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... if you don't pay attention to what your HOA is doing.
I finished your sentence.
I love how people are quick to bash an HOA, yet they never go to meetings, they don't vote on new board members, and they have no clue what is actually in their by-laws. Ignorance is not an excuse and it won't hold up in court.
Well, it's closing the barn door after the horse has run away, but I would have been damned if I would have let them in my house uninvited without a subpoena.
Given that, I would contact your local legal aid society, explain the situation, and see if anyone can help you.
Meanwhile, why not just sell the car? Regardless of the sentimental attachment, it needs to go somewhere where it can be appreciated and used and enjoyed, not just parked in a garage under canvas for years and years and years. I know it irks to be told what you can and cannot do in your own home (that's where Legal Aid comes in), but it would the simplest remedy to a lot of problems (space, money, getting the HOA off your back, etc.) and take a lot of stress off of you.
It is likely he has to establish how he's using his garage to get the street permit. He COULD have refused, he just wouldn't have received the permit.
This is not about how he uses his garage, it's about his right to get an additional permit to use the common property.
... if you don't pay attention to what your HOA is doing.
I finished your sentence.
I love how people are quick to bash an HOA, yet they never go to meetings, they don't vote on new board members, and they have no clue what is actually in their by-laws. Ignorance is not an excuse and it won't hold up in court.
I see the need, to participate, to attend meetings, to run for a seat on the board, to hope your voice is effective, as a negative thing. If you can't get the whole community to support you against the board, you're screwed. To acknowledge the need to participate is to acknowledge the HOA can be a problem.
Protection from crappy neighbors vs. doing anything we want.
Depends on your definition of "crappy".
From what I've seen numerous friends deal with, an HOA almost guarantees "crappy" neighbors, since many of them are more worried about whether their neighbors are breaking inane rules than actually being friends and neighbors.
You can't make this stuff up. People are actually offended by this, to the point that they're gonna harass a breast cancer survivor over it? Even it it were against their arcane rules (and that seems to be in question), really?
I see the need, to participate, to attend meetings, to run for a seat on the board, to hope your voice is effective, as a negative thing. If you can't get the whole community to support you against the board, you're screwed. To acknowledge the need to participate is to acknowledge the HOA can be a problem.
It is likely he has to establish how he's using his garage to get the street permit. He COULD have refused, he just wouldn't have received the permit.
This is not about how he uses his garage, it's about his right to get an additional permit to use the common property.
Correct.
The issue is even though the non-running car is technically a car, it's not being used as one. So that half of the garage is really being used as storage - of a non-running automobile.
Since parking permits are VERY valuable, the HOA is trying to make sure everyone is using their garage primarily first, before issuing the permits. The OP asked for a permit, but is technically not actively using the second bay since the car is unable to run and drive.
I wonder if the OP were to give up the permit, that the fuss would die down?
We've lived in the Village Walk Town homes in Santa Ana, CA for over 25 years. At first, it was a great place to live, we didn't have any issues. We inherited my husband's Grandparents car and it has been kept in our private, attached, enclosed 2 car garage ever since. We have it registered at Non Op, and we park it and one of our other cars in the garage. As I said, we haven't driven it in over 20 years. We had no complaints about it until this year. This year, the HOA made us allow them to illegally search our garage to be sure that we could park 2 cars in it before they gave us our one Parking Permit. The garage passed inspection and we got our permit. 2 months after, the ASS-sociation is telling us that we cannot store our car in our own private garage, that it must be used 'regularly'. They just made that a rule. The definition of a garage is to park and store cars. They wanted 'photographic proof' that I wasn't using my garage for storage. I sent them a picture showing that both cars were parked in our garage. Now they have sent us a certified letter stating that we have a hearing time set with them for July 2 and that we have to prove that we have both cars running and use them regularly, or they will fine us and revoke our parking pass. I don't know what to do at this point. I KNOW they won't grandfather in for us even though we've had our car in there stored for over 20 years. We can't afford to get that car up and driveable again, even though we did have it running about 4 months ago. It needs new tires and other things, and we don't have it insured as it's been in our garage all this time. We can't afford a lawyer to try and fight this. We still have over $30,000 in medical bills from our sons emergency hospital stay 2 years ago (and yes, we had GREAT insurance expect for Blue Cross denying SO FREAKING MANY THINGS and the hospital refused to work with us, so we got screwed there!) We don't want to sell the car, and besides, even if we didn't have that car, our Suburban wouldn't fit in there anyway. That is parked out in the parking lot using our parking permit. We can't move, we don't have the money to do that either. We're pretty stuck. I've searched for the past 2 weeks online, and just am not finding anything. I talked to our city code enforcement and they came and looked at my garage and said that I am in compliance with all city codes and that the city requires homeowners to park non registered cars in their garage and out of public view. I just don't know what to do at this point. Any advice would be welcomed at this point. I just need to win this stupid war. We're probably going to have to live here another 10 years until my parents are no longer living and then we can get the hell out of here and out of California period. Never again will I ever live in a Nazi run HOA. It was great until we got the Nazi's on this Board.
First paragraphs are your friend
Next, how can someone force you to allow them to illegally search your garage? If it is illegal then they have no legal leg to stand on and if they threaten legal recourse you tell them you will see them in court.
After that if it is a city ordinance that all non registered vehicles are required to be parked in a garage out of public view you take a copy of that ordinance and attach it to a letter to the HOA.
Keep a copy of what you send the HOA, send it return receipt so you know they accepted the letter and leave it at that.
We've lived in the Village Walk Town homes in Santa Ana, CA for over 25 years. At first, it was a great place to live, we didn't have any issues. We inherited my husband's Grandparents car and it has been kept in our private, attached, enclosed 2 car garage ever since. We have it registered at Non Op, and we park it and one of our other cars in the garage. As I said, we haven't driven it in over 20 years. We had no complaints about it until this year. This year, the HOA made us allow them to illegally search our garage to be sure that we could park 2 cars in it before they gave us our one Parking Permit. The garage passed inspection and we got our permit. 2 months after, the ASS-sociation is telling us that we cannot store our car in our own private garage, that it must be used 'regularly'. They just made that a rule. The definition of a garage is to park and store cars. They wanted 'photographic proof' that I wasn't using my garage for storage. I sent them a picture showing that both cars were parked in our garage. Now they have sent us a certified letter stating that we have a hearing time set with them for July 2 and that we have to prove that we have both cars running and use them regularly, or they will fine us and revoke our parking pass. I don't know what to do at this point. I KNOW they won't grandfather in for us even though we've had our car in there stored for over 20 years. We can't afford to get that car up and driveable again, even though we did have it running about 4 months ago. It needs new tires and other things, and we don't have it insured as it's been in our garage all this time. We can't afford a lawyer to try and fight this. We still have over $30,000 in medical bills from our sons emergency hospital stay 2 years ago (and yes, we had GREAT insurance expect for Blue Cross denying SO FREAKING MANY THINGS and the hospital refused to work with us, so we got screwed there!) We don't want to sell the car, and besides, even if we didn't have that car, our Suburban wouldn't fit in there anyway. That is parked out in the parking lot using our parking permit. We can't move, we don't have the money to do that either. We're pretty stuck. I've searched for the past 2 weeks online, and just am not finding anything. I talked to our city code enforcement and they came and looked at my garage and said that I am in compliance with all city codes and that the city requires homeowners to park non registered cars in their garage and out of public view. I just don't know what to do at this point. Any advice would be welcomed at this point. I just need to win this stupid war. We're probably going to have to live here another 10 years until my parents are no longer living and then we can get the hell out of here and out of California period. Never again will I ever live in a Nazi run HOA. It was great until we got the Nazi's on this Board.
It wasn't "illegal" - you agreed as a term of getting your permit. There's no drama or conspiracy. If you want your permit, get rid of the car. If you want to keep the non-running car then you won't be able to get a permit.
A stored NON OP vehicle is still a LEGALLY registered vehicle since it is in the state DMV Computer. Any notice to the DMV that it will be on the road again and the current license fees paid it can still be parked in the garage driven or not.
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