HOA RV Storage Rules?

[DonRich7878]

Originally Posted by jondrew55

My HOA is fine. We've been here 20 years and only minor skirmishes. The alternative could be people parking cars on the lawn and anything under the sun the local code enforcement crew won't bother going after. I'd prefer to have a enough property to build a garage on, but it's not going to happen so I found a nice storage place. Not ideal, but it works. We knew the HOA rules before we bought the place.

I'm the guy who will park my cars under the shade tree, on the grass, if I want. My boat, Airstream, motorcycles, ATV, golf cart, utility trailer and big work truck too. My kids toys will be in the yard and sometimes in the street. My happy includes anything under the sun and is shared with my neighbors over a smoky BBQ and kids splashing in the pool with a diving board. My big American flag flies high on the front lawn too, tear it down if you dare... My HOA rules.

[jondrew55]

I'm sure there's some grand point in this statement. Peace out brother.

Originally Posted by DonRich7878

I'm the guy who will park my cars under the shade tree, on the grass, if I want. My boat, Airstream, motorcycles, ATV, golf cart, utility trailer and big work truck too. My kids toys will be in the yard and sometimes in the street. My happy includes anything under the sun and is shared with my neighbors over a smoky BBQ and kids splashing in the pool with a diving board. My big American flag flies high on the front lawn too, tear it down if you dare... My HOA rules.

[Rocinante]

Yeah, it's going to vary widely, especially based on whether your HOA is gated. If the HOA is gated, everything inside the gate is private property, including the streets and alleys. If not, then the streets are most likely public property and city / county ordinances would apply to on street parking, though they probably won't apply to your driveway or to any alleys owned by the HOA.

So, in a nutshell it can be confusing.

What we're doing in our un-gated neighborhood, which I'm helping to encourage since I'm on the board, is to follow county ordinances. That allows us to keep things simple because it's the same rule everywhere. Our county allows parking of an RV on the street for up to 72 hours as long as it's not occupied and doesn't block any driveways or fire hydrants. The intent is to support loading and unloading, but nothing else. So, in the interest of helping keep the streets clear, I have successfully advocated for allowing people to park an RV in their driveway for up to 72 hours as long as they don't block the sidewalk, and they notify our HOA managment company so that the HOA knows that they know it's no more than 72 hours. Alleys don't have room for an RV, much less a car, so nothing is allowed to be parked in an alley. Again, parked RV's in our neighborhood are not to be occupied, no awnings out, no slides, no nothing. The intent is to allow for loading / unloading and maybe a quick cleanout before hitting the road or putting it back in storage. If someone happens to plug in an RV while it's in a driveway that's fine, but charging batteries is not part of the intent. It's an incidental, though sometimes achievable, side effect.

Anyone who parks a van in their driveway that's also an RV is notified that they must obtain storage. Long-term driveway parking of a camper van is not permitted.

Folks who don't comply eventually get a letter from HOA counsel and at that point it starts costing them money. The longer it takes them to resolve the situation, the more it costs them.

[PC Conner]

No HOA, but city ordinances:
1. Nothing stored in front of the front edge of the house (the guy on the corner had a problem with parking his RV on the side of his house--he pointed out that it behind the front edge of the house. He won the argument).
2. Supposedly, there is a half-day allowance to keep the RV at the house for load/unload. But, some have large RVs with sliders out
It is all according to the enforcement of the ordinances. If neighbors do not complain the police do not seem to care. But, let a city council woman complain and the homeowner gets a call from Code Enforcement (do I need to say how I know).
I think the rules are manageable. Be courteous and respectful of others goes a long way in everyone getting along.

[bweybright]

Interesting discussion about HOA's and pretend knowledgeable people in charge. Ask me about when my dad died in a Florida house with HOA and the president came around and put parking tickets on the hearse and medical responders after he died..... My dad died of age, my mom was dealing with it and had to deal with bullshit HOA people giving tickets to the hearse so she didn't have to pay parking fines for "illegal visitors"? I have my opinion about HOA's.... Never for me.
I feel very sorry for those of you have to deal with HOA's. never for me. You are truly saints.

[RickyNelson]

Great conversation! We have a 72 hour window and the CC&R is kind of vague and under interpretation. In a nutshell, RV has to be behind a screen. Enforcement depends on the volunteer board at the time. LOL!

Are there any articles or studies that explain how RV Parking brings down the home values or explains this?

[Fungus]

Originally Posted by bweybright

Interesting discussion about HOA's and pretend knowledgeable people in charge. Ask me about when my dad died in a Florida house with HOA and the president came around and put parking tickets on the hearse and medical responders after he died..... My dad died of age, my mom was dealing with it and had to deal with bullshit HOA people giving tickets to the hearse so she didn't have to pay parking fines for "illegal visitors"? I have my opinion about HOA's.... Never for me.
I feel very sorry for those of you have to deal with HOA's. never for me. You are truly saints.

For some people...give them a little power and this is what you get.

Petty tyrants.

[jondrew55]

There are always horror stories and I feel terrible what your family went thru. If I had a choice, I'd most likely have gone with a no-HOA neighborhood. But when we bought this house we had specific needs and this was the one place that had what we wanted. We've been fortunate to only get the occasional letter to pressure wash our sidewalks and the occasional street parking when our driveway/garage was full. No real heavy handed tactics.

We recently repainted our house. We used the exact same colors from the previous painting. One of the HOA people came by and complained we had not filed out the form to get the color approved. Another HOA member lives next door and after she left said "don't worry about her, she's moving next month anyway and will be out of our hair".

But on the RV part of the question as I said before there were some complaints and then they clarified with a 3 days before and 3 days after a trip policy which I think is pretty reasonable.

Originally Posted by bweybright

Interesting discussion about HOA's and pretend knowledgeable people in charge. Ask me about when my dad died in a Florida house with HOA and the president came around and put parking tickets on the hearse and medical responders after he died..... My dad died of age, my mom was dealing with it and had to deal with bullshit HOA people giving tickets to the hearse so she didn't have to pay parking fines for "illegal visitors"? I have my opinion about HOA's.... Never for me.
I feel very sorry for those of you have to deal with HOA's. never for me. You are truly saints.

[RxGuy]

Interesting subject, just had to deal with this issue with a condo we had put an offer in on...

According to the HOA rules of this condo community, you could not park your RV for longer than 2 hours.

Oh yeah, we all can load or unload in 2 hours.

After the selling agent supplied us with all the condo docs and we saw this little gem, we immediately rescinded our offer.

[Rocinante]

Originally Posted by RxGuy

Interesting subject, just had to deal with this issue with a condo we had put an offer in on...

According to the HOA rules of this condo community, you could not park your RV for longer than 2 hours.

Oh yeah, we all can load or unload in 2 hours.

After the selling agent supplied us with all the condo docs and we saw this little gem, we immediately rescinded our offer.

Good move, we would have done the same. Gotta watch those HOA rules like a hawk when buying. We’ve firmly decided that if we buy another home, nothing with an HOA will be considered. Where we live now, that would mean an older home that probably needs some work, but better that than dealing with another HOA.

[SYC2Vette]

Originally Posted by Geseaman

I also live in a subdivision with rules regarding RV’s. When I moved in we were allowed 24 hours to load and unload. However, we were at odds with the township rules which allowed 3 days. We amended the rules to be consistent with the township and now allow 3 days. I still have to store the Airstream off site but the added time allows for load/unload, wash/wax, whatever.

That is probably the ideal where the local township rules are close to the HOA rules, so you can default to the same and have additional enforcement avenues. It is easy to say that you don't have a problem with an Airstream parked next door, but hard to legislate that specifically. Honestly, if you care about your neighborhood most folks don't want RV's and trailers parked semi-permanently on residential lots. Of course as lot size increases there should be more flexibility.

[Mikebrady62]

The idea of an HOA is great (most of the time.) The problem comes with some of the individuals on the board. Like bweybright and jondrew55’s one neighbor but not the other. The HOA exist to keep your property values up, which we mostly all would want. Think of the nightmare living next to a bunch of donrich7878 would be. I’ll take the HOA anytime. We have 2-3 acre lots in our neighborhood and I’m all about having fun and a great pool party, but if you want to trash your own property, you should be out away from others. Being respectful to others like you should when you’re out camping is what life is all about.

[Dennis C]

Our HOA isn’t bad at all. The board functions well, the people are respectful, and we rarely have any issues. I’m happy with our HOA because of the high standards for property maintenance and appearance. I don’t want to see a bunch of junk or kids’ toys in the yards in my neighborhood. I can see how an HOA could be difficult, but that hasn’t been my experience.

[DonRich7878]

Originally Posted by Mikebrady62

The idea of an HOA is great (most of the time.) The problem comes with some of the individuals on the board. Like bweybright and jondrew55’s one neighbor but not the other. The HOA exist to keep your property values up, which we mostly all would want. Think of the nightmare living next to a bunch of donrich7878 would be. I’ll take the HOA anytime. We have 2-3 acre lots in our neighborhood and I’m all about having fun and a great pool party, but if you want to trash your own property, you should be out away from others. Being respectful to others like you should when you’re out camping is what life is all about.

Don't worry Mike, the likelihood of discovering I'm your neighbor is pretty slim. Look down your nose at me if you will, but rest assured the same people you bow down for permission to load your high dollar airstream, think of you as common trailer trash.

[jondrew55]

Originally Posted by Mikebrady62

The idea of an HOA is great (most of the time.) The problem comes with some of the individuals on the board. Like bweybright and jondrew55’s one neighbor but not the other. The HOA exist to keep your property values up, which we mostly all would want. Think of the nightmare living next to a bunch of donrich7878 would be. I’ll take the HOA anytime. We have 2-3 acre lots in our neighborhood and I’m all about having fun and a great pool party, but if you want to trash your own property, you should be out away from others. Being respectful to others like you should when you’re out camping is what life is all about.

Oh Mike, you took Don’s bait. We see plenty of what’s going on with him all too
much these days. Let it slide. It’s almost like we’re having our own HOA meeting.

[Silvr_Bullet]

Every purchaser received rules and regulations before you purchased, or should have. Like complaining about the local airport or the main thoroughfare outside the window.

[richard5933]

Originally Posted by Silvr_Bullet

Every purchaser received rules and regulations before you purchased, or should have. Like complaining about the local airport or the main thoroughfare outside the window.

You can't always know what the rules will be down the road. We're looking at some rural properties in the SW and keep running into places with HOAs in place. They have no or limited rules right now, but they also have many unsold lots. Once all the lots are sold and property owners join the HOA things will likely change and more rules will be added.

Almost seems to me that the developers are refraining from imposing rules now so that they can sell the lots, but once the lots are sold it's out of their hands.

[Silvr_Bullet]

Originally Posted by richard5933

You can't always know what the rules will be down the road. We're looking at some rural properties in the SW and keep running into places with HOAs in place. They have no or limited rules right now, but they also have many unsold lots. Once all the lots are sold and property owners join the HOA things will likely change and more rules will be added.



Almost seems to me that the developers are refraining from imposing rules now so that they can sell the lots, but once the lots are sold it's out of their hands.

I see your point, who knew one would have an RV, 5 years down the road. I would think that most developments have some Boiler Plate rules that attorneys use to start off with, an you can bet RV’s are addressed there in.

[SnowWanderer]

Just one more reason why I will never, ever live where an HOA dictates how I have to live. My suggestion.... move to a location where you decide what you want to do with your own property and not under the thumb of oftentimes lunatics who demand you do as they insist.

[RMYull]

Originally Posted by bcheever

Do you have HOA regulations about parking RVs in your neighborhood, and if so what are they?

We live in a historic neighborhood that prohibits storing RVs. I'm working on some recommendations for our HOA board - the idea is something reasonable that is generous in giving folks time to load and unload and top off the charge on their batteries, but reassure nervous homeowners about people living in their trailers or blocking traffic on our narrow streets.

Would appreciate hearing any thoughts on a fair way to do this for all involved. Thanks!

We have reasonable HOA rules: a parking permit is needed and placed on RV or tow vehicle Time period is up to 3 days parked at curb and max 14 days in 6 mo period. I run an extension cord into garage to have some power to work inside trailer. Of course there is no occupying it.