‘An HOA’s Nightmare’ Smoke Driver Towed an Item in Her Car — She Paid Over $1K in Fees and ‘Not Allowed to Fight It’

A RENTER was towed multiple times for petty reasons, costing her more than $1,000 in towing fines — she was even towed at Christmas.

She was also told she could not communicate with the council because she did not own a home.

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Emily Hicks, a resident of Incline Village, Nevada, rents a home in a neighborhood HOA that reportedly towed her vehicle for petty reasons.

In a recent Facebook publishshe detailed being towed on Christmas after her vehicle was misclassified.

“Our nightmare of an HOA,” she wrote.

“Long story short, they keep improperly towing us. We spent over $1,000 on tows.”

Hicks wrote that she posted her concerns in a different Facebook group for the community, and was told by HOA leaders that she was not allowed to “speak against the HOA” for a trivial reason.

“In another post I was talking to the community about how they handle this because as a renter they continually say I’m not allowed to contact, email or speak out against the HOA for withholding our recent unfair tow ,” she continued.

“Then the head of the HOA stopped me from posting and gaslighted me in front of everyone in the community.”

In a separate group, she started telling other community members how the association worked and was also blocked from that group.

“She has since blocked me from commenting or speaking to other residents,” she wrote.

“Trying to silence me without saying I’m blocked or for what reason.

“I should be allowed to speak to other members of the community about how to deal with the money that has been improperly withheld since April.”

Later in the post, she wrote that the HOA had her vehicle towed from the front of her home due to installing a replacement ladder on it.

The ladder, according to the HOA violation, made it a “commercial” vehicle.

“They even towed my SUV over Christmas for having a ladder in it,” she wrote.

“They voted commercial trailer because my [Nissan] The Pathfinder had a ladder. Like what?”

What is an HOA?

One in five Americans lives in an area with a Home Owners Association – or HOA. But what exactly do they do?

• An HOA is a homeowners association – an organization that aims to maintain a clean, cohesive place for its residents to live.
• Entire neighborhoods, subdivisions, condominiums, single-family homes or townhouses within “a planned development” will often constitute an HOA.
• They also serve as a regulatory body for the tenants, who manage and finance the HOA through monthly fees.
• Its main goals are to keep the community functional and visually appealing and maintain property values.
• They focus primarily on a neighborhood’s common areas, like roads, parks, and pools — but they can also stipulate what residents can do with their property, like yards and sidewalks.
• These restrictions often impose uniformity on properties, for example, ensuring that most houses look the same and that all sidewalks are free of weeds.
• An HOA Rule Book of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&R) is distributed to all residents, and an elected volunteer board of directors enforces these regulations.
• Violating these rules can result in penalties such as fines and even litigation – as most HOAs are incorporated and subject to state law.
• HOAs are often the subject of controversy, with some members feeling that the rules are too punitive and restrictive, or that the leadership has too much power.
• But other HOAs like this give communities the power of self-government and can ensure a degree of harmony among residents.

She wrote that the tow cost $480.

The HOA president apparently posted new rules and regulations for community members to follow on the dedicated Facebook page that she was blocked from posting on.

“She has since posted her Facebook rules and regulations and I messaged her asking what rule I broke to get suspended, but she didn’t seem to know,” she wrote.

Hicks said the mistreatment due to her rented status could be the final straw.

“So about this place and its strange people,” she wrote.