Can't bring TT home because of neighbors parking in street?

[plasticmaster]

I live in a subdivision at the end of a cul de sac and keep my 34' travel trailer in storage 2 miles away. My driveway is very long, 235', with plenty of room to park it while loading for a camping trip. Lately however, it's been really difficult to bring the camper home because of neighbors parking their cars in the street ( while their driveway is empty). Street parking is against our HOA rules unless you have a lot of guests over and your driveway is full of cars. I need the full cul de sac to safely turn around and back down my driveway. I have one neighbor who gladly moves for me when I need to bring camper home. However, the other 2 neighbors either aren't home, tell me no one is home with the keys to move it, or have told me "No, I'm not going to move it". Remember, their driveway is empty. What should I do here? I hate to turn folks in to HOA, but do I have any other choice since I've already tried to politely ask them first? I'm looking for input from camping folks who may understand my dilemma. Thanks.

[JohnG3]

Didn’t have the time to read all the posts and as a result a couple avenues weren’t read.

First, is there room on your 234ft driveway to build a “garage” for the RV and leave it in your driveway (upside, no storage fees, out of sight, downside is the onetime construction cost). How much and how flat is your land.

[bob2194]

maybe you could mount a trailer hitch to the front of you tow vehicle. Then maneuvering that trailer will be a lot easier.

[JALLEN4]

I am currently the President of a condo association and it is the third association I have been the President of. In addition I have created several associations in projects I have built. Fortunately or unfortunately, this makes me very familiar with the process and what works and what does not.

The Association is run by a Board which may or may not hire a management company. Whether they do or do not, the Board is ultimately the decision maker on financial decisions and whether or not to enforce rules. They are your neighbors, work for no money, and have a very unrewarding job. They are often berated, second guessed, and vilified by the neighbors they volunteer their time to serve. Someone has to do it! Most often they are the only association members that have actually read the rules and regulations documents attached to their property.

I would strongly suggest going to the President of the Association and speaking with him or her about your problem. I am going to bet he or she would much prefer this initial approach versus a formal complaint. They can most likely explain why the rule is not enforced. It is very likely the owners prefer being able to park in the street and it would be a very unpopular move to try to stop the process. It is also normally somewhat difficult to change the documents rules once written but it can happen. I have seen these battles more times than I care to but usually in the long run they do not end well for the party involved.

Your neighbors most likely could care less about your RV and in some cases for some reason don't like them or are jealous. They have no incentive to change their parking habits to accommodate you at their inconvenience and most likely have been parking there for years. When faced with the conflict, if the Board becomes involved, from experience I can tell you they will decide it is one of the most important items in the world. I wish you luck and hope you do approach the President.

[2012Coleman]

plasticmaster wrote:

2012Coleman wrote:
So the people that told you that they would not move are already not your friendly type of neighbor so you shouldn't care about pi$$ing them off. I don't have the same types around me, but I did have the same issue, except they park in front of my house, and I need the entire width of the street to get backed in. So here is what I did - I went to the houses around me and told them that although I don't mind them parking on the street in front of my house, I need the space when I'm backing my camper in. Now, If I come home with it, and cars are parked in front, I still have to knock on doors, but there is no issue.

In your case, after being told no, I'd simply add in that I'd hate to get the HOA involved as parking in the street isn't allowed, but parking my camper in my driveway for X amount of time is allowed. I can come over and advise you the day before I bring it home - OK? Then give them a have a nice day.

If that doesn't work, call the HOA.

So this works if they are home to answer the door whwn you knock. However, what do you do if you come home and they are parked in the street, but no one answers the door when you knock? This has been my experience with 2 different neighbors several times.

You need to have it figured out before you come home with the TT. You can either be somewhat passive aggressive or just live with it. The point of it is your following the HOA rules, the street parkers are not. Inform them in the nicest way possible - by letter if needed, that you need to have access to your driveway. If your HOA doesn't respond, inform the board that you will be consulting with a real estate attorney as to why HOA rules seem to apply to you, but not others. That actually solved an issue I was having not related to RV parking.

If you can't do that, then follow the advice given by toedtoes. Like I said these people already don't seem to like you - so do what is necessary to get it done and don't give up. Meanwhile, wave at them in a friendly manner and kill them with kindness.

Good luck.

[Cummins12V98]

Deb and Ed M wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
Unless the street has signs stating NO PARKING the design was approved with street parking in mind.

Not always. In Michigan, our privately-owned-by-the-HOA street is only 16' wide. We don't allow street parking because it could block rescue vehicles.

Still the road had to be approved before it could be built. If you handle it without signs that's great.

[drsteve]

toedtoes wrote:
plasticmaster, in that case, I suggest that you wait to turn them in to the HOA until a time when you are NOT bringing your RV home and make it about emergency vehicles. Don't talk to the neighbors about bringing your RV home anymore.

If you call the HOA around the time that you are bringing your RV home, it will come across as being your main reason. As I mentioned before, this becomes a fight between "RVs and street parking" both unliked by HOAs.

Instead, wait and then call and make it about emergency vehicle access. Explain that the street parking has become so extreme that you are afraid that a fire truck will not be able to get into the cul de sac if needed. Don't mention the RV at all.

This gives the HOA a strong safety reason for enforcing the rule rather than a personality dispute. It has more teeth for them. Leaving the RV out of it (and don't immediately bring the RV home after the rule is enforced) will keep the HOA from turning this against you.

I like it. Who can be against emergency vehicle access?

[turbojimmy]

wnjj wrote:
Use tinyurl: http://tinyurl.com/y2hugppe

Nice. I should have thought of that. Thanks!

[wnjj]

turbojimmy wrote:
Too bad your HOA isn't this diligent in enforcing their rules:

https://www.foxnews.com/us/hoa-threatens-resident-with-fine-after-car-leaves-*****-shape-in-snow-rep...

Stupid bad word filter won't let me post it. Substitute the ***** with p e n i s.

"A homeowner’s association (HOA) in Tennessee threatened to fine a resident $100 after her car left a phallic-shaped image in the condo’s parking lot following a light dusting of snow, a report said Tuesday.

The resident, identified as Kathryn, told The Drive that in January she received a surprising email from her HOA accusing her of violating the rules by “displaying offensive images or slogans.” The board didn’t specify what was “offensive,” so a confused Kathryn inquired further.

The board claimed to have photographic evidence sent in by a resident who was concerned about the wellbeing of children, the outlet reported. The photo it sent left Kathryn in stitches: a snowy parking space with a blob of cleared asphalt that could be construed as male genitalia.

The absence of tire tracks was because it was still snowing when she and her husband left for work that morning in their Honda Insight, Kathryn told The Drive.

Kathryn fired an angry email back to the board, noting that the bylaws state that offensive imagery had to be purposeful. She then asked how she was supposed to control the way the snow fell around her car, refused to pay the fine and threatened legal action, according to the outlet.

The board finally backed off, and in an email wrote: "We understand. We will not be pursuing this further, in good faith pursuant to the wording of the by-laws."

Use tinyurl: http://tinyurl.com/y2hugppe

[Mr_Mark1]

toedtoes wrote:
plasticmaster, in that case, I suggest that you wait to turn them in to the HOA until a time when you are NOT bringing your RV home and make it about emergency vehicles. Don't talk to the neighbors about bringing your RV home anymore.

If you call the HOA around the time that you are bringing your RV home, it will come across as being your main reason. As I mentioned before, this becomes a fight between "RVs and street parking" both unliked by HOAs.

Instead, wait and then call and make it about emergency vehicle access. Explain that the street parking has become so extreme that you are afraid that a fire truck will not be able to get into the cul de sac if needed. Don't mention the RV at all.

This gives the HOA a strong safety reason for enforcing the rule rather than a personality dispute. It has more teeth for them. Leaving the RV out of it (and don't immediately bring the RV home after the rule is enforced) will keep the HOA from turning this against you.

Excellent post.

MM.

[toedtoes]

plasticmaster, in that case, I suggest that you wait to turn them in to the HOA until a time when you are NOT bringing your RV home and make it about emergency vehicles. Don't talk to the neighbors about bringing your RV home anymore.

If you call the HOA around the time that you are bringing your RV home, it will come across as being your main reason. As I mentioned before, this becomes a fight between "RVs and street parking" both unliked by HOAs.

Instead, wait and then call and make it about emergency vehicle access. Explain that the street parking has become so extreme that you are afraid that a fire truck will not be able to get into the cul de sac if needed. Don't mention the RV at all.

This gives the HOA a strong safety reason for enforcing the rule rather than a personality dispute. It has more teeth for them. Leaving the RV out of it (and don't immediately bring the RV home after the rule is enforced) will keep the HOA from turning this against you.

[plasticmaster]

I appreciate all of the responses and insight. A lot of the comments, though, suggest criminal, reckless, or mean spirited activity (intentionally bumping or scratching their car, parking in the street myself in front of their house, etc.) by me as a means to prove a point. These things are fun to think about, but obviously, I would never do such things, nor do I have the time to do such things, even if I wanted to. Others suggest that the neighbors would retaliate with criminal activity against me such as vandalism to my house while I'm away on a camping trip. I really don't think it would come to that if I did turn them in to HOA and they suspected it was me. They have too much going for them such as raising a family to have stupid criminal charges brought against them.

Others suggest I should just live with it like backing all the way down the street, or load my camper at storage and never bring it to my house. Both of these are doable, but for a variety of reasons, make my life more difficult while facilitating the neighbors desire to park on the street with an empty driveway, which is against HOA rules that they signed in to. Why should I pay HOA fees, follow the rules, and accept that others are not while creating an inconvenience or burden for me?

Another aspect of this is the safety issue. Indeed, fire trucks would have a hard time getting down the street with the parking situation. In fact, my wife nearly got into a head on collision a couple weeks ago dodging a street parked car at the crest of a steep hill. Thankfully, both cars stopped in time, but if they had collided, it would probably have been her fault since she was in the wrong lane.

Again, thanks to all for the insight.

[mgirardo]

In our HOA, streets are county maintained, but like a lot of streets in the south, they are narrow. Parking isn't allowed on the street by owners at any time, only guests. In our covenants, it specifically states why parking on the street isn't permitted - it is a safety issue with Emergency vehicles.

As for the OP's issue, I would just use the driveway of one of the neighbor's that won't move their car(s). Pull straight in, then back the rest of the way to your house. If they see you do it, at their angle, it will probably look like you are going to hit their car(s) as you are backing out. They'll probably be a little more cooperative in the future.

I would also firmly, but not aggressively, remind these owners that parking on the street is a violation of the covenants. Let them know you are trying to resolve the issue without resorting to complaining to the HOA. Give them the choice. If they don't move the cars, then it was their choice to have you complain to the HOA. Most likely they won't comply until they start racking up fines for non-compliance.

A lot of people have no idea what they sign at closing. At our first HOA meeting after we moved in (about a year after the subdivision opened), someone asked how many home owners did not have a copy of the covenants. About half of the owners raised their hands, but they signed a document stating they received the covenants, understand them and agree to comply with them.

-Michael

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

Cummins12V98 wrote:
Unless the street has signs stating NO PARKING the design was approved with street parking in mind.

Not always. In Michigan, our privately-owned-by-the-HOA street is only 16' wide. We don't allow street parking because it could block rescue vehicles.

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

wildtoad wrote:
Request the HOA to enforce their street parking rules. Parking in a cul du sac is a safety issue regarding emergency vehicles.

I ABSOLUTELY agree with this - a fire truck isn't any more nimble than an RV. If the neighbors need overflow parking, the HOA can deal with that, too.

[Cummins12V98]

Unless the street has signs stating NO PARKING the design was approved with street parking in mind.