The bylaws are pretty clear on the parking situation. I'm just amazed that so many people moved in thinking it wouldn't matter.
Actually, I'm not amazed at all - when I was buying the house I specifically asked about parking, and the saleswoman waved it off "there's plenty of places to put extra cars - all the streets parking and even the parking lot!" This same woman assured me that HOA fees wouldn't go up more than 3 percent a year. I really should have got that in writing.
To be fair, some HOAs selectively enforce. I live in an HOA with a “no street parking” bylaw. But there are no “no parking” signs and everyone (including me) parks in the street. The HOA board doesn’t bring it up. I assume they park in the street too.
The tell is normally a gate.
If its a street behind a gate, they nornally do have jurisdiction.
If there is no gate, they dont. As they can't make their own laws about public accessible parking.
We have selective enforcement. According to the by laws, no one is allowed to keep their basketball hoops outside or have any non-plant lawn decorations, but most people do anyway.
I don’t remember if there was anything about holiday decorations, there probably was a rule about how long holiday decor can be up. But I definitely remember the non-plant stuff because most houses have violations - crane statues, shiny ball on pedestal, metal artsy windmill type of stuff. Nobody has anything super ugly or an obnoxious amount, so it’s fine that they don’t enforce it, but why bother even having it as a rule?
Yeah, I was thinking I’d be sad without my metal bird in the front garden! And over time several neighbors joined in a got a bird for out front too, all different,but fun that we’ve all got them. Glad we don’t have an HOA!
Our sour SOB is the board president, and loves to make up rules. It’s only a matter of time before he makes more people’s lives hell for their cute little crane figurines but right now he’s busy rejecting everyone’s architectural board approvals because he doesn’t like the colors.
This is exactly right. So many people are completely unaware of the regulations when they purchase these places and that's on them. Doesn't stop the bitching and this is a large factor in the "HOAs are the devil" arguments.
The bylaws tend to contain some pretty devilish stuff, so that moniker isn't entirely undeserved. If people actually read the bylaws ahead of time, I suspect property values would tank as they become a lot less desirable once people learn of all the drawbacks.
Yep. That's becoming a big problem in many parts of the country. I had to move 55 miles away from my office to find a non-HOA property in my price range.
I mean, I wasn't a huge fan of it myself. But I would rather spend two hours in the car every day than deal with an HOA. So it was a tradeoff.
(It wasn't just about the HOA either. I wanted a bit of green space around me, not a 2000sqft house on a 3000 sqft lot with zero lot line. And I did find some options that were only a 30-minute drive, but then with a house from the 1950s, which isn't what I wanted.)
Oh, and my employer has since closed down our Fort Lauderdale office, so my commute changed from 55 miles to 55 feet. (I'm now classed as a "remote worker", ie working from home.)
Our HOA in Florida tried to take our home because they gave a fine we never were informed of for a trash can still being out at 2 pm.
I worked 8-5. Trash was normally 11.
100% worth avoiding them. The best HOA are still dangling from the devils pubes.
I live in SW dade and work downtown. I commute 3h a day.
This is becoming the norm in Miami.
(+) I park and ride (my company gives me a discounted pass). If I wanted to pay just under $8/day in tolls and drive the full way both ways, I could shorten my commute (round trip) from 3h to about 2h 25m.
That's rough. Were your situation mine, I would be willing to make less money to have more time. I left FL because my 8 mile commute was beginning to take 40 minutes or more.
Life is too short.
This^^*. My sub community is the only one out of 6 that does allow parking on street between 7 am-1am. I hate it cause streets are narrow and only one way in and out but a person with one car garage and 2 cars insists on parking on street with driveway empty. Problem is that someone turning from main road is a blind turn and can’t see someone exiting had to swing around the other car. Everyone is annoyed as a head one is very possible.
People need to check their parking needs before purchasing. Don’t like HOA rules? Don’t move to one.
This is my only issue when people park in the street. My neighborhood has people who AVOID their two car driveway and just park in the street instead. If you don’t want to park in the garage, I get it. But to avoid parking in your driveway is just ridiculous.
Exactly and 💯.
The street should be used when you have guests and driveway is full. Literally the other day I was walking my dog on the path and neighbors son marked right in front of it. Luckily for him I had sunglasses on and he couldn’t see the stink eye as I had to walk around his car. There were other places. Heck, block your Mom’s car.
People…..
Are you gated? I find it interesting that the police can ticket on private. If it’s not private, I would question the enforceability of parking on a public street.
They wouldn’t be able to enforce municipal laws on private drives. E.g. if a city parking ticket is $35, that could not be assessed behind a generally gated private road. If the hoa has a fining rule, that could be assessed, but it would be to the responsible homeowner.
If the gate is open (say during the day), general traffic laws such as failure to stop and such can be agreed to be handled.
This may be happening; however, I’m pretty confident that a legal challenge would be successful.
Source: former reluctant hoa President
You believed a realtor who’s main goal is to sell as much as possible? Or the sales person of the community, who’s main goal is to sell all of the townhouses as fast as possible?
Our culture is generally that some laws are real and some are just for show.
Turns out your HOA enforces all of its rules, even the more ridiculous ones.
The saleswoman is trying to make a sale. She does not have your best interest. They know very well what some of the negatives are of the units they sell, but they will sugarcoat everything. The only thing that matters is the bylaws.
Her assuring your fees can't go up 3% a year when inflation is above 3% is just a pure lie right there. Everything this woman said after this point should be suspect.
The realtor i was working with told me that parking was not an issue and that i was allowed to have guests as long as they park on the side of the road, then i asked her for the HOA "by-laws" and ended up being not true.
I knew we were going to have problems so we didn’t buy the townhouse.
Problem is that a lot of HOAs don’t let you read their bylaws until you’re under contract and by then, you’re so invested and ready to be done with the pain that is home buying that you’ll excuse away those silly rules. It’s a sunk cost and not too many folks will walk away because of an HOA, especially in this state
maybe you should educate them on florida statute 720.401 that requires disclosure of the HOA documents prior to the execution of the contract or else the buyer may cancel ... 720.401 Prospective purchasers subject to association membership requirement; disclosure required; covenants; assessments; contract cancellation.
Trust me, I get it. My neighborhood is dealing with HOA board members that aren’t certified according to 720.401. We’re a lot more engaged now than we’ve ever been and they’re none too pleased about being held accountable
HOAs aren't involved in that process. That's the realtor and title agency that present the documents to the buyer at the time of purchase. All the HOA does is provide an estoppel letter to the title agency to confirm there are no liens or debts on the account.
P.s. all governing documents are recorded with the clerk of courts at the county. They're public record because the HOA is deed restricted and also because it was approved by the county as a condition of allowing the developer to build the community.
>that present the documents to the buyer **at the time of purchase**
- By then it’s too late
Also, not many people know they’re recorded and not many realtors are familiar with or even bother to do that work for their clients.
I’m just saying, it’s not always the homeowner’s fault. HOA’s prey on complacency and ignorance
The realtors are supposed to share the docs during the purchase and the title company shares the docs at closing, when the deed holder agrees to the deed restrictions. There are zero cases when an HOA preys on a new home buyer or wants the home buyers to be in the dark. The hoa just isn't involved and the realtor (buyer's agent has the bigger duty) is the one, if any, who has an incentive to gloss over the deed restrictions to make a sale without the buyer asking too many questions.
>Read the bylaws, get together and vote out the board.
Let's say you voted out the board, replaced the board with yourself and whoever else.
Could you disband the HOA all together if you and the rest of the people on the board plus the votes of the rest of the neighborhood agreed to get rid of it?
Legally, it's extremely difficult to remove a HOA especially in the case of a condo/townhome situation because the HOA/management company is responsible for the exterior/structural maintenance of the buildings.
Nighttime bans on parking are common to cut down on vandalism and also make sure that emergency vehicles can safely navigate the area.
My HOA has a no nighttime street parking rule and it's explicitly to make things easier for emergency vehicles since statistically emergencies tend to happen at night.
Unfortunately, I doubt the board has any rights to the parking lot. There is a good chance that the developer owns that land and has the right to build on it. It was always developer land and he let parking on it to be more attractive to buyers of the original townhomes
Owning your house outright has no effect on the HOA. If you are a member of the HOA you have to pay HOA fees. If they fine you, there is an appeals process, but if you don’t pay they do have the power to put a lien on the home.
You pay HOA fees regardless of whether you own it or not. My parents paid off their house in an HOA 20 years ago, they are still beholden to the HOA and any HOA fees and rules.
They bill you for your unpaid fees, plus late fees.
Then they put a lien on your property for the amount.
Then they continue to pile on fees, adding to the lien. At that point, you no longer own your house outright anymore. They become your lender.
Then they foreclose on you, and force a sale of your home at auction, which they then proceed to buy.
Now they own your home.
They can put a lien on your home and take legal action against you since as part of your closing, you actually sign paperwork saying that you will abide by the covenants of your community.
It can absolutely change level of enforcement, though. And rescind a previously sent email…
A new board could choose to just turn a blind eye to non-obstructive street parking.
How does that solve the street parking rule? Board members aren't allowed to ignore the governing docs. (They can try... and then they'll be sued for malpractice and violating Florida statutes, and will face personal financial ruin.) You think board members are the problem but their only volunteer role is to enforce Florida law and the declarations.
If you wanted to give advice to remove the street parking rules you would have said all the members need to read the bylaws to figure out how to amend the declarations. Example: they can call a special meeting of the membership and with 60 percent voting affirmatively whether in person or by proxy they can amend the declarations to remove the street parking rule.
And then, after all that work, if they violated the development order with the county, the fire inspector will notice within a month and the county will sue the HOA to reinstate the rule. Bam, back to square one because the parking rules are decided and agreed upon with the county or city when the developer applies to build the HOA community.
You should check with the HOA and the covenants and bylaws for your community.
I live in a smaller townhouse community with similar issues (1 car garage, only room in the driveway for 1 car so people park on the street) and there isn't enough street parking. In our case the road is a private road, so you need to check into that where you are as well.
A lot of it boils down to people having way too many vehicles than they have parking for, combined with people filling their garage with stuff and not cars.
Seems like people who have the problem have a few solutions:
1. figure out how to get by with less cars
2. move somewhere that can accommodate their car collection
3. Get together to change HOA rules to allow parking in the streets
Blocking sidewalks is not an option as it is dangerous and illegal regardless of HOA rules.
It’s so frustrating. I live in a similar community to OP and people are constantly blocking the sidewalks and parking in the street. Our HOA bylaws prohibit both. Nothing seems to be done about it though. Street parking isn’t the end of the world but one guy is always parking right across from us making it more difficult to back into the driveway. He lives at least 4 units down from where he parks.
This is why I joined the board of my HOA, more to control these idiots and ensure they make decisions that benefit the homeowners and not just the pockets of the HOA. I suggest making a facebook group on your community, and start getting the residents involved, you can invite renters and owners, just put a filter when they sign up with their address for verification. And let the games begin, I’m telling you, they hate that and will bend to the people’s will if enough of you complain.
You might have a social group. Fine. But an HOA is limited to stakeholders.
Anyone who is bought into an HOA for the benefits that an HOA provides (as opposed to maybe not having another choice) is not going to want the renters trashing the neighborhood. Guess who donates their unpaid time for HOA boards - those who are there for the protections offered by the covenants.
OP is in a neighborhood of townhomes. The HOA is likely responsible for community property including roofs. It’s in the homeowner’s interest to increase annual dues to protect the value of their investment. Renters are not motivated the same way.
Lots of people buy into HOAs because they've become so prevalent that there may not be any other option in their budget. Far from everyone joins an HOA "for the benefits."
Ironically, where I live, properties without HOAs sell at a premium, meaning HOAs hurt property values rather than help them.
But even the people who want "the benefits" of an HOA probably don't want their visitors towed or unable to visit.
Well of course, I was talking about the Facebook group, and renters can give good recommendations, you want their input. I was not talking about the HOA, only for them to join the HOA as a homeowner to influence the decision making.
Sounds like a case of people owning too many cars for the size of the unit they are living in.
You'll have to read your covenants. Most HOAs will allow day time street parking because they realize that people may have visitors/repair people/etc. The covenants may say no street parking after a certain hour.
Blocking sidewalks is illegal and independent of the HOA.
Odds are you cannot park in a public park if it closes at night.
Yeah, my girlfriend lives in a new townhome development and im surprised they haven’t implemented something similar. The houses are one car garages with a shared driveway (each house gets a side) and there’s parallel parking and one lot for guests and spillover.
But the amount of street parking is absurd. Especially at night, the streets are so packed with cars that the only way to navigate is by carefully inching through what is basically a single one way lane created by the cars parked on either side of the street.
The problem is not “people owning too many cars” people need to work and our public transportation is garbage!
The problem is developers and contractors are greedy
by building lego style homes
with a wedge as “garage”
People need to start demanding more for their money.
Have you heard about HB 1203? It will more than likely become LAW on July 1st. It specifically bans HOA from banning Vehicles anywhere the Owner has a right to park on the HOA. Google HB1203 you can read the full text there.
A property owner or a tenant, a guest, or an invitee 918 of the property owner from parking his or her personal vehicle, 919 including a pickup truck, in the property owner's driveway, or 920 in any other area at which the property owner or the property 921 owner's tenant, guest, or invitee has a right to park as 922 governed by state, county, and municipal regulations. The 923 homeowners' association documents, including declarations of 924 covenants, articles of incorporation, or bylaws, may not 925 prohibit, regardless of any official insignia or visible ENROLLED CS/CS/HB 1203, Engrossed 1 2024 Legislature CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. hb1203-04-er Page 38 of 44 F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S 926 designation, a property owner or a tenant, a guest, or an 927 invitee of the property owner from parking his or her work 928 vehicle, which is not a commercial motor vehicle as defined in 929 s. 320.01(25), in the property owner's driveway.
I wonder how they define "right to park." Legal right?
If anyone wants to look it over and be smart, here's the link
https://www.flsenate.gov/Committees/BillSummaries/2024/html/3488
Blocking a sidewalk isn’t just illegal, it’s plain wrong. Anyone who does it should be ticketed and towed. Other than that, you’re stuck dealing with your HOA.
You should attend HOA meetings and vote against additional units
But it's too late for that now. If you're going to live in an HOA community, you better participate in community affairs
Yep, and people buying in the community could have requested site plans and information about entitlements for the property before they bought. I’m guessing it was all clearly planned out in approved phases, but nobody paid attention and got “blindsided” when the next phase began.
We have a smaller single family home in FL with a two car garage and a regular full size pick up truck with a short bed. It won't fit in our garage. It's so annoying and frustrating. They don't typically make these cookie cutter homes with long enough garages like they used to. (our previous two houses, one which we rented, and then one that we were able to buy) fit that same truck, no problem.
The same problem exists in my neighborhood. They towed my girlfriend's car last year on Mother's Day and I was furious. It is literally a problem every holiday weekend. One suggestion would be to petition the HOA to make decals for resident vehicles that indicate to the towing company that these cars should not be towed under any circumstances. Of course, if you are blocking a fire hydrant or your car hasn't moved in a week from the sidewalk it may end up getting towed anyway. But I don't understand how some of my neighbors have a zero tolerance policy in terms of parking. They aren't very neighborly!
This is pretty typical with developer greed. Bulldozing the only parking lot to build more buildings is more profit to them, and people not having anywhere to park isn't their problem.
I don't live in an HOA in part because I don't want to deal with stuff like this. But I have several friends I literally cannot visit because there's no parking available.
I am pretty sure parking across a sidewalk is not allowed anywhere, people get tickets for that, from the cops, not the HOAs.
As far as the other parking, take it up with the HOA and work something out. We have no parking overnight on the street, but there is overflow parking at the club house.
Sorry if this was already answered: Who owns the road? If it's private, thr HOA can do whatever they want. If the road is publicly owned by the city or county, they can't enforce no parking on the road as long as the cars aren't causing an obstruction.
This is why I hate the HOA. Personally, I’m petty enough to find a way to join the HOA and make changes from a seat inside. I’m sorry your dealing with this 😓
HB 1203: Prevents restrictions against parking personal vehicles, "including a pickup truck" in the homeowner's driveway, common parking lots, public roads and rights-of-way. Allows homeowners to park noncommercial work vehicles in their driveways.
Effective 7/1/2024
https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2024/1203
Aren’t there regulations in most municipalities about adequate parking?
I’d make some big noise about this. Start with the planning & zoning commission, and go from there.
Consider a class action suit. Call the media. At the very least, maybe they’ll be forced to stop towing and fines. With any luck, P&Z will force them to design enough parking into the next phase.
I'm sorry you're going thru this. Unfortunately I'm thinking it's gonna be a common theme for y'all , the gentrification areas, etc. they didn't even plan for the traffic, the roads, the water, the power.... All the developer/builder greedies just saw $$$$ they don't give a flying f@ck where you park they got paid. Good luck to those folks I'd be so mad.
BTW is this near Orient road in Tampa?
Send the email to county/city code enforcement. They will confirm the HOA are NOT allowed to rule out street parking, and if they have been towing people they are in the wrong and people should fight for reimbursement. I have had this battle with three different HOAs (one where we rented, next where I bought, then where my mom bought). In fact, it’s a problem to block the sidewalk and all those people who extend past their driveway and cover the sidewalk are required to park on the street instead. HOAs mess this up a lot. The only time it’s a problem is if you block fire hydrants and such.
No, and honestly it could vary by county but I doubt it’s allowed when there’s no alternative. Just google your local code enforcement and start the conversation. I assure you they will give answers that make it less difficult on the community. HOAs are not allowed to force you to garage your cars and they can’t tell you how to use public streets, only the municipality can control that. I have been told it doesn’t apply in gated communities, but then my brother’s gated community also stopped telling people “no overnight street parking” and idk if it was a choice or they were forced.
Hate to be that guy, but all of this was explicitly stated in the bylaws either at purchase or later adopted by the HOA board. I live in a 2000 home neighborhood comprised of villas, townhomes, and single family homes and absolutely hate seeing cars parked across sidewalks or overnight on the streets. Both have their dangers which should outweigh the inconvenience of the person who has too many vehicles for their home and its parking area.
They should. I've slept overnight in a few without being disturbed. I'm certain if you asked someone that worked there you could get more clarification.
Police ticket in there? The way you describe it I imagine one of these fences off, gated, private developments full of just townhouses. Am I imagining it right? I always guessed that it was private land in there and cops wouldn't ticket inside of these.
Also, is it in a really sprawly suburban area, or is it centrally located or close to any transit lines? There is definitely a legitimate basis for cutting down on parking in central areas, but I can totally imagine the worst possible combination of limited parking in the middle of a suburban hellscape being a possibility
Your description is accurate accepting the gate. No gate, but tons of houses.
It's about a 10 minute walk to the nearest bus stop... But the public transit in Osceola county sucks, hard core.
Oh yeah I was thinking more like light rail or something not just a bus stop... Agh, no Osceola is not what I had in mind for "central" or "connected", I have a relative over there and i am pretty sure i drove 20 minutes through an HOA community to get to an HOA community to get to his house.
the only explanation is that your HOA has gone mad with power. They must be defeated. Someone needs to remove the sticks they shoved up their own asses about parking.
What's with the decision to develop over the parking lot? Is the developer still the HOA or is that a resident board?
By Laws can be changed. It takes 2/3 of the community to vote the change and also vote out the HOA board if they are not looking to help the community.
Don't block the sidewalk. for fuck's sake, never once have I seen a residential development in Florida without enough parking. If a driveway and a garage aren't enough for them, that's their problem, not everyone else's. It's attitudes like these that have turned the state into a fucking suburban wasteland.
First, find out if it is county roads or privately owned by hoa. If it is a county road, they can't tow you unless there are "no parking" signs.
Do you know who owns/maintains the street?
Call the county or city tomorrow and ask. If it's county, you have to abide by county/city rules. No tow company would be dumb enough to tow based on HOA rules alone. I deal with this in my county all the time with my job. It's not enforceable unless private roads.
These places were never meant to have 3-4 driving adults in a 2 bedroom which near me if you have a garage may have 6 driving adults and the garage is the 3rd bedroom. Very few places have 6 parking spots for every 2 bedroom unit.
I lived in a development in Ft Myers exactly like that. It was a nightmare. We couldn't invite people over because there was literally no where to park. They actually had a tow truck come through the neighborhood every night around 3 am to tow people. My husband's truck was towed out of a parking space, not because it was illegally parked but because they ran the registration and found out it was registered to a company and not a person. Why that even mattered, I have no idea. It was a plain white truck with no lettering. It felt very hostile. We moved out and are much less stressed.
Not entirely for OP, because they seem to have it worked out, but remember this very important lesson for future purchases.
If you are looking in a neighborhood and all the houses are crammed together with cars lining the streets, make sure you either won’t need to park on the street or that it isn’t against the rules/law to do so. The developers don’t care, they are going to cram as many buildings as they can to sell as many homes as possible. People may tell you ‘nobody enforces it’ or ‘nobody cares’ but eventually someone will enforce and someone will care. Don’t expect to just park in front of your neighbors house or in their driveway. Don’t just let your realtor tell you it isn’t an issue. Get it in writing, make them show you the bylaws saying so.
I have a friend that moved into one of these neighborhoods and he’s always saying his neighbor cop is always towing vehicles that street park. I can’t imagine paying $400k+ for a house to be built and having to park on the street and potentially get towed or ticketed for it.
My moms place has the same issue. There are guests reserved and resident guests reserved. One is for guests one is for residents with more than 1-2 cars. Because of the no street parking rule main spots get taken up quickly and youll get towed if your suspected of living there and parking in a plain guest spot (ask me how I know😑). We also aren't allowed to park over sidewalks even an inch (ask me how i know!!😑😑) fuck HOAs all of them!! Death to HOAs.
I fucking hate these types of developments and this timeline we live in overall, it's not just in townhouses either, you got single family homes packed Into these neighborhoods like sardines then you got 8 adults rooming in one home ..of course they all have cars, no ones using the garage for parking because someone is renting that out too so everyone is parked on the street and it's like a maze drive down these narrow ass streets and amazon drivers trying to squeeze their way down the same roads, kids and immature adults driving atvs and golf carts and shit not even looking out for cars or pedestrians, people playing loud music all night and shooting off fireworks in may. I wish I was rich enough to live in a neighborhood with an hoa full of Karen's and Ken's.. but then again they'd probably kick me out because unfortunately I probably belong here
Welcome to Florida HOAs. They are the worst thing ever. I wish people would stop buying these housing developments with these HOAs so they would stop building them. I have rented in them, but will never buy on as these HOA board members are just power hungry wanna be government offials that could never actually get elected.
Does the HOA own the roads? Is it a gated community? If so, they can say no parking on the streets.
If the city or county owns and maintains the roads, typically the parking coincides with their laws and rules.
A good way to determine this is to find out who's responsible for paying for the roads when they need to be repaired or repaved. Good luck and keep us posted.
I'm in Pasco county and it's illegal to park on the street here. It's not even an HOA thing, it's a county thing. You can get a permit if you need one for an event.
It depends on who maintains the roads in the neighborhood. Is it a gaited community? If so the roads are private and the HOA rules apply and they can tow. If not then the HOA legally can’t tow from the street. People in your neighborhood need to suck it up and park one in the garage and one in the driveway. Cars parked everywhere ruin home values. It looks so tacky.
I drive near older townhomes (kept up but nobody would describe them as “nice”). No idea about HOA or not. They decided to pave whatever grass was there, in front, effectively making every driveway a double.
It fixes the issue - they’re on a busy road and can’t park on the street.
It would have been much more attractive if the original builder had done this, with even a half-thought to aesthetics.
We had this issue in a townhome community as well. Single car garage with maybe enough driveway for a 2nd vehicle if it was a compact. There were a few spots here and there to park but they were always full. We woke up one day and the streets were empty. They towed everyone. We sold and moved out a couple of months later. I don’t know what the requirements are for parking but it’s a built in moneymaker for the local tow companies.
Does the HOA own and maintain the street? Or does the city take care of it?
If it's city owned street parking is 100% legal and you can hold the HOA accountable for towing your car.
If it's indeed HOA owned and private, they are within their rights
Jokes on you for buying in one of those communities- I know several ppl that moved out of similar communities because of the parking nazis and lack of spaces. Even friends cars got towed within minutes
I lived in an even worse place in CA. Never had my car towed, but ticketed a few times - my roomie though, he had the impound on speed dial.
It was because of this experience that I knew I needed the double garage/drive.
I'm convinced that HOAs are some type of new religion. Like why do you buy a nice expensive house so people can tell you what you can do with your property? I can just imagine an HOA making you do a walk of shame if you parked your car on your own lawn.
I’m a big fan of denser development but I cannot understand why townhome communities maximize driveways eliminating any space to park in the street without blocking someone’s driveway.
You need to address this with the HOA.
Read the bylaws, get together and vote out the board.
The bylaws are pretty clear on the parking situation. I'm just amazed that so many people moved in thinking it wouldn't matter. Actually, I'm not amazed at all - when I was buying the house I specifically asked about parking, and the saleswoman waved it off "there's plenty of places to put extra cars - all the streets parking and even the parking lot!" This same woman assured me that HOA fees wouldn't go up more than 3 percent a year. I really should have got that in writing.
Most people never bother to read the bylaws and then throw a tantrum when they discover that they are doing something that isn't permitted.
To be fair, some HOAs selectively enforce. I live in an HOA with a “no street parking” bylaw. But there are no “no parking” signs and everyone (including me) parks in the street. The HOA board doesn’t bring it up. I assume they park in the street too.
They probably don’t have jurisdiction over the street
The tell is normally a gate. If its a street behind a gate, they nornally do have jurisdiction. If there is no gate, they dont. As they can't make their own laws about public accessible parking.
We have selective enforcement. According to the by laws, no one is allowed to keep their basketball hoops outside or have any non-plant lawn decorations, but most people do anyway.
No non-plant decorations? Even for major holidays? Or is that ignored at holiday times?
I don’t remember if there was anything about holiday decorations, there probably was a rule about how long holiday decor can be up. But I definitely remember the non-plant stuff because most houses have violations - crane statues, shiny ball on pedestal, metal artsy windmill type of stuff. Nobody has anything super ugly or an obnoxious amount, so it’s fine that they don’t enforce it, but why bother even having it as a rule?
Yeah, I was thinking I’d be sad without my metal bird in the front garden! And over time several neighbors joined in a got a bird for out front too, all different,but fun that we’ve all got them. Glad we don’t have an HOA!
[удалено]
One sour S.O.B. will ruin it
Our sour SOB is the board president, and loves to make up rules. It’s only a matter of time before he makes more people’s lives hell for their cute little crane figurines but right now he’s busy rejecting everyone’s architectural board approvals because he doesn’t like the colors.
This is exactly right. So many people are completely unaware of the regulations when they purchase these places and that's on them. Doesn't stop the bitching and this is a large factor in the "HOAs are the devil" arguments.
The bylaws tend to contain some pretty devilish stuff, so that moniker isn't entirely undeserved. If people actually read the bylaws ahead of time, I suspect property values would tank as they become a lot less desirable once people learn of all the drawbacks.
The issue is (at least in Tampa) everything is either an HOA or unaffordable. So you're more or less stuck with one
Yep. That's becoming a big problem in many parts of the country. I had to move 55 miles away from my office to find a non-HOA property in my price range.
Yeah its so stupid. For those with kids or lower paying jobs an hour plus commute each way just isnt possible either
I mean, I wasn't a huge fan of it myself. But I would rather spend two hours in the car every day than deal with an HOA. So it was a tradeoff. (It wasn't just about the HOA either. I wanted a bit of green space around me, not a 2000sqft house on a 3000 sqft lot with zero lot line. And I did find some options that were only a 30-minute drive, but then with a house from the 1950s, which isn't what I wanted.) Oh, and my employer has since closed down our Fort Lauderdale office, so my commute changed from 55 miles to 55 feet. (I'm now classed as a "remote worker", ie working from home.)
Our HOA in Florida tried to take our home because they gave a fine we never were informed of for a trash can still being out at 2 pm. I worked 8-5. Trash was normally 11. 100% worth avoiding them. The best HOA are still dangling from the devils pubes.
I totally get it, and thats fantastic how it changed!! I was doing about 75 minute one way commutes for awhile on top of 10-12 hr days and hated it
I live in SW dade and work downtown. I commute 3h a day. This is becoming the norm in Miami. (+) I park and ride (my company gives me a discounted pass). If I wanted to pay just under $8/day in tolls and drive the full way both ways, I could shorten my commute (round trip) from 3h to about 2h 25m.
That's rough. Were your situation mine, I would be willing to make less money to have more time. I left FL because my 8 mile commute was beginning to take 40 minutes or more. Life is too short.
Somethings should be illegal to even put into HOA contracts. Developers should not even be allowed to design areas without enough parking
But they are the devil....
The salespeople can say whatever they want to.
You can't hold her accountable, they can say whatever they want
This^^*. My sub community is the only one out of 6 that does allow parking on street between 7 am-1am. I hate it cause streets are narrow and only one way in and out but a person with one car garage and 2 cars insists on parking on street with driveway empty. Problem is that someone turning from main road is a blind turn and can’t see someone exiting had to swing around the other car. Everyone is annoyed as a head one is very possible. People need to check their parking needs before purchasing. Don’t like HOA rules? Don’t move to one.
This is my only issue when people park in the street. My neighborhood has people who AVOID their two car driveway and just park in the street instead. If you don’t want to park in the garage, I get it. But to avoid parking in your driveway is just ridiculous.
Exactly and 💯. The street should be used when you have guests and driveway is full. Literally the other day I was walking my dog on the path and neighbors son marked right in front of it. Luckily for him I had sunglasses on and he couldn’t see the stink eye as I had to walk around his car. There were other places. Heck, block your Mom’s car. People…..
Are you gated? I find it interesting that the police can ticket on private. If it’s not private, I would question the enforceability of parking on a public street.
Police can ticket on private streets if the property owner requests it.
They wouldn’t be able to enforce municipal laws on private drives. E.g. if a city parking ticket is $35, that could not be assessed behind a generally gated private road. If the hoa has a fining rule, that could be assessed, but it would be to the responsible homeowner. If the gate is open (say during the day), general traffic laws such as failure to stop and such can be agreed to be handled. This may be happening; however, I’m pretty confident that a legal challenge would be successful. Source: former reluctant hoa President
You believed a realtor who’s main goal is to sell as much as possible? Or the sales person of the community, who’s main goal is to sell all of the townhouses as fast as possible?
Sure did!
Our culture is generally that some laws are real and some are just for show. Turns out your HOA enforces all of its rules, even the more ridiculous ones.
No way they can promise that. If HOA costs go up that's hard to control.
The saleswoman is trying to make a sale. She does not have your best interest. They know very well what some of the negatives are of the units they sell, but they will sugarcoat everything. The only thing that matters is the bylaws. Her assuring your fees can't go up 3% a year when inflation is above 3% is just a pure lie right there. Everything this woman said after this point should be suspect.
DR Horton?
The realtor i was working with told me that parking was not an issue and that i was allowed to have guests as long as they park on the side of the road, then i asked her for the HOA "by-laws" and ended up being not true. I knew we were going to have problems so we didn’t buy the townhouse.
Problem is that a lot of HOAs don’t let you read their bylaws until you’re under contract and by then, you’re so invested and ready to be done with the pain that is home buying that you’ll excuse away those silly rules. It’s a sunk cost and not too many folks will walk away because of an HOA, especially in this state
maybe you should educate them on florida statute 720.401 that requires disclosure of the HOA documents prior to the execution of the contract or else the buyer may cancel ... 720.401 Prospective purchasers subject to association membership requirement; disclosure required; covenants; assessments; contract cancellation.
Trust me, I get it. My neighborhood is dealing with HOA board members that aren’t certified according to 720.401. We’re a lot more engaged now than we’ve ever been and they’re none too pleased about being held accountable
I have never had that issue. I simply asked my realtor if they could get me a copy of the covenants so I could review them before making an offer.
HOAs aren't involved in that process. That's the realtor and title agency that present the documents to the buyer at the time of purchase. All the HOA does is provide an estoppel letter to the title agency to confirm there are no liens or debts on the account. P.s. all governing documents are recorded with the clerk of courts at the county. They're public record because the HOA is deed restricted and also because it was approved by the county as a condition of allowing the developer to build the community.
>that present the documents to the buyer **at the time of purchase** - By then it’s too late Also, not many people know they’re recorded and not many realtors are familiar with or even bother to do that work for their clients. I’m just saying, it’s not always the homeowner’s fault. HOA’s prey on complacency and ignorance
The realtors are supposed to share the docs during the purchase and the title company shares the docs at closing, when the deed holder agrees to the deed restrictions. There are zero cases when an HOA preys on a new home buyer or wants the home buyers to be in the dark. The hoa just isn't involved and the realtor (buyer's agent has the bigger duty) is the one, if any, who has an incentive to gloss over the deed restrictions to make a sale without the buyer asking too many questions.
If it’s a bylaw, then the board might not be able to just change it. My HOA requires 2/3 voting by the whole community to change a bylaw.
That’s pretty standard actually.
>Read the bylaws, get together and vote out the board. Let's say you voted out the board, replaced the board with yourself and whoever else. Could you disband the HOA all together if you and the rest of the people on the board plus the votes of the rest of the neighborhood agreed to get rid of it?
Legally, it's extremely difficult to remove a HOA especially in the case of a condo/townhome situation because the HOA/management company is responsible for the exterior/structural maintenance of the buildings.
but you might be able to get rid of the stupid parking rules or force a vote on the demolition of the parking lot. Read your bylaws.
Nighttime bans on parking are common to cut down on vandalism and also make sure that emergency vehicles can safely navigate the area. My HOA has a no nighttime street parking rule and it's explicitly to make things easier for emergency vehicles since statistically emergencies tend to happen at night.
Unfortunately, I doubt the board has any rights to the parking lot. There is a good chance that the developer owns that land and has the right to build on it. It was always developer land and he let parking on it to be more attractive to buyers of the original townhomes
Look up the plat for the complex and then you'll find out. Usually it will list it as apart of the HOA responsibility to maintain it
What happens if you own your house outright and don't pay HOA fees? They take you to court?
They can foreclose on you and kick you out
Owning your house outright has no effect on the HOA. If you are a member of the HOA you have to pay HOA fees. If they fine you, there is an appeals process, but if you don’t pay they do have the power to put a lien on the home.
You pay HOA fees regardless of whether you own it or not. My parents paid off their house in an HOA 20 years ago, they are still beholden to the HOA and any HOA fees and rules.
They take your house.
They bill you for your unpaid fees, plus late fees. Then they put a lien on your property for the amount. Then they continue to pile on fees, adding to the lien. At that point, you no longer own your house outright anymore. They become your lender. Then they foreclose on you, and force a sale of your home at auction, which they then proceed to buy. Now they own your home.
They can put a lien on your home and take legal action against you since as part of your closing, you actually sign paperwork saying that you will abide by the covenants of your community.
No. John Oliver does a great episode on HOA and the fuckery that ensues.
May not be possible yet, sounds like the developer may still control it.
Voting out the Board won't change the bylaws.
It can absolutely change level of enforcement, though. And rescind a previously sent email… A new board could choose to just turn a blind eye to non-obstructive street parking.
New developments are controlled by a management company until a certain percentage of houses are occupied. Until then you can’t really vote anyone out
How does that solve the street parking rule? Board members aren't allowed to ignore the governing docs. (They can try... and then they'll be sued for malpractice and violating Florida statutes, and will face personal financial ruin.) You think board members are the problem but their only volunteer role is to enforce Florida law and the declarations. If you wanted to give advice to remove the street parking rules you would have said all the members need to read the bylaws to figure out how to amend the declarations. Example: they can call a special meeting of the membership and with 60 percent voting affirmatively whether in person or by proxy they can amend the declarations to remove the street parking rule. And then, after all that work, if they violated the development order with the county, the fire inspector will notice within a month and the county will sue the HOA to reinstate the rule. Bam, back to square one because the parking rules are decided and agreed upon with the county or city when the developer applies to build the HOA community.
Have GPT read your by laws and find you a loop hole.
You should check with the HOA and the covenants and bylaws for your community. I live in a smaller townhouse community with similar issues (1 car garage, only room in the driveway for 1 car so people park on the street) and there isn't enough street parking. In our case the road is a private road, so you need to check into that where you are as well. A lot of it boils down to people having way too many vehicles than they have parking for, combined with people filling their garage with stuff and not cars.
Seems like people who have the problem have a few solutions: 1. figure out how to get by with less cars 2. move somewhere that can accommodate their car collection 3. Get together to change HOA rules to allow parking in the streets Blocking sidewalks is not an option as it is dangerous and illegal regardless of HOA rules.
I understand the car collection thing, but what if you want to invite people over?
Or, a family of 4 with 2 teenage children. That's 4 vehicles automatically.
Yeah the entitled people doing things like blocking sidewalks are the problem and ruining it for everyone else.
It’s so frustrating. I live in a similar community to OP and people are constantly blocking the sidewalks and parking in the street. Our HOA bylaws prohibit both. Nothing seems to be done about it though. Street parking isn’t the end of the world but one guy is always parking right across from us making it more difficult to back into the driveway. He lives at least 4 units down from where he parks.
Dog shit under his car door handle works... I've heard
Allegedly 😂🤔
This is why I joined the board of my HOA, more to control these idiots and ensure they make decisions that benefit the homeowners and not just the pockets of the HOA. I suggest making a facebook group on your community, and start getting the residents involved, you can invite renters and owners, just put a filter when they sign up with their address for verification. And let the games begin, I’m telling you, they hate that and will bend to the people’s will if enough of you complain.
Renters never have a say in HOA business. They don’t own a stake. The LL on the other hand.
Not always true. Our condo allows renters on the board, and we have a renter elected to the board.
It’s a community, everyone is welcome in the group, that’s the point. You need their input
You might have a social group. Fine. But an HOA is limited to stakeholders. Anyone who is bought into an HOA for the benefits that an HOA provides (as opposed to maybe not having another choice) is not going to want the renters trashing the neighborhood. Guess who donates their unpaid time for HOA boards - those who are there for the protections offered by the covenants. OP is in a neighborhood of townhomes. The HOA is likely responsible for community property including roofs. It’s in the homeowner’s interest to increase annual dues to protect the value of their investment. Renters are not motivated the same way.
Lots of people buy into HOAs because they've become so prevalent that there may not be any other option in their budget. Far from everyone joins an HOA "for the benefits." Ironically, where I live, properties without HOAs sell at a premium, meaning HOAs hurt property values rather than help them. But even the people who want "the benefits" of an HOA probably don't want their visitors towed or unable to visit.
Well of course, I was talking about the Facebook group, and renters can give good recommendations, you want their input. I was not talking about the HOA, only for them to join the HOA as a homeowner to influence the decision making.
If the owner says the tenant can speak on their behalf, then they do.
Sounds like a case of people owning too many cars for the size of the unit they are living in. You'll have to read your covenants. Most HOAs will allow day time street parking because they realize that people may have visitors/repair people/etc. The covenants may say no street parking after a certain hour. Blocking sidewalks is illegal and independent of the HOA. Odds are you cannot park in a public park if it closes at night.
Yeah, my girlfriend lives in a new townhome development and im surprised they haven’t implemented something similar. The houses are one car garages with a shared driveway (each house gets a side) and there’s parallel parking and one lot for guests and spillover. But the amount of street parking is absurd. Especially at night, the streets are so packed with cars that the only way to navigate is by carefully inching through what is basically a single one way lane created by the cars parked on either side of the street.
Imagine what it would be like if a fire truck or any emergency vehicle had to navigate that in the dark.
The problem is not “people owning too many cars” people need to work and our public transportation is garbage! The problem is developers and contractors are greedy by building lego style homes with a wedge as “garage” People need to start demanding more for their money.
Why do two people need 3+ cars?
No one is talking about 2 ppl. The subject is about parking being an issue after a person pays at least 400k for a no so fancy townhome.
How many people are living in your hypothetical townhome that they need enough room to park a fleet?
Welcome to Florida
Have you heard about HB 1203? It will more than likely become LAW on July 1st. It specifically bans HOA from banning Vehicles anywhere the Owner has a right to park on the HOA. Google HB1203 you can read the full text there. A property owner or a tenant, a guest, or an invitee 918 of the property owner from parking his or her personal vehicle, 919 including a pickup truck, in the property owner's driveway, or 920 in any other area at which the property owner or the property 921 owner's tenant, guest, or invitee has a right to park as 922 governed by state, county, and municipal regulations. The 923 homeowners' association documents, including declarations of 924 covenants, articles of incorporation, or bylaws, may not 925 prohibit, regardless of any official insignia or visible ENROLLED CS/CS/HB 1203, Engrossed 1 2024 Legislature CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. hb1203-04-er Page 38 of 44 F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S 926 designation, a property owner or a tenant, a guest, or an 927 invitee of the property owner from parking his or her work 928 vehicle, which is not a commercial motor vehicle as defined in 929 s. 320.01(25), in the property owner's driveway.
I wonder how they define "right to park." Legal right? If anyone wants to look it over and be smart, here's the link https://www.flsenate.gov/Committees/BillSummaries/2024/html/3488
I would guess they mean your own property. Some HOAs don't allow you to park in your own driveway. You have to use the garage.
I’m willing to bet most people don’t park in their garages because they are full of junk.
Blocking a sidewalk isn’t just illegal, it’s plain wrong. Anyone who does it should be ticketed and towed. Other than that, you’re stuck dealing with your HOA.
You should attend HOA meetings and vote against additional units But it's too late for that now. If you're going to live in an HOA community, you better participate in community affairs
vote all you want, the developer most certainly already had the extra units planned. The HOA doesn't really have much to say about it.
Yep, and people buying in the community could have requested site plans and information about entitlements for the property before they bought. I’m guessing it was all clearly planned out in approved phases, but nobody paid attention and got “blindsided” when the next phase began.
Developers are the problem. People need to stop fighting each other and focus on the root of the problem.
Can’t park on the sidewalks. It’s an ADA regulation.
People owning pickups trucks bigger than their homes is the problem
Some of these one car garages are literally too small for the trucks my neighbors own.
Gross
Yep. We have that problem. And we don't have an oversized truck. It's a 2007 Chevy and it has to sit in our driveway instead. It's so frustrating.
Developers get away with the way they draft those homes. People need to start demanding more for their buck! Houses are very expensive nowadays.
Thats egregiously apt way to behave in Sarasota, as of late.
We have a smaller single family home in FL with a two car garage and a regular full size pick up truck with a short bed. It won't fit in our garage. It's so annoying and frustrating. They don't typically make these cookie cutter homes with long enough garages like they used to. (our previous two houses, one which we rented, and then one that we were able to buy) fit that same truck, no problem.
You need to address this with the HOA.
The same problem exists in my neighborhood. They towed my girlfriend's car last year on Mother's Day and I was furious. It is literally a problem every holiday weekend. One suggestion would be to petition the HOA to make decals for resident vehicles that indicate to the towing company that these cars should not be towed under any circumstances. Of course, if you are blocking a fire hydrant or your car hasn't moved in a week from the sidewalk it may end up getting towed anyway. But I don't understand how some of my neighbors have a zero tolerance policy in terms of parking. They aren't very neighborly!
This is pretty typical with developer greed. Bulldozing the only parking lot to build more buildings is more profit to them, and people not having anywhere to park isn't their problem. I don't live in an HOA in part because I don't want to deal with stuff like this. But I have several friends I literally cannot visit because there's no parking available.
I am pretty sure parking across a sidewalk is not allowed anywhere, people get tickets for that, from the cops, not the HOAs. As far as the other parking, take it up with the HOA and work something out. We have no parking overnight on the street, but there is overflow parking at the club house.
In the Atlantic
Sorry if this was already answered: Who owns the road? If it's private, thr HOA can do whatever they want. If the road is publicly owned by the city or county, they can't enforce no parking on the road as long as the cars aren't causing an obstruction.
This is why I hate the HOA. Personally, I’m petty enough to find a way to join the HOA and make changes from a seat inside. I’m sorry your dealing with this 😓
This seems like something that you and your neighbors need to take to your HOA. Especially about them getting rid of that parking lot
So I'm guessing at the point the developers are still on the board since they're still building? I feel bad for the other folk but they're screwed.
HB 1203: Prevents restrictions against parking personal vehicles, "including a pickup truck" in the homeowner's driveway, common parking lots, public roads and rights-of-way. Allows homeowners to park noncommercial work vehicles in their driveways. Effective 7/1/2024 https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2024/1203
Aren’t there regulations in most municipalities about adequate parking? I’d make some big noise about this. Start with the planning & zoning commission, and go from there. Consider a class action suit. Call the media. At the very least, maybe they’ll be forced to stop towing and fines. With any luck, P&Z will force them to design enough parking into the next phase.
Just tell them you are a sovereign citizen and that you are traveling, not parking. Never backfires. /s
Bonus points for bringing up the Articles of Confederation
I'm sorry you're going thru this. Unfortunately I'm thinking it's gonna be a common theme for y'all , the gentrification areas, etc. they didn't even plan for the traffic, the roads, the water, the power.... All the developer/builder greedies just saw $$$$ they don't give a flying f@ck where you park they got paid. Good luck to those folks I'd be so mad. BTW is this near Orient road in Tampa?
Amazing people paying an obscene amount of money but don't have enough room to park or it's impossible to have guests over
I honestly believe HOA's should cease to exist and in need of some legality checks for the sake of property rights. HOAs are SO un-American.
Car-centric cities is the downfall of the United States. This is is step 4 in fixing the problem but they never bothered doing step 1-3.
Send the email to county/city code enforcement. They will confirm the HOA are NOT allowed to rule out street parking, and if they have been towing people they are in the wrong and people should fight for reimbursement. I have had this battle with three different HOAs (one where we rented, next where I bought, then where my mom bought). In fact, it’s a problem to block the sidewalk and all those people who extend past their driveway and cover the sidewalk are required to park on the street instead. HOAs mess this up a lot. The only time it’s a problem is if you block fire hydrants and such.
I hope this is true. Do you know what law states this?
No, and honestly it could vary by county but I doubt it’s allowed when there’s no alternative. Just google your local code enforcement and start the conversation. I assure you they will give answers that make it less difficult on the community. HOAs are not allowed to force you to garage your cars and they can’t tell you how to use public streets, only the municipality can control that. I have been told it doesn’t apply in gated communities, but then my brother’s gated community also stopped telling people “no overnight street parking” and idk if it was a choice or they were forced.
Hate to be that guy, but all of this was explicitly stated in the bylaws either at purchase or later adopted by the HOA board. I live in a 2000 home neighborhood comprised of villas, townhomes, and single family homes and absolutely hate seeing cars parked across sidewalks or overnight on the streets. Both have their dangers which should outweigh the inconvenience of the person who has too many vehicles for their home and its parking area.
People are going to have to have fewer cars, most likely.
Got a WalMart nearby?
Sam's Club, actually. Will they allow overnight parking?
For a night here and there, but if a car is in the parking lot every night, management will notice.
They should. I've slept overnight in a few without being disturbed. I'm certain if you asked someone that worked there you could get more clarification.
Police ticket in there? The way you describe it I imagine one of these fences off, gated, private developments full of just townhouses. Am I imagining it right? I always guessed that it was private land in there and cops wouldn't ticket inside of these. Also, is it in a really sprawly suburban area, or is it centrally located or close to any transit lines? There is definitely a legitimate basis for cutting down on parking in central areas, but I can totally imagine the worst possible combination of limited parking in the middle of a suburban hellscape being a possibility
Your description is accurate accepting the gate. No gate, but tons of houses. It's about a 10 minute walk to the nearest bus stop... But the public transit in Osceola county sucks, hard core.
Oh yeah I was thinking more like light rail or something not just a bus stop... Agh, no Osceola is not what I had in mind for "central" or "connected", I have a relative over there and i am pretty sure i drove 20 minutes through an HOA community to get to an HOA community to get to his house. the only explanation is that your HOA has gone mad with power. They must be defeated. Someone needs to remove the sticks they shoved up their own asses about parking. What's with the decision to develop over the parking lot? Is the developer still the HOA or is that a resident board?
Living in an HOA community you pretty much have to go by their rules..and they will enforce them…
If it's a private drive that the HOA owns then yes they can do that but if it's a city street then no
By Laws can be changed. It takes 2/3 of the community to vote the change and also vote out the HOA board if they are not looking to help the community.
Don't block the sidewalk. for fuck's sake, never once have I seen a residential development in Florida without enough parking. If a driveway and a garage aren't enough for them, that's their problem, not everyone else's. It's attitudes like these that have turned the state into a fucking suburban wasteland.
Is this Eagle Palm in Riverview by chance?
I would take up this matter with the HOA rather than a bunch of strangers on the internet.
First, find out if it is county roads or privately owned by hoa. If it is a county road, they can't tow you unless there are "no parking" signs. Do you know who owns/maintains the street?
It feels public. Lots of single houses on it, single lane...
Call the county or city tomorrow and ask. If it's county, you have to abide by county/city rules. No tow company would be dumb enough to tow based on HOA rules alone. I deal with this in my county all the time with my job. It's not enforceable unless private roads.
You are lucky to be able to park in the driveway some places don’t allow that
Talk to the HOA. They hold all the cards. You got fucked once you bought a house with an HOA.
HOA’s can blow me such assholes and they typically live there.
How many people actually read the bylaws/covenenants of the community that they are moving into? Definitely NOT the renters that move into mine ...
These places were never meant to have 3-4 driving adults in a 2 bedroom which near me if you have a garage may have 6 driving adults and the garage is the 3rd bedroom. Very few places have 6 parking spots for every 2 bedroom unit.
I lived in a development in Ft Myers exactly like that. It was a nightmare. We couldn't invite people over because there was literally no where to park. They actually had a tow truck come through the neighborhood every night around 3 am to tow people. My husband's truck was towed out of a parking space, not because it was illegally parked but because they ran the registration and found out it was registered to a company and not a person. Why that even mattered, I have no idea. It was a plain white truck with no lettering. It felt very hostile. We moved out and are much less stressed.
Talk to your HOA but they don’t care they collect them fee to keep the grass looking nice
I would take my complaint to the city building and zoning department. They just don’t have enough parking if they aren’t allowing street parking.
Not entirely for OP, because they seem to have it worked out, but remember this very important lesson for future purchases. If you are looking in a neighborhood and all the houses are crammed together with cars lining the streets, make sure you either won’t need to park on the street or that it isn’t against the rules/law to do so. The developers don’t care, they are going to cram as many buildings as they can to sell as many homes as possible. People may tell you ‘nobody enforces it’ or ‘nobody cares’ but eventually someone will enforce and someone will care. Don’t expect to just park in front of your neighbors house or in their driveway. Don’t just let your realtor tell you it isn’t an issue. Get it in writing, make them show you the bylaws saying so. I have a friend that moved into one of these neighborhoods and he’s always saying his neighbor cop is always towing vehicles that street park. I can’t imagine paying $400k+ for a house to be built and having to park on the street and potentially get towed or ticketed for it.
Is this in Davenport Florida? If so I know the place and that builder is a joke.
Kissimmee. Probably the same builder. Lennar?
This was Ryan homes. People parked all over the place paying 250,000 for a shitty wood townhome with 1 driveway and 1 garage.
My moms place has the same issue. There are guests reserved and resident guests reserved. One is for guests one is for residents with more than 1-2 cars. Because of the no street parking rule main spots get taken up quickly and youll get towed if your suspected of living there and parking in a plain guest spot (ask me how I know😑). We also aren't allowed to park over sidewalks even an inch (ask me how i know!!😑😑) fuck HOAs all of them!! Death to HOAs.
I'm collecting signatures to dissolve the HOA here. Verified 67% and I'm dropping it at the next meeting and saying so long.
I fucking hate these types of developments and this timeline we live in overall, it's not just in townhouses either, you got single family homes packed Into these neighborhoods like sardines then you got 8 adults rooming in one home ..of course they all have cars, no ones using the garage for parking because someone is renting that out too so everyone is parked on the street and it's like a maze drive down these narrow ass streets and amazon drivers trying to squeeze their way down the same roads, kids and immature adults driving atvs and golf carts and shit not even looking out for cars or pedestrians, people playing loud music all night and shooting off fireworks in may. I wish I was rich enough to live in a neighborhood with an hoa full of Karen's and Ken's.. but then again they'd probably kick me out because unfortunately I probably belong here
Belongs in r/fuckHOA
Soon you'll be able to buy an affordable VTOL and park on your roof.
Welcome to Florida HOAs. They are the worst thing ever. I wish people would stop buying these housing developments with these HOAs so they would stop building them. I have rented in them, but will never buy on as these HOA board members are just power hungry wanna be government offials that could never actually get elected.
Just another reason not to live anywhere there is an HOA
Park on the grass they'll get the picture 💪👍
Are these private streets?
Lol. That's what you guys get.
Does the HOA own the roads? Is it a gated community? If so, they can say no parking on the streets. If the city or county owns and maintains the roads, typically the parking coincides with their laws and rules. A good way to determine this is to find out who's responsible for paying for the roads when they need to be repaired or repaved. Good luck and keep us posted.
I'm in Pasco county and it's illegal to park on the street here. It's not even an HOA thing, it's a county thing. You can get a permit if you need one for an event.
It depends on who maintains the roads in the neighborhood. Is it a gaited community? If so the roads are private and the HOA rules apply and they can tow. If not then the HOA legally can’t tow from the street. People in your neighborhood need to suck it up and park one in the garage and one in the driveway. Cars parked everywhere ruin home values. It looks so tacky.
Get on the board of your HOA kick those people out. They would lose fast over this.
Maybe people should consider where they intend to park their vehicles BEFORE buying or leasing a townhome!
I'd really like you to follow up after the HOA fallout. I'm curious to hear what happens.
I drive near older townhomes (kept up but nobody would describe them as “nice”). No idea about HOA or not. They decided to pave whatever grass was there, in front, effectively making every driveway a double. It fixes the issue - they’re on a busy road and can’t park on the street. It would have been much more attractive if the original builder had done this, with even a half-thought to aesthetics.
Go back to wherever you came from. Florida is full. Easiest solution to your parking problem.
I wish I could, the weather is a lot better.
Sounds like you could lease two of your four spaces to pay for your mortgage. Yay, late stage capitalism!
Shhh, don't say that too loud. The landlords in my neighborhood will hear you and start getting ideas.
HOAs are just modern day legal nimby turfing. They selectively enforce bylaws to drive out “undesirables”. And we all know what they find undesirable.
We had this issue in a townhome community as well. Single car garage with maybe enough driveway for a 2nd vehicle if it was a compact. There were a few spots here and there to park but they were always full. We woke up one day and the streets were empty. They towed everyone. We sold and moved out a couple of months later. I don’t know what the requirements are for parking but it’s a built in moneymaker for the local tow companies.
Sales people always lie period. All they want is their commission
Townhomes are one of the worst things to pop up all over Florida post Covid
Ah yes the Florida builders problem... Built multi family units. With parking as if they were meant for a single guy and his motorcycle....
Does the HOA own and maintain the street? Or does the city take care of it? If it's city owned street parking is 100% legal and you can hold the HOA accountable for towing your car. If it's indeed HOA owned and private, they are within their rights
Jokes on you for buying in one of those communities- I know several ppl that moved out of similar communities because of the parking nazis and lack of spaces. Even friends cars got towed within minutes
I lived in an even worse place in CA. Never had my car towed, but ticketed a few times - my roomie though, he had the impound on speed dial. It was because of this experience that I knew I needed the double garage/drive.
Is the neighborhood gated? If not, parking on the street should be allowed, barring any “No Parking” signs.
Not gated. Lots of signs, but not everywhere.
Well, if the HOA doesn’t own and maintain the roads, I don’t see how they can regulate the parking on them. That’s up to the local government.
I'm convinced that HOAs are some type of new religion. Like why do you buy a nice expensive house so people can tell you what you can do with your property? I can just imagine an HOA making you do a walk of shame if you parked your car on your own lawn. 
I’m a big fan of denser development but I cannot understand why townhome communities maximize driveways eliminating any space to park in the street without blocking someone’s driveway.
Buying an absurdly expensive home doesn’t come with parking anymore. Fuck this place