HOA, Deed Restrictions, Homeowners Associations; in Hillsborough County. . Help (Ruskin: apartment complex, renting)

[uberchrist33]

Okay, all. I'm having a problem with my HOA. I live in an unincorporated area of Hillsborough County, called Ruskin. My HOA is telling me that I cannot park my car, on the street. But, they told me that the street is owned by Hillsborough County. I've contacted the zoning board, and they said that as long as the car is licensed, and insured; and not blocking the right-of-way, there are no restrictions for parking on the street.

My HOA is contending, that even though the street is owned by Hills Co, since the road is in the HOA, the residence have to adhere to the covenants. However, the covenants indicate that parking on the "property" is restricted to the driveways.

If the HOA does not: 1) owned the street, 2) doesn't maintain the street; and 3) is not responsible for the street -- how can they impose this restriction?

Any information will be greatly appreciated.

[Pstreicher]

When you bought your property you agreed to abide by the covenants and bylaws of your community wether or not your were made aware of them by your realtor. Many communitys are against parking in the streets. One important thing to keep in mind is how do emergency vehicles navigate between two tightly parked cars on a single lane street in a community? If it were you or someone in your family in a life or death situation waiting...well, you get the picture.

[bentlebee]

Pasco County has "no parking in any streets" in all communities and all non gated communities have public roads. This has partly to do with emergency vehicles to have enough space to get through. We had 2 cars parked on one side of the street and 3 fire trucks had to get to one house due to a very small fire, but at the time of the call nobody knew how bad it was. I saw myself (we were walking our dogs) how the situation was and now I totally understand the rule. Most driveways are for 2 cars and fit even 4 cars and on top of that you can park 2 cars in the garage. If a person choses to use their garage as a living room or fitness center or garbage/storage facility, that is their own issue and they shouldn't complain that they don't have enough space....how many people have 6 huge cars and live in a community?

[uberchrist33]

I live in a 1900 Sq. Ft house, that has 4 rooms. 2 rooms are very large, so I could have 10 persons living in my house, and all of them could have vehicles. If you have 10 persons, and the yard is only 50’ in frontage area, and you can only park 6 cars in your driveway, where are you going to put the other 4? That’s my concern. These HOA are selling homes, that are big enough to house 10 persons, yet they don’t take into consideration the parking area. Also, in Hillsborough County, there are no restrictions to parking on the street, as long as the vehicle is licensed and insured. I also had the zoning board review my deed restrictions, and it clearly does not state that parking on the street is prohibited. The HOA has passed out what they are calling a summary, but the summary has additional wording, and it’s not filed with the county.

[P3anut]

Originally Posted by uberchrist33

Okay, all. I'm having a problem with my HOA. I live in an unincorporated area of Hillsborough County, called Ruskin. My HOA is telling me that I cannot park my car, on the street. But, they told me that the street is owned by Hillsborough County. I've contacted the zoning board, and they said that as long as the car is licensed, and insured; and not blocking the right-of-way, there are no restrictions for parking on the street.

My HOA is contending, that even though the street is owned by Hills Co, since the road is in the HOA, the residence have to adhere to the covenants. However, the covenants indicate that parking on the "property" is restricted to the driveways.

If the HOA does not: 1) owned the street, 2) doesn't maintain the street; and 3) is not responsible for the street -- how can they impose this restriction?

Any information will be greatly appreciated.

Look up the condo/association statues for your state, if they are not abiding by the statue they are governed by, you can fight it, but also look at your by laws and rules and regulations for your association, I also know the states attorney is who maintains the statues for HOA's
we are having a great deal of problems with our association. Hope this will help. I'm beginning to think associations are above the law.
go to your association meetings and address it.

[BucFan]

I think its unrealistic to argue that you have a 10 car household. To tell the truth, as a future home buyer, I really look at how many cars are parked along, around, houses (and on lawns). I can understand that HOA enforce this. People put all kinds things on the community streets.

[Pstreicher]

Originally Posted by uberchrist33

Okay, all. I'm having a problem with my HOA. I live in an unincorporated area of Hillsborough County, called Ruskin. My HOA is telling me that I cannot park my car, on the street. But, they told me that the street is owned by Hillsborough County. I've contacted the zoning board, and they said that as long as the car is licensed, and insured; and not blocking the right-of-way, there are no restrictions for parking on the street.

My HOA is contending, that even though the street is owned by Hills Co, since the road is in the HOA, the residence have to adhere to the covenants. However, the covenants indicate that parking on the "property" is restricted to the driveways.

If the HOA does not: 1) owned the street, 2) doesn't maintain the street; and 3) is not responsible for the street -- how can they impose this restriction?

Any information will be greatly appreciated.

I would like to look over your HOA Covenants. Are they online where I could view them? I am planning on breaking down our bylaws piece by piece and coming up with some changes, additions and deletions to put before our board. I plan to get each homeowners voice on this before bringing before the board. I have seen some very up to date bylaws. Ours seem outdated. I was recently elected to our board so I should be able to have some leverage or at least be listened to. If your covenants are not online can you scan them and print them to a pdf and email them to me?
I would be more than happy to discuss any of this with anyone.
I have recently found out by doing research on the web that homeowners can petition for changes to their bylaws. You only have to get the percentage of signatures that are stated in the bylaws for a majority. It's your government at work. The majority votes are only to bring the matter to the board for consideration. Now, if the board is working in the community's favor they should see that the majority wants a change and then vote it in. Our percentage is 20%. Not hard to get in a 115 member community I think. That's 23 signatures.
My email is pstreicher@aol.com. Thanks.
Paul

[HIF]

Originally Posted by uberchrist33

Okay, all. I'm having a problem with my HOA. I live in an unincorporated area of Hillsborough County, called Ruskin. My HOA is telling me that I cannot park my car, on the street. But, they told me that the street is owned by Hillsborough County. I've contacted the zoning board, and they said that as long as the car is licensed, and insured; and not blocking the right-of-way, there are no restrictions for parking on the street.

My HOA is contending, that even though the street is owned by Hills Co, since the road is in the HOA, the residence have to adhere to the covenants. However, the covenants indicate that parking on the "property" is restricted to the driveways.

If the HOA does not: 1) owned the street, 2) doesn't maintain the street; and 3) is not responsible for the street -- how can they impose this restriction?

Any information will be greatly appreciated.

The HOA can not impose restrictions on municipal streets.

[uberchrist33]

Originally Posted by BucFan

I think its unrealistic to argue that you have a 10 car household. To tell the truth, as a future home buyer, I really look at how many cars are parked along, around, houses (and on lawns). I can understand that HOA enforce this. People put all kinds things on the community streets.

Again, my house has 4 bedrooms, 1900 Sq. Ft. I have neighbors that have the same house, and have 5 children. Once they start having cars, they’ll be 7 cars. 6 parking spaces. Where is the “unrealistic” part? When I lived in Arkansas, renting an apartment that had 1,000 sq. ft., 3 bedrooms, and I could legally have 7 persons live there, but the apartment complex only provided 3 parking spaces. My argument is: If you are selling houses that can house 10 persons, and if they all have autos, where do these HOA expect us to park theses cars? I’m also upset, over the fact that since there was no statement regarding parking on the street, in the covenants. Had there been, I would have negotiated, or not moved into the HOA, entirely. I feel as if I’ve been “bait, and switched”. If you are planning on moving into an HOA, you can't use your current gauging, regarding parking; because I have neighbors, who are starting to park on their front yards, and that is stipulated as prohibited, under the deed restrictions.

[tjax1000]

Originally Posted by HIF

The HOA can not impose restrictions on municipal streets.

There must be some clause in the law somewhere that gives HOA's the right to govern the streets even when the street is not private. That is all I can think of.

As to the other stuff, all I can say is if you're going to live in an HOA community, you'd better fit the stereotype. Please, no more than a family of 4 and only a single generation living in the home. Make sure you are happy with standard, approved landscaping and approved house colors. You should be okay with taking the kids to the park because they won't be playing basketball in the driveway. You won't want to have any hobbies like carpentry or working on cars, that is for sure. It also helps if you have an 8-5 job and wear at least khakis and a polo shirt to work, so you won't make the neighbors uncomfortable when you get home and walk to the mailbox. Oh, and make sure you know where the best place to buy sod is. Because, when it is a drought and 100 degrees out and you're not allowed to water, you'll get a letter if your lawn is brown. At least when you buy sod it is already damp, which should buy you about 2 days of green-ness.

The funny thing is, all the rules are designed to keep the neighborhood looking nice. Well if that is the case, why do they always slash and burn all the trees and build the houses 2 feet apart?

So I'm mostly joking I guess, but in a way I'm really not, which makes it sort of sad, doesn't it?