agio

I am not a lawyer, but I believe HOA's usually have great powers in FL. Frankly, I think they are enpowered to Lien the house if there is an issue such as a fine that is levied on the homeowner who committed an infraction (ie., against the homeowner's by-laws) and the infraction is not corrected and/or the fine not paid.
I think that HOA's here in Florida are among 5 super creditors who can pierce the Homestead protection that you may enjoy.
So, if I were you, I'd carefully read the HOA by-laws and contact a lawyer. You should make sure you are not breaching the rules. If you are, then you need to correct the breach or I guess, if the breach is too heinous in your opinion, contact a lawyer. You should consult with a lawyer anyway to make sure your rights are protected.
Good luck.

Boulder GT3

I’ll take the HOA side just to be difficult. A couple of points:

If you signed the covenants agreement you set aside many of your property rights. To complain about it afterwards is like moving to Alaska if you don’t like cold weather.

While we all love them, most people don’t find the sight of race cars, trailers and all of the associated paraphernalia pleasing or value enhancing. The freedom to have jet skis, race cars, RVs, trailers (all of which I own) in the driveway is an eyesore to most and diminishes drive up appeal.

I lived in a planned community like the one in “Weeds” for a while and was astounded with the amount of crap that people would leave around if left unchecked. I hate covenants but I am amazed at the lack of common sense and respect that people have for their neighbors.

Lemming

I live in an area with just 8 houses, all have 3 acre lots. After I bought the house I was sent a list of covenants, all of which I am happy to live by (ie, not allowed to subdivide, no signs in the front year, trailers must be parked behind the house, etc). However, I've never felt bound to the covenants since they were not presented to me when I bought my home, nor did I ever sign them. Am I wrong to think this way?

Paul 996

Amazing the variations on the HOA restrictions. Where I am they only restrict commercial vehicles. Not sure a race car counts but will check that out.

I am curious about the folks who have trailers that fit inside the garage... How long are those?

Thanks,
Paul

Greg Fishman

I went to Sebring one year and on the way went to visit a relative in Long Boat Key. Race car pulled by an open trailer. I pretty much had to beg for them to just let me park in their complex for 15 minutes so my uncle and I could go to the police dept. down the road to store the truck and trailer. At the next month's board meeting there were people complaining. I should have given them something to complain about and reved the race car engine a few times....

Professor Helmüt Tester

Everyone, these day, wants to exert ownership rights over things they don't own. If you don't challenge them, they'll just get bolder.

Lettering/marking/stickers ? What about all those dealership stickers & license plate on all those new Lexus/BMW/Cadillacs ? Parse the language, and use it against them.

Der Professor lives down a long, dark driveway, back in the woods. No neighbors in sight. Well armed, too.

I haven't even had a 'trick or treat'er' in 16 years.

A pox on HOA's.

Boulder GT3

The covenents and by-laws are unually provided before your closing for review and have to be signed at closing. If you were not provided information that there were covenents or the specifics documents I think your thinking is spot on.

M758

That is exactly the problem. In the Phoenix area most of the places you would want live have HOAs. The places that don't tend to attract the crap collectors so chances are if you move into place like that you will junk collector next door rather than a respectfull person with trailer, etc. I hate HOA's yet I live in place withone. Why? We like alot of things about the area and inspite of the HOA rules we are happy to live there.


Talk about crazy rules.
My parents live out 20 minutes away and come and visit most mondays to look after out 4 month old and give my wife a chance to get out a bit. They routinly park on the street in front of the house. Well we got a nast gram in the mail about not allowing cars parked in from of the house. They stated the plate number. Funny thing is my wife sister stayed over for like 3 nights that week and was parked on the street all night, yet they complained about may parents parked there for 3 hrs in the middle of the day.

Interesting however since we have all kind of cars parked on the street by the neighbors. Of course they are all there overnight when HOA police is asleep.


BTW.... you may as how I get away with 3 parts cars with my HOA... Answer is simple. My parents have 5 acres of land and no HOA!

Lemming

Maybe I should consider renting trailer parking space in my front yard

Bull

Exactly! If you live where your neighbors can see your house, it is too crowded for me.

Bull

I absolutely agree. But during my trips to Alaska, I found that the cold weather effected everyone equally. My experience with HOAs is that in many cases the leadership is populated by small people who have no authority anywhere else in their lives, and they use their position to discriminate in the enforce of the covenants as they see fit, not equally to everyone, every time. That is what I don't tolerate.

Carrera51

Prior to moving last year we lived in a townhouse community with an HOA. I got dragged to a board meeting with my neighbor over a vine (yes, one vine) that was growing between our houses. It orginated on my side of the fence, but was clinging to his house and he got cited for it. Until he pointed it out, I couldn't even see the thing. After several letters from inspector Cluseau we ended up having go to a board meeting.

The board meeting was run by a kangaroo court made up of people just as Bull described, the exception being my neighbor two houses down who was the only voice of reason.

That's why we moved to a neighborhood with no HOA. There are covenents, but they are reasonable.

Boulder GT3

The nature of the HOA beast is that it's not fair and if you want equal treatment you have to hassle with them which is a royal PITA. I think your description of the overall character of board members can be correct. However, that should be tempered with thought that homeowners do idiotic stuff as well.

My point is, those are the flaws you are agreeing to when you enter the HOA marriage and sign up for it.

TD in DC

The single best way to deal with an HOA is to become a board member. Trojan Horse.

PedroNole

I really didn't mean to start a referrendum on HOA's. Actually, I have a great HOA...not overly crazy, not nit-picky at all. However, I think giving me a notice in less than 24 hours might have been a bit trigger-happy. I was actually going to clear a spot in the garage for it anyway but just hadn't gotten around to it.

One thing is for sure, after 2 hours of clearing the space, I decided to call 1-800-Got-Junk. They're coming this weekend.