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Can a home owners assoc dictate parking regulations on a county street?
Anonymous3 views2 answers
On one side of the street are "no parking" signs. I parked my vehicle on the other side of street Friday afternoon and moved it back in the driveway Sunday afternoon. The hoa states they will fine me $25 per day if I do it again. They state that on street parking is reserved for occasional weekend guests and loading and unloading. Can they make up parking rules for public streets? Thank you.
Many HOAs have covenant provisions they try to enforce governing parking in the community, including covenants that prohibit on street parking. That doesn't mean they have any authority to do so, but they often try. If the street is dedicated to the county and maintained by the county, in most cases the HOA has no authority to stop you from parking on the street. In most cases, the dedicated streets are not, themselves, subject to the restrictive covenants. If the streets are not governed by the covenants, what rights does the HOA have to govern actions outside of the covenanted property? In most cases, none. But that doesn't say they won't try, they won't file a lien against your property for the fines, and they won't take you to court to collect the fines. The defenses get technical, and most HOAs figure the owners won't have the resources to defend the claim. They see the fines as a way to push compliance. Can they push to make both sides of the street no-parking? Sure. But then the parking restrictions are enforced by the county, not the HOA. Is a $25 fine worth fighting from a purely economic point of view? Probably not. If you want to fight on principle, just realize that you may prevail on the legal issue, but you might not end up recovering the costs of the litigation. But if you take on the HOA, be sure you work with an attorney that has substantial experience dealing with HOA laws, or you are likely to get steamrollered.
Lisa Michelle HarrisViolent Crime LawyerAtlanta, GA ·
To start with, not all HOA-governed communities have streets owned and maintained by the County. I live in one where the community itself owns the streets and therefore the HOA can dictate any parking rules they wish. Your first step is to get a copy of the current CCRs for your HOA and read the sections governing parking etc. you may find they are violating their own rules. You may also find that you have indeed violated the CCRs. Start there and once you have your answer you'll be in a much better position to determine an appropriate course of action.
Best of luck,
Lisa Harris
