A homeowner in Florida was awarded $187,000 in legal fees from a years-long court battle over the right to park a pick-up truck in his driveway. Now the homeowners association is going to have to pick up the tab for $300,000 in fees.
The homeowner first moved in in 1997, and it was years before the association decided he couldn’t park his pick-up truck in his driveway. Not having a garage that could accommodate the large truck, he decided to fight.
The homeowners association lost in 2008, but then appealed the decision.
“They just didn’t care,” the homeowner told FOX 13. “It was like, ‘our rules overrule what your community says because we’re a master association and, you know, we’re right and you’re wrong.’ I couldn’t believe I had to go hire an attorney just to defend myself against this, what was a meritless lawsuit.”
…
“I think what people should take away from this is that homeowners should be left alone unless it’s a very serious issue,” the homeowner’s attorney said. “And, certainly, requiring a homeowner to spend over two hundred thousand dollars to defend themselves simply to park a vehicle in the driveway just doesn’t make any sense at all.”
Homeowner wins right to park truck in own driveway [Fox 13]
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The key is to control the HOA yourself, then you have the power.
I don’t know if most newer neighborhoods have HOAs, at least in my part of the country. It is mostly upper crust neighborhoods in my part of the country that have them. My in-laws live in a gated community and they are the Bodine’s of the neighborhood. Nobody complains though, so it is not a problem.
The HOA in our neighborhood is voluntary but also has no teeth. The “rules” pretty much mirror what the deed restrictions are which are set by the town.
I actually would prefer an HOA with the same common sense rules we have, but mandatory with teeth…. or no HOA at all.
This HOA in the article was over the top. I can see if the truck had signage or ladder racks, but based on the picture, it never did. It was stupid to chase after this guy legally.
I lived in a townhouse with a HOA for a couple of years (it was a rental). We didn’t really have much interaction with them.
Now we live in a non-HOA area. We have some issues with neighbors, like when they have five cars for one single-family residence and they park close to your driveway (sometimes blocking part of it). Some of them have parties until 2am with their speakers blaring. Sometimes I wish there was some kind of neighborhood board/group that we could discuss our problems with, but there isn’t. So we just try to ignore the neighbors unless they are actually blocking our driveway, etc.
In terms of property value, we have a gigantic tree on the sidewalk in front of our house (well, actually in between the street and the sidewalk). It belongs to the city. The roots have pretty much destroyed the sidewalk, the berries litter the street/our driveway/our yard, and the roots have messed up our plumbing. We’ve tried asking the city to cut it down and plant in another tree (without such damaging roots) but no avail (city has no budget). Because of the tree (which does provide us shade and keeps our house cool in the summer), our front yard is a mess. It’s a bunch of semi-dead grass (green grass will not grow there). I guess we could find some professionals and have them figure out what to do with the yard (because it and the tree make the area gross), but we haven’t. I can only imagine if we had a HOA, they would have a fit! (Then again, maybe they would foot some of the bill…)
And this is why hoas need to be removed unless in condos.
In my part of Houston there is no nice neighborhood without HOA. My husband was determined not to live in one but we really had no choice. I think of it as a group to tell people who want to park their run down car in the yard on cinder-blocks that no that isn’t okay.
Applaud. If I could give this guy a spot on every news station I would. I love to see people finally stick it back to the HOA’s.
I live in a HOA – and built here to protect my investment. Ours is not a very meaty assc, but BEFORE we purchased the lot, we read over the HOA rules to be sure we could follow. If he didn’t like the rules, then he shouldn’t have purchased the home – he had a choice in the first place.
I am so glad we found a home to buy that was outside an HOA and it was built in 2005 in TX
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Previously we had rented a house in an HOA and after 1 week I was sick of their little notes about lawn care, how my car was parked, rules for street parking, etc. When you see someone going from lawn to lawn with a ruler measuring how high the grass is and then sending you a note accordingly they have too much power and too much time on their hands.
I don’t know…I think a 2×4 and poster board that says “go f*ck yourself” might do the trick and save you $200K in legal fees.
I’ve actually considered buying a house covered by a HOA just for the sole purpose of going to war with them, seems like a good way to spend my weekends.
INSANE!!!! But hurray for the homeowner.
What unbelievable arse-holes to tell this guy that he can not park his truck outside of his home in his driveway. If the truck is not sitting on cinder blocks and/or a rusted out heap or blocking the walkway, what the @%$# is the problem?!
I feel really good about this HOA having to pay his legal fees. He should go to every meeting as he now has the FU factor on his side and can probably get others to rally around him and pput an end to that HOA’s madness.
Hope the homeowner enjoys the huge jump in dues. His neighbors will surely appreciate it.
HOAs vary greatly. Some are very hands-off and only exist to maintain common property and uphold minimal reasonable standards. On the other hand some are very strict and run by either uptight members or a contracted company that profits off of the administration. In my area HOAs are required because it saves the country government from having to handle some of the responsibilities.
A pickup truck in the homeowner’s driveway hardly seems like something anyone would care about. It’s not like it was on the lawn, it isn’t a dead junk pile, and it’s not a commercial vehicle.
Think that’s bad? HOAs in Texas can foreclose on your home and sell it at auction if you are delinquent on your HOA payments. Too much power? Nah….
http://www.texashoaissues.com/Foreclosure.html
Here in Virginia, developers work HOA’s into their proposals for new sub-divisions because it greases the beaurocratic skids that get the project green-lighted by the county zoning boards. Essentially, the builder agrees to build out all the infrastructure for the neighborhood (playgrounds, streets, utility lines, trees and so on) at their own cost, and turn those assets over to the HOA as the sub-division gets built out. The state and local governments get the boost in tax revenue that accompanies the homes, while simultaneously being shielded from much of the build-out and maintenance costs of the accompanying infrastructure that enables the development and supports its higher property values to begin with.
It seems that the purpose of a HOA is to shield you against your neighbors’ bad taste. Which is all well and good, unless you’re the neighbor with the bad taste. Personally, I have somewhat libertarian leanings in this department, and would gladly trade living in an older, not quite as nice neighborhood in order to not be subject to a HOA and thus not worry if my car has a silly parking pass, or my kids’ toys are out in the yard.
I had never heard of the HOA until a few years ago (I’m currently 21 and have never lived in a house under their rule). There was a local story about this poor woman who was getting fined daily by the HOA because she had painted the inside of her house a color they didn’t approve. I was blown away by the stupidity because:
1. It’s her house. She pays the mortgage, utilities, etc, she can paint it any color she wants
2. It’s the INSIDE of the house. Who’s going to see it but her family and friends?
I’m quite familiar with this neighborhood and the surrounding ones and their HOA rules. For the most part, the rules work well. This is why it’s so important to have an HOA board that makes good decisions instead of pissing away hundreds of thousands of dollars on unenforceable rules.
I’m quite familiar with this neighborhood and the surrounding ones and their HOA rules. For the most part, the rules work well. This is why it’s so important to have an HOA board that makes good decisions instead of pissing away hundreds of thousands of dollars on unenforceable rules.
I live in a rented condo – there are 11 other units in the building and each one has a different owner. When we started having some pretty severe plumbing problems a few months ago that threatened to cave in the ceiling of the unit below ours, the management company basically refused to step in and do their job of, y’know, allowing contractors into both units while we were at work. Even though my landlord, roommate, and I had given express written permission for this to happen, as did the landlord and tenants of the other unit.
The management company told me they couldn’t help because they didn’t have a key to our place. I offered to go across the street to Lowe’s and have a key made, without even asking for my $1.50 back. They never responded. In the end, with my roommate on the opposite coast, me not really able to leave work, and my landlord across the state busy being a delegate, my landlord had to get his father to do the management company’s job.
So…yeah. I’m moving out next month, and I sincerely hope this is my last encounter with HOAs or condo associations ever. I have never known anyone who has ever had a positive or not-negative experience.
time to move out. those fees they pay are going to come right back to him in his monthly dues. unless he got himself exempted!
my community/neighborhood tried organizing a HOA but got shut down because people don’t want to deal with BS. I hate them, I have friends who have to deal with this bullshit. I have a brother who regularly receives letters and “warnings” about his grass or snow (in the winter). Most would say “well just do it” but he can have crazy work schedules where he goes like 20 days of work straight, sometimes shit just can’t get done. HOAs are like having a Nazi commandant observing your every move.
I absolutely hate HOAs.
The only time I might have had cause to complain about a neighbour to one, I solved the problem myself.
There was this lady trying to run a junk shop out of her garage. She had put up big signs around the neighbourhood advertising a “Big Sale” at her address. I thought at first it was garage sale so I went over to see if she had any paperbacks and found a garage that resembled a retail store. It didn’t bug me until I realized that the signs had been up for months.
Late one night, I went out and put up banners over the signs that said “Sexy Massage” while still leaving her address visible. All the signs were down by the time I left for school that morning and never went back up. My dad (who left for work much earlier during the community’s rush half-hour) said that a lot of people slowed down around those areas.
I’d take the award money, sell the house and move.