I parked in front of my garage for five minutes while locked in the garage – my HOA tried to fine me $200

A DRIVER was left furious after his Home Owners Association called a towing company after they parked outside his garage.

The HOA also tried to fine them $200 even though they only left the car for five minutes.

“I love the HOA [for] trying to call a towing company and charge a $200 fine because I was parked in front of our garage for 5 minutes to come in and tell Jack and Grant that I was locked in the garage and that I was going to move to the guest parking while we I went shopping”, tweeted Shimbius (@shimbius) on X, formerly Twitter.

Many HOA’s have cracked down on parking.

One woman explained that her association in Florida began enforcing a defunct parking rule after years of on-street parking.

Denise Harrison, who has lived in the Ocoee neighborhood of Wesmere, Florida, outside Orlando, for 22 years, was always allowed to park on the street until 2019.

A new HOA board was elected in 2017 and began warning residents about enforcement.

“We understand that for reasons beyond our control, parking restrictions may not have been enforced in a regular, uniform, timely and consistent manner in the past to enforce the Applicable Documents,” the HOA wrote in a letter, according to the CBS news affiliate. WKMG.

“To obtain and hopefully promote its property values, the Association needs to compel each property owner to comply with the Governing Documents.”

However, many association members were angered by the sudden enforcement after the rule had been lax for so long.

“You can’t not allow this, or there’s no enforcement, and suddenly there are no exceptions,” Harrison told the outlet.

She said the street the parking ban has been in the statute for many years but has been followed or enforced.

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So many residents were angered by the new rule that 315 of 565 residents signed an amendment to change the policy to allow on-street parking, but the HOA refused to recognize it, according to resident and attorney Rick Leone.

“This is a violation of homeowners’ property rights,” he said after the HOA towed many vehicles.

Leone also filed a preliminary injunction to stop the HOA from enforcing the on-street parking ban while the court ruled on the resident amendment.

The conclusion of both actions filed against Wesmere has not been found.

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 townhomes 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.

‘I WILL NOT PAY’

Another driver said his HOA charged him $100 for parking too close to the curb.

“My HOA fined me $100 for parking too close to the curb in my driveway,” Numo he wrote on X, formerly Twitter, in 2021.

“HOW AM I TOO CLOSE?!” he raged.

He paired the tweet with a photo of his blue car parked behind another in his garage.

No part of his car was near the curb or the street.

“I’ll call tomorrow, I won’t pay this fine,” he continued in the thread.

“I have no idea what they were thinking.”