, can an officer of an association suspend parking privileges until the owner pays off their outstanding balance, even if it is not specifically mentioned in the association rules?

We are a small association (9 townhouses with a parking lot). Each owner has two assigned parking spaces per unit. Our current rules state association dues entitles each member to "enjoyment of the common area" and our dues covers lawn mowing and snow plowing. Any proposed modifications or improvements to the common area, the association must meet and vote before the funds can be expended.

An officer said he was going to stop mowing the owner's lawn. This owner does not take care of his property, so I didn't think that was an incentive to get the owner to pay. Since our dues covers lawn mowing (front yards and front and back common areas) and plowing our parking lot, I suggested the association suspend the owner's parking privileges.

Can an officer of the association do that?

DonnaS (Tennessee)
Posts: 5,671

Posted:

NO!! That would fall under ingress and egress which is the only item that you cannot ban a delinquent owner from doing under almost all law. His spaces are part of his unit rights.Chances are that you will lein him and go the legal route to attemt resolution

FrancescaM (Washington)
Posts: 264

Posted:

This was looked at out hoa. NO. the spaces are individually owned here... they belong to the delingquint owner.

MikeS1
Posts: 521

Posted:

Joanne - Our spaces are reserved, assigned common areas (limited common elements) that are owned by the association (I'm sure that yours are setup likewise). Our documents specify that a member's privileges may be suspended after they are 90 days in arrears. While we cannot block access to the home, they may still park on one of the state maintained roads in our community. They just cannot store their car in their space, nor can they vote, nor can they use the pool. We have a written collections policy and this is all detailed in a sanctions letter that they received just before this is turned over to the attorney for collections. There is also possibly an issue if the resident is handicapped, but this hasn't come up before. I would be surprised if your documents don't address suspension of privileges. Check your docs.

Believe me, we're not blocking access to the home and whenever talk about suspending their parking privileges, you'll be surprised how fast they pay their outstanding assessments. It works very well.

JoanneL (Virginia)
Posts: 22

Posted:

Thanks to all who replied. We don't have a management company or an association lawyer. I will check our association rules and talk to the officer before proceeding.

MikeS1
Posts: 521

Posted:

Joanne - We went through our attorney on this issue before we started this process. We have a written collections policy and it's all been approved by the attorney.

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