F'in HOA

[SeekingZero]

I'm a bit peeved about what just occurred today so I thought I would vent to you fine people. :rant

A little background:
First. My wife, dog, and I rent a townhouse in South San Jose. It belongs to a HOA. Therefore, we must abide the HOA.

Second. I am rebuilding a '71 CB175 for my wife in our garage. The build thread is here. http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=34716.0

So my wife just called me here at work telling me that we just received a cease and desist letter from the local HOA. Apparently someone has complained to the HOA that I have been rebuilding and painting a motorcycle.:facepalm According to the HOA rules for my area, anything other than changing your own oil is prohibited in my neighborhood! :wtf:wow

So I suppose I will be finishing this build with the garage door shut! :shhh:eboy

And to the HOA and the kindly person without the balls to tell me in person...

There. I think I'm better now.

 

[HappyHighwayman]

Yeah do it with the door shut and if they ask to come in, tell them to get a warrant

 

[nebulous]

Pho Hoa, i hate those guys too...

 

[Desmo996s]

If it makes you feel any better, basically every HOA has similar rules. Your neighbors don't want to feel like they are living nextdoor to a junk yard regardless of how nice of vehicle you are working on... get a portable air conditioner (cause it will be a hot summer in SJ, shut the garage door and they should leave you along. GL with the build.

 

[Feanor]

A friend of mine lives in an HOA townhouse complex and I know how insane people can get enforcing "The Covenant" They even make it sound like divine justice.

We were running ELECTRIC RC cars up and down the access road, in which if you opened your house window WIDE open and stuck your head out and held your breath, you MIGHT hear them from a distance of 20 yards.

This building manager came walking out and said we had to "Cease and Desist" because the cars were an obstacle to emergency equipment...

I looked down at the 3 inch high car, and back up at her, then back down at the car and then just blurted out, "look out behind you here comes a fire truck!"

The week before that, he bought this fairly classy looking oiled bronze mailbox (It was over $100) they made him change it because it was the wrong color...

 

[stan23]

Looking at your pics, it's probably the painting that people have a problem with. Don't know but it seems some folks are very sensitive to paint.

 

[msethhunter]

Don't know but it seems some folks are very sensitive to paint.

Some folks are just to damn sensitive!

My HOA story:

I was living with a friend in FL for a few months while I was looking for my own place. My GF at the time had a really nice Chevy 1500, all black, nice wheels, tinted windows. She wasn't allowed to park it in the driveway because it was a truck, so we got a letter in on the truck one day telling us we couldn't do it anymore. But, a few houses one direction, there was a Expidetion parked in the driveway, no letter. A few houses the other direction there was a plumbing van parked in the driveway, no letter.

IMO, they just decide to pick on people who rent, because they are outsiders, and basically have no power to defend themselves. The main reason I will never live where there is an HOA is because it's my house, and I'll do whatever I fucking please at it. I don't need some HOA telling me I can't (insert whatever you want here), because it's against the rules.

Yeah yeah, I know that an HOA increases the value of your home. I personally don't give a shit. Quality of life is more important.

 

[auntiebling]

unless they didn't tell you about the HOA rules when you moved in,.... duh.

HOAs do suck to live under, you have to be smarter. working constantly with the garage door open is asking for trouble. move your project to the porch when you can and call it an art project with your prodigal son, as he'll be back from the icecream store any minute

 

[EQPlayer]

I've read many HOA horror stories over the years. Really glad I don't live under one.

But yup, close the garage door and demand a warrant if anyone gets nosy.

 

[Stormdragon]

We have a local gated community that is horse oriented. Almost everyone has a couple horses. One of the rules? Your horse trailer cannot be visible from the road. :laughing

 

[Teddy]

I know HOA's suck, I was tied to one for too many years......but you also have to remember that some of the poeple there probably OWN their homes, and nowadays, everyone is sensitive to anything that may visually affect the value or desireability of their house. When I was showing my townhouse I went to the people that were always yelling and screaming at each other in their place and told them to STFU for a few hours while people looked at my place.:teeth

A townhouse is not a "house". The rules that govern a plot of property for a mass of different people always have to cater to the lowest common denominator and always protect against the piling up of things like parts and junk, the introduction of chemicals to the house(ieaint), or vehicle repairs. Honestly, if somone was painting a vehicle in their garage at my old townhouse complex I would have told them to quit it.....in person, but they would not have listened and I would have had to go through the HOA anyways......:teeth

I know it sucks....but when you join a club you should know the rules first!!

I still hate my old HOA......I still get mail from the dipshits....

 

[planegray]

paint someone else's garage pink.... maybe that'll distract 'em for a while :dunno

 

[Pking]

I always envision HOA areas kinda like the dmz...everyone lives like uniformed soldiers and is ready to pounce (report) on any neighbor who at even the slightest whim steps out of line. Can't even park your own (2nd) vehicle in your own driveway, can't paint your house a different color, picket fence can only be x inches high, can't even work in your own garage, etc. F-that crap! I've never purchased a home in a HOA area but I feel that as long as you keep your property clean, well maintained and refrain from being an eyesore & nuisance to the neighborhood you should be free to do what you want on your property. IMO:x

 

[Hawaiirider]

Put a lot of people in a compact space and you NEED rules - sure YOU think you are being reasonable, but then what about the guy running air tools at midnite or turning his garage into a spray booth ( professional paints are NASTY stuff ! ).

Yes, rules for what color your mailbox and drapes are seem draconian, but I'll bet every instance came with a precedent of some inDUHvidual painting his shutters chrome or some other disturbing scheme.

Don't like having Live-in Nazis measuring your lawn height ? Don't. Live. There.

I wouldn't want to be in a place like those either, but then again I have a neighbor with 4 dead cars on his lawn that he's been 'working on/parting out' since I bought my place.


In 1997.

 

[Marcoose]

Let me recap. You signed a lease agreement acknowledging the HOA rules. You break the rules. The HOA reminds you of your promise. You're upset at the HOA.

Does it jive? You agreed to the rules, mate.

That said, I live in a HOA too. I keep a can of chain cleaner next to the bike. The HOA frowned at that and stated we can't keep flammable products in the garage. I ask what I should do with the 15 gallons of petrol inside the car. And the upholstery. And the covertible rag top. Etc. Case closed.

 

[Maygoddess]

Some folks are just to damn sensitive!

My HOA story:

I was living with a friend in FL for a few months while I was looking for my own place. My GF at the time had a really nice Chevy 1500, all black, nice wheels, tinted windows. She wasn't allowed to park it in the driveway because it was a truck, so we got a letter in on the truck one day telling us we couldn't do it anymore. But, a few houses one direction, there was a Expidetion parked in the driveway, no letter. A few houses the other direction there was a plumbing van parked in the driveway, no letter.

IMO, they just decide to pick on people who rent, because they are outsiders, and basically have no power to defend themselves. The main reason I will never live where there is an HOA is because it's my house, and I'll do whatever I fucking please at it. I don't need some HOA telling me I can't (insert whatever you want here), because it's against the rules.

Yeah yeah, I know that an HOA increases the value of your home. I personally don't give a shit. Quality of life is more important.

This is not ALWAYS true..I am actually on the board of our HOA..it is single family homes detached..115 homes and I got on the board to make sure they were not too militant.

So I can say in OUR case..we do not necessarily pick on renters...here is the scoop..parking is fairly limited in our neighborhood..with all the close driveways..tehre is very little curb space so the CC&R's state that all vehicles must be parked in garage and/or driveway..so the garages should hold 2 cars and driveway holds 2 cars. Of course motorcycles can be parked there as well. We ask that street parking be reserved for guests only.

What happens is..say in your hood...they say no large trucks..so they send you a warning letter..it may be that someone complained about YOU or if they have an inspector, they noted it and reported it. They then will send a letter asking you to move. If they continue to see they car, they then ask you to come to a hearing during an HOA meeting..if you don't show you get a violation charge..usually $25. So it very well COULD be they are also doing this to the neighbors with the larger vehicles too but it is a drawn out process. if you don't cooperate and move and then don't show to hearing and STILL don;'t move car even with violation charge..well it appears the HOA is doing nothing. your neighbors may be doing the same..and you cry fowl because you don't see THEM abiding by the rules. this happens ALL the time.. "I being singled out"..blah blah.

Now with renters..we do find they tend to be in violation of some of the rules simply because the owner/landlord does not give them the scoop on the rules..we find this ALL the time as well. We then have to hunt down the owner to let them know their tenants need to fix the violations. That can be time consuming as well.


So yeah..dog HOA's..silly rules and restrictions, etc...BUT I don't mind paying the extra fee each month (and ours is rediculously low for HOA fees!) so that I am not living next door to someone with the car on blocks in their front yard and I can't do $hit about it! or they let their lawn and weeds grow 20 inches high...their ARE benefits to having it!

As for working on the motorycle in the garage...welllll..technically it is a GARAGE..a workspace or car parking space or storage..if you are wokring on it IN the garage..I don't see an issue..if you were out in the community doing it..I could see the issue..then it allows EVERYONE to do it and then your neighborhood looks like auto body central.

It does take work to make it fair for everyone in an HOA..everyone thinks that the rules don;t apply to THEM only...well..yeah..they do..

Okay...said my peace!

 

[Xovaan]

HOA's are created by people who bought their homes as a source of prospective equity and don't want things like "people having fun" to ruin their ability to take out another loan for a land barge or plastic surgery for their miserable wives so they at least looks like they're smiling when reluctantly fondling their wrinkly, shriveled whiny wieners.

 

[SeekingZero]

As for working on the motorycle in the garage...welllll..technically it is a GARAGE..a workspace or car parking space or storage..if you are wokring on it IN the garage..I don't see an issue..if you were out in the community doing it..I could see the issue..then it allows EVERYONE to do it and then your neighborhood looks like auto body central.

I used to do some work outside the garage on the 5 feet of driveway. But I moved all my workings inside a while back. I am quite anal about cleanliness and keep my garage mostly spotless and everything else in it.

I understand the paint issue, and originally started painting outside. After a couple times I decided to build a small paint both in the garage and have moved the painting inside.

:wow I just realized that given their rules, I won't be able to do the maintenance on the 999 myself! Oh to hell with that, I'm not paying for that to get done.

So I got home and looked at the letter and their rules are written like laws. Stupidly vague. The article that was sited was: Nuisances: No noxious, illegal, or seriously offensive activities shall be carried on upon any condominium, or in any part of the property...etc, etc, :bs

I'm sure that HOA's are nice to have and it helps keep the riff raff in check, but there's a limit. All I wanna do is :ride and bikes need proper maintenance to be continuously ridden. So with that said, these rules.

 

[SeekingZero]

HOA's are created by people who bought their homes as a source of prospective equity and don't want things like "people having fun" to ruin their ability to take out another loan for a land barge or plastic surgery for their miserable wives so they at least looks like they're smiling when reluctantly fondling their wrinkly, shriveled whiny wieners.

+1 :rofl

 

[WeekEndWarrior]

some of you are lucky with the HOA.

my neighbor consistently has 2 cars parked on the lawn. garbage around the house and pallets on the other. I've called Code enforcement twice already. nothings changed.

not to mention the second or possibly third family living in the garage.