HOA requires garage doors stay open all day

[Christine]

Our HOA takes care of the trash & manages the pool(which is open 3 months a year) they don't seem to do much of anything else. A neighbor had a total POS wrecked truck parked in his drive for nearly a year. The HOA contacted them several times but he refused to do anything about it. This leads me to think the HOA has no teeth.
The open garage door thing is counter intuitive, isn't this just asking for people's stuff to get stolen? And then the people sue the HOA.

Our HOA does not enforce anything that happens to be against the law on the books of our country. This includes abandonded/unregistered cars and noise complaints. That's not their job. A quick call to the county police takes care of issues like the one your described. Our HOA will definitely send out reminders in their newsletter that this are county violations and a board member *may* call the county, but a homeowner can do that as well.

Our HOA only concerns itself with the degradation of the property that causes property values to decrease: broken shutters, siding needing repair, driveway that have holes in them, etc. Certainly an abandoned car is an eyesore but they don't spend enforcement funds on things that are up to the local police department to enforce.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Also allows much easier access to your house as well. The doors leading into the house from the garage are generally some of the easiest to break in (plus the person would be in the garage so wouldn't look as suspicious)

Code wise in our area it's required that the door from your garage into your home be steel reenforced (there's a steel strip in it so trying to kick in the door, etc would be a lot harder) and spring loaded (which sucks though when you're bring in groceries lol). We were told it's to deter theft. Honestly our door from our garage to our house is the strongest door we've got--however we don't lock our door from our garage into our house but if I had a rule like the neighborhood in the article I would be deadbolting the garage door and likely dealing with the extra hassle of going through the front door instead of the garage.

 

[Hikergirl]

That would be a hard no from me as well.

To me that is like saying...police are worried about drugs, why don't police just get to search everyone and anyone's house at random?

Sorry that is comparing apples to oranges, HOA are not police officers and letting someone crash in your garage is not the same as illegal drugs.
But that is why I would never live where there was an HOA, if I let someone live in my garage nobody can tell me I can't, nobody can tell me to keep my door open and nobody can just randomly check.

 

[Christine]

I was reading about this from my local news and I get what they are tryiing to control with people living in garages but the story I read mentioned one of the homeowners who was interviewed didn't have a problem with setting up checks for illegal tennents but def had a problem with leaving their garage opened during the day. For our neighborhood as well as I'm sure majority of HOA neighborhoods this would be against the rules.

And honestly in this case I do get the frustration. People know HOAs can adjust their rules and they do but this isn't something that people signed off for when they moved into the neighborhood. It was a sudden drastic rule change that seems like it wasn't thought out. I wonder if they opened up any of their meetings for their residents to come and discuss their concerns or give alternatives for a solution before signing this into 'law'. I have no idea what the laws are there but I *think* here any change to the rules means you have to refile paperwork with the City and have it recorded as such.

Besides to me this is so far removed from a simple "you moved into an area where people can tell you what to do" type thing. Also there are city ordinances all the time that tell you what you can do from not parking inoperable vehicles, from not parking on the street and not moving your vehicle for X amount of time, from when you can mow your lawn or do construction on your home, etc.

Our HOA tried to change a rule in the covenants. We could not doing it without spending a LOT of funding in legal fees. The entirety of the covenents had to be redone and, yes, a fairly high percentage of residents had to be notified ahead of time and had to vote. I realize HOA regulations vary from state to state but in my state, an HOA could never add this type of rule and enforce it. They might just be trying to do it, but officially, it would have never happened here.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Our HOA tried to change a rule in the covenants. We could not doing it without spending a LOT of funding in legal fees. The entirety of the covenents had to be redone and, yes, a fairly high percentage of residents had to be notified ahead of time and had to vote. I realize HOA regulations vary from state to state but in my state, an HOA could never add this type of rule and enforce it. They might just be trying to do it, but officially, it would have never happened here.

Yes that's interesting.

I know in ours they would add an admendment page if the page itself the rule is on doesn't really need to be rewritten. I know for a few years wood fences and black metal fences (you know the nicer looking kind that offers no privacy lol) were allowed but in 2012 (this was prior to us living here) they just created a fencing admendment (that was filed through the city and signed off on from the city) where no wood fences were allowed and only black metal fences were allowed.

I was going to comment about your HOA and what they do since it differs a bit from ours. In ours they do enforce not moving a vehicle for X amount of time or for leaving Christmas decorations up too long, etc but every year that we have lived here (over 3 years now) there hasn't been any lien costs listed in the paperwork we get for our HOA dues breakdown so the warnings must be doing something. Now I know they don't fully enforce every little thing but most of the times it comes to if someone has complained or not. But yours is similar to mine in that what they enforce is to protect for the most part property values. Another thing our HOA does is because there is still quite a bit of construction going on if someone notifies the property manager that a builder is in violation of the noise ordinance the property manager can then speak directly with the builder rather than the homeowner who would have to report it to the police as part of a non-emergency complaint. That's only needed to have been done a handful of times though.

 

[Poohforyou]

We've had this...uh, debate...with our HOA. We never use our front door, almost exclusively enter and exit the house through the garage. They're whined about us having it open, my response is to go pound sand.

HOAs should be outlawed and abolished. Can't stand them.

Why did you buy where there's an HOA?

We have an HOA and don't find the regulations unreasonable.

 

[DVC-Don]

Here in Florida if our HOA specified garage doors open we'd have gators and snakes in our garages.

 

[paisleys]

I would have to move if our HOA demanded our garage be left open. It's the opposite here, as in most. We keep ours shut not unless we are working out front. There are a lot of critters including coyotes, diamondback rattlesnakes and alligators in the area. Aside from that, even though we live in a gated community (false sense of security), I wouldn't like my belongings and car exposed all day to anyone who might want to come in. We do still have a lot of building going on and a lot of random people in and out. I would like to understand why everyone else doesn't worry about any of these things? Most of my neighbors leave theirs open all day.

 

[wenrob]

Like I said upthread, you have to pay to live in the city and street to street can still be interesting and used to be really "interesting." Here and pretty much the exact same place I lived in ATL, is almost entirely regentrified and pushing into the next neighborhood and the next. It's fantastic for cutting down urban sprawl and something I see as a real positive for the city. But Nashville is super "hot" right now, and the hipsters...jesus, the number of adults in onesies, glitter beards, or romphims I see at a bar (sometimes while dis'ing! I really want to take and post pics for ya'll but I wouldn't do that to strangers or sorta acquaintances) or a coffee shop is ridiculous; however the cocktails and coffee are great! Remodeling those old houses and the effort put into saving old tile, doors, windows, structures, etc. though is awesome. It's a weird time.

I wonder why downtown Vegas became unpopular, it seems like with the jobs closeby it'd be ready for a revitalization? I really enjoy Vegas for a tourist place. I'd love to move their just to not have to deal with allergies! I can't imagine being single there though, seems like it'd be super crazy.

ETA: because of work, I'm so glad that I don't have an HOA as I've been able to rent out my house at will when I needed to be in a different part of the country for a while.

That’s a common misconception about Vegas. There are plenty of jobs to be had that have nothing to do with the casinos. We are a huge city, much more suburban than you’d think. I know two people who work on The Strip, my kid being one of them. The short answer is there is more crime down that way.

 

[wenrob]

Our HOA tried to change a rule in the covenants. We could not doing it without spending a LOT of funding in legal fees. The entirety of the covenents had to be redone and, yes, a fairly high percentage of residents had to be notified ahead of time and had to vote. I realize HOA regulations vary from state to state but in my state, an HOA could never add this type of rule and enforce it. They might just be trying to do it, but officially, it would have never happened here.

Same. We get a vote so to speak. Something like that would never fly without a lot of hoops being jumped through.

 

[ThistleMae]

I'll be the dissenting voice here. First, I find this request absolutely ridiculous but I am very thankful for my HOA. They are very reasonable and they do a good job of keeping some people's property from looking like a junkyard and falling down in disrepair. Some neighborhoods near me don't have them and they look terrible. It's amazing what people will do (or not do).

I'm glad someone has something positive to say about HOA's. I may end up in an over 55 community and they have all sorts of rules. But my life is simple, so I think I'll be okay. And I want the amenities.

 

[ThistleMae]

It’s not easy peasy depending on where you live. Most new home developments here (and by new I mean 20-25 years and newer) are all HOA. The oldest and older neighborhoods have or are falling into disrepair with grocery stores and businesses now abandoned buildings. I wouldn’t live where I raised my older daughter now if you paid me. If your choice is your kid getting mugged on the way to school or dealing with an HOA to live in a decent neighborhood it’s about as close to no choice as you can get.

When we were looking for a house I read all the bylaws of every HOA top to bottom. I wasn’t signing anything until I knew 100% what I was getting into. It hasn’t been too bad. We have Mrs. Kravitz up the street who likes to “tattle” on people but our HOA is like New Years Resolutioners. All gung ho every now and again but mostly leave you alone. The vast majority of the neighborhood keeps up their property and we have no crazy rules which helps.

I wouldn’t think an HOA could just arbitrarily order people to leave their home unsecured like that. Even if it’s not illegal as the article states, take it to the media. There will be lawyers wanting to get their name out there lining up. I’d refuse and hit up my neighbors to do the same.

I get the Mrs. Kratitz thing...I bet there's one of her in every HOA...LOL!

 

[tvguy]

A friend is a property manager and is battling an HOA for her tenant and property owner over a nail in the wall of the balcony. The tenant had a thermometer hanging on the nail.
The HOA assessed a $500 fine for damage to a public area. Without a warning. The tenant removed the thermometer and the nail.
My friend was all set to pay the fine until she had an attorney review the complex rules, and he discovered the inside wall is considered private area area, not a public area.
The HOA said that didn't matter, the damage was done and in their view anything in public view was a public area..
Then on a fluke she happened to look at the photos taken when by the realtor that sold the condo to her client 5 years ago. The nail was there before her client ever bought the unit!
She is waiting to hear back from the HOA on that.

 

[usnuzuloose]

HOA's are out of control. I would not live in one. These people do not make my home payment. If things get stolen someone will get sued.

 

[wenrob]

I get the Mrs. Kratitz thing...I bet there's one of her in every HOA...LOL!

She is a piece of work. Her DH was on the board at some point from what I understand so she seems to be under the mistaken impression she has some pull in what happens in the neighborhood. Before we had our current trash system (provided by the city and paid for by homeowners) you would flatten your cardboard boxes, tie them with a string and put them out for recycling. My DH did just that but for whatever reason recycling didn’t pick them up. She took a photo of the boxes on the sidewalk and sent it to the HOA. They were out less than 12 hours and you get 48 but she didn’t like it, lol.

 

[Mizzoufan]

There is a whole group of people sitting around and this is the best thing they could think up to fix this problem.

 

[loves to dive]

We live in a subdivision with a HOA but the rules are pretty lax. We moved into the subdivision before it was finished so it hadn't been turned over to a HOA by the builder yet. When it was, we made sure to get on the board to prevent silly rules like that. Some people on the board wanted to say how long the grass could be in inches. We had enough non-silly people on the board to not let that get through. Now most of the things that are in the rules are just ignored by most people.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We live in a subdivision with a HOA but the rules are pretty lax. We moved into the subdivision before it was finished so it hadn't been turned over to a HOA by the builder yet. When it was, we made sure to get on the board to prevent silly rules like that. Some people on the board wanted to say how long the grass could be in inches. We had enough non-silly people on the board to not let that get through. Now most of the things that are in the rules are just ignored by most people.

Well..here we have a rule on how tall the grass can be both at the HOA and at the City level.

City ordinance:


HOA rule:


Since our HOA says 6 inches that's what rule you would need to adhere to but no matter what if your grass is above 8 inches you're in violation of the City's ordinance regardless of living in our specific neighbhorhood or not.

My assumption was when you said how long you were talking about height of the grass. Apologies if that is incorrect.

 

[SmallWorld71]

Here in Florida if our HOA specified garage doors open we'd have gators and snakes in our garages.

Here it would be foxes, raccoons, turkeys and the like but that's what I was thinking. Open garage doors would certainly invite the local animals in.
I always find these threads interesting, as I don't know anyone IRL, no matter their income level, who lives in a neighborhood with an HOA. They're just not a thing around here. Probably because there really aren't new developments. The area has been settled for a long time.

 

[mom2rtk]

Our garage is detached. But I can't imagine anyone with an attached garage wanting to let all that cold air in closer to the main part of the house when temps fall. Or let heat in when temps soar.