parking enforcement fiasco

Our declarant board did not enforce parking rules, so its been quite an ordeal since control was turned over to a homeowner board. Our fines process worked to reduce the number of violators, but we are down to a small group of diehard chronic violators. We attempted to use our rules' provision for towing without notice. Unfortunately the diehard group is bonded, and they are interfering with attempts to tow any of the owners' cars. We can appreciate the tow driver needs to abandon the tow when a group gathers and argues with him. Since the group is looking out for each other, towing has become impossible. Most recently the group delivered unsigned notes to homeowners to tell them the parking enforcement by towing is illegal, and since then we've lost some ground as some owners who had stopped have begun using visitor parking again. We have assurance from our attorney that we are ok to tow, but its just not practical. This diehard group did not respond to the fines process, and we are continuing to do that, but aren't assuming it will work. We're feeling a need to move strongly to squelch the impact of the rebel group, and would appreciate any ideas or suggestions.

Terri:

IMHO towing will only make the situation worse, if you think things are bad now wait until you tow the cars. Continue with your fining process, look into your CC&R's to see if it is possible to amend your fining process to make repeat violators a larger fine. Take away their member rights, such as voting, use of common areas, etc. Sooner or later common sense will prevail and they will see that they are fighting a losing battle by throwing money away when they could park somewhere else. I think patience is the key to break down the group of rebels. Towing will only enrage them and could lead to more trouble, use peaceful sanctions and I think you will have more success.

P.S. Your documents may very well give you the right to tow vehicles, but you should check with your city, county and state to determine what their regulations are insofar as notice requirements, liability for damages, etc. etc. Your documents may say absolutely anything you want it to but they can be trumped by higher authority. You could indeed be subject to a lawsuit unless you are completely in compliance with other laws. Harold

Our HOA is in California, a city of 150,000. We too were plagued with a number of parking violators over the 10 years that we have existed. In the early days, I was one of the first to recommend that we have parking rules with signs. Unfortunately, a number of members didn't like the idea. As time went on, violations continued to mount affecting some of those who voted against my idea for signs and fines.

Finally, after 10 years, we've finalized a more stern way of dealing with parking violaters. I contacted our local city community police cordinator who stated that they had a policy for dealing with parking violations including HOA's and private streets which we own in our gated community of 54 homes and only 26 legitimate street parking spaces. They provided us with a city memorandum outlining all the private property requirements for the signs, letter size, etc., including the pertinent towing and fine regulations.

So, we now have several options on dealing with parking violators. One is to fine them through our HOA rules and applicable fines. This is difficult to enforce because fining and collecting are two different things. The California HOA laws make it more difficult to enforce and collect until an appropriate dollar amount is reached. Here, even if we take violators to the small claims court, it would still be difficult to collect. Or, we can collect upon sale of the home with a lien whenever that occurs. As we have a complaint process, our other option is to file a complaint against the violator and hold a complaint meeting. This may work for some violators who would be hesitant in attending a meeting with the Board and their peers.

Ultimately, we're going to use the city's policy as the signs have been posted at both gated entrances. One sign deals with HOA's policy of parking, and the other deals with fines and towing by the city's police department. (The signs have to be approved by the police department and registered with the city council via written documentation) Now, whenever a violation is committed, we can call in the city police parking enforcement officer to issue a city parking ticket. In this case, one of the board members will call the parking enforcement officer, and when the ticket is issued, the board member has to sign off on it. The reason a board member is favored is to avoid conflicts between HOA members who may live next to each other. As for towing, a first-class letter will be sent to the property owner (even if rented to a third party), and the property owner will have about 10 days (reasonable period of time) to remove the vehicle, if owned by the property owner. (In all cases, notification to the registered vehicle owner must be attempted as best as possible) In addition, the city police department must be notifed when and where the vehicle has been towed.

In explaining the above, I understand that not all states or municipalities have the same parking ordinances, so you will have to do your own investigations to determine if you can duplicate our procedures for parking violators. But most certainly, I believe most, if not all, police departments have appropriate city ordinances regulating parking on private property. (The key words here are "private property") In my opinion, just because an HOA is a self-regulating entity does not preclude that you can not benefit your HOA to adopt a local government's parking policies. Keep in mind that we had to review all the pertinent regulations regarding parking and towing. This included the State of Calfornia vehicle codes, the Davis-Sterling Act regulating HOA's, our own CC&R's, and the local city ordinances.

We also have fire lane signs posted at our gates with red-lined curbs. In this case, our HOA can call for the immediate towing of the vehicle without having to notify the vehicle owner.

Our community is in Oregon. We have many condo communities in this area, and it is typical for the communities to use towing.

We are not wanting to use towing since it isn't working and we don't want to be ineffective in whatever we do. We are at the end of a long lane and the sound of the tow truck and the vibration is felt long before it actually pulls up to the offending car. That gives our rebel group enough advance notice to appear at the tow and interfere. We are monitoring parking for violations, and have an escalating fine process already defined. This diehard group has persisted in using guest parking despite the fines process, we are hopeful the fines eventually escalate to the point they decide to discontinue the violations.

Although parking is the current topic, I was most interested in how other HOA boards have dealt with negative subgroups that have organized to create havoc in the community. Our rebel group has even used an anonymous letter writing campaign. While many owners can see through the letters, some have been alarmed. It feels very much like it is an effort to intimidate the board, since they are not using appropriate channels for appealing fines, and changing rules. Its actually a small group of just 3 owners. Their actions have not risen to the level of provable illegal conduct, but they are creating problems. We are very concerned that whenever they are facing a rule or violation they dislike we will have to deal with their attempts to intimidate us into overlooking their violations.

Any ideas for nipping it in the bud? (fingers crossed here...)

Terri

Ron,

Actually (in my own opinion), the police here dislike impound towing companies. For years the law in Virginia specified that if the owner confronts the impound driver before he leaves the site, (technically)the owner can request a "drop" and pay just a "drop fee", which is supposed to only be $25, but drivers don't always abide by the law. A lot of impound tow drivers will just drop the vehicle in order to avoid the conflict. It's not worth it. Now Virginia just passed new legislation this year that impacts areas where a local towing board DOES NOT EXIST. Since Northern Virginia or FFX CO has a towing board(supposedly) the new law doesn't apply, but the newly formed towing board is about to formulate some new rules hear very soon and may adopt some of the Virginia State Provisions that went into effect July 1, 2006. Currently there is a great deal of misunderstanding regarding the new towing laws and I hope that the air clears very soon. Tks.

I LOATH THE WORD ANONYMOUS>> Mike - Arizona now requires an HOA to notify the homeowner of the name(s) of those who reported the violation. There is recourse too thru an Administrative Law Judge that a homeowner can file with if the HOA fails to divulge this information or actually ignores any state statue or even their own CC&Rs. It is old common law that an accused is entitled to know his accuser. You say your board refuses to investigate anonymous reports. Our board has a rule that requires all violation reports be in writing with the name(s) and phone numbers of anyone making a complaint. Nice post. Harold

Here you go Brian
http://www.azleg.state.az.us/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/ars/33/01803.htm&Title=33&DocType=ARS

Just to address how we handle reports in our HOA, in Florida.

We have a complaint form. It must be completed by the complainer. All information is held in confidence WITH the UNDERSTANDING by the complainer, that IF the offending party wishes to bring some sort of "legal action" for being complained upon, THEN the complainer's info will be made available to the offender. Lacking any stated intent to sue anyone over it, the offenders will not "officially" know whom complained on them. This seems to take our HOA out of the liability loop. Maybe it doesn't. It hasn't been tested in court. So far, no need to test it because since it's installment, there have been NO WRITTEN COMPLAINTS!
Having to "put it in writing" seems to deter busy bodies from complaining about every little thing they take offense at. ;-)

Mike: Do you have a City Police Dept? Get them to ticket and they will also tow if you post the right signs. Ask for the Community Police Concept. Thats part of the reason you guys pay Property Tax. If they refuse then the whole board starts going to City Commisioners Meetings and bust their chops about a lack of police presence. We did and most of our problems have disappeared

Good Luck Stay creative its how I have survived so ong on a HOA Board

Claude, we too require complaints be written before the board take action. this was an effort to keep the boards from jumping through ten hoops just because some owner said some other owner had said... It provided proof that the board was acting on community concerns, not their own "vigilante" actions, it provides a reference for future issues, and stops the board from chasing action and reaction and counteraction around in circles. it is a wonderful tool that i can heartily recommend.

It was one of the best things we ever did, to enforce that rule. If you don't have the time to write it down, then I don't have the time to spend fixing whatever you feel the problem is.

Why would you want to stop people from informing you of violations? They can be your eyes and ears. You as a board or ACC are going to investigate to see if there's an infraction and if so, take action as a board or ACC.

And how could anyone possibly sue someone for reporting a violation if they are guilty of the violation? What could possibly be the "liability"?

Claude,

I can't disagree with anything in your post. What concerns me is the policy of potentially making the name of the person filing the complaint available to the (alleged) offender.

What the HOA is doing in its role of enforcing CC&Rs is what the police would have done in the past (and should still be doing). I don't believe the police would tell the offender who called them.

That would be great. With about 130 members, I am concerned with the cost of professional management. I don't think we've ever considered it. What would be an approximate fee?

The cost can vary greatly. I have previously posted on how a management company computes their fees. There are three categories - overhead and profit margin are fixed while costs for services provided depends primarily on time involved. For example if accounting services for assessment payments is monthly the time involved is 3x that of quarterly and 12X that of annually; inspections done weekly vs monthly takes 4.3x as long; monthly vs. quarterly Board meetings 3x; numerous contractors vs. a few; newsletters, email directories, annual homeowner directories, ect. I could go on but this should give you an idea of what to ask for when getting bids.

For 130 single family homes with quarterly meetings and assessments, with our very limited overhead and profit, our cost would be in the $750 range. This is from 15% to 40% less than other full services management companies in our area.

Harold, I disagree that "Those who insist on keeping violation reports "anonymous" are fighting a losing battle." I do believe that the accused has the right to face their accusor at a Hearing. But that complaintant does not necessarily have to be the neighbor who first addressed the problem; it can be the managing Agent who confirmed there is actually a violation. And I agree that all violations should to be addressed in a consistant manner.

We inspect each week and address those violations which can be seen without entering the properties. However, a violation can occur in the backyard or during the 99.99% of the time we are not passing by the property. I have received numerous complaints only viewable from a backyard. When the complaintant allows access to their property I do go onto their property to photograph a violation of a neighbor. Often the violator can determine from the photo the property from which it was taken. But only those who complain get enforcement in these situations.

Another example is loud music (or noise) at midnight would have to be reported by the neighbors. The managing Agent could not verify this nor photograph it. In such a case the complaintant would have to be the neighbor.

The problem with a homeowner not remaining anonimous is retalliation from a neighbor who receives a violation based on a neighbor whose name is disclosed.

Our association had some iron fence repairs made. The hard sprinkler water had rotted some of the vertical pickets and kids kicked them out to take short cuts.

After they were repaired a teenager started climbing over them to take a short cut. I'm a board member and my wife had seen him do this several times on his way to school. I reported it to our management company (prior to the new law going into effect). A letter was sent to the homeowner parents. Of course he knew my wife had seen him and would have suspected that she or I reported it.

Now the mother doesn't speak to me as I pass her on the street. And a few days after they received the notice I discovered a shovel had been shoved into my yard at a spot where it's obvious that a sprinkler pipe was located, and the shovel sliced the pipe in half. That was retaliation, and that is the problem with neighbors not being able to report anonimously. This was actually anonimous, but the kid knew who had seen him, and we knew he knew, but as a board member I was duty bound to report it.

It's not my job to knock on the neighbors door to tell her that her kid is climbing the fence because people don't want to hear from neighbors that their kid has done something wrong.

This is a violation that would be better reported to the local police department if there is a local noise ordinance. The HOA doesn't need to be involved.

10-4 - I agree - Use the PD for Noise. Our CCR's reference "Quiet Enjoyment" but that's a whole bag of worms. Google the term for fun and see all the state law definitions and Case law.

Roger - loud music at midnight IS a police matter. Why would untrained, volunteer HOAs feel it is their duty to handle things that are definitely a police matter? I would think they'd be happy not to have to get involved. Harold

If you call the police on a neighbor wo is violaating the law, the police won't reveal your name to the lawbreaker. You have a choice of allowing members to report violations or conducting inspections yourself (or paying someone to do it). Do both. And verify the member's complaint before acting on it. Yes, make it fair.

ryan, it might, if the board is strong and has accountability...

but if a board wasn't enforcing the rules themselves, and they passed the buck onto a management company to enforce the rules, and they didn't do it (typically, because if a board won't do it, an MC is half lost in the war already), bringing in a third agency to do it won't likely help...

as soon as the security company tries to enforce something, a weak board will cave to the first complainer, and the security company is now a lame duck agency...

it all falls back on the board... you can delegate authority, you cannot delegate accountability.