Communities with an HOA

[mrodgers]

I don't know how else to explain it. But I suspect that given many other places in the county are probably set up the same way as mine where trash collection is not done overnight for schools or homes for that matter and there's not a rash of news stories about kids being run over or hit by trash trucks left and right day in and day out (I'm not saying no kid ever hasn't been hit just that it's not super soooo crazy prevalent it necessitates an extreme choice made such as picking up at 3am) other places must be doing something else that other areas just can't OR won't do. That's why I mentioned different safety procedures. Picking up overnight, at 3am, is simply not the only way if your provider is worried about safety.

But that's what makes it interesting I guess is learning different ways places do things.

Yup, because I have never seen garbage trucks out getting in the way when everyone else is trying to get to work and moving about their business during the day. Around here, garbage routes run over night. If I forgot the garbage and I happen to wake up half an hour early at 4:30, I'd be running out trying to get the garbage out as the truck went by. Dead end road, so I had time for when he returned through.

My mother's garbage comes around 3 am.

I've never seen one collecting residential in waking hours.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Yup, because I have never seen garbage trucks out getting in the way when everyone else is trying to get to work and moving about their business during the day. Around here, garbage routes run over night. If I forgot the garbage and I happen to wake up half an hour early at 4:30, I'd be running out trying to get the garbage out as the truck went by. Dead end road, so I had time for when he returned through.

My mother's garbage comes around 3 am.

I've never seen one collecting residential in waking hours.

That would suck to forget it no doubt.

Yeah none run overnight here. Coincidentally today was trash day. In my particular neighborhood trash is collected around 10am normally with recycling averaging around 1:30pm and I forget when yard waste tends to be picked up but the collection starts at 8am.

Every place I've lived at the collection has obviously been a different times (including my alma mater which is in a different county) but generally collection starts around 8am give or take an hour or so and stops at a certain point but never really late and unless it's a crap company they've always been able to get the trash picked up every time. Each area can have different trash days. Currently I'm on Tuesday but when I've lived in another area it was on Friday. My mom's is on a Monday.

In my county it's also the rule that every resident has to be given the choice to get recycling and cannot be charged extra for it so every company or entity that does collection has to have at least 2 different trucks 1 for trash 1 for recycling. My city runs a 3rd truck for yard waste that they take to the nearby compost facility but I've seen other companies just put yard waste with trash and I assume they separate them out later on IDK.

 

[luvflorida]

Trashy and unslightly. I'm sorry but those words got on my last nerve. Someone has to do those jobs but they aren't good enough to live in your neighborhood. God forbid you need a tow truck driver sometime down the road during the night. Don't complain if it takes awhile to rescue you. He may need to drive his car over to the business to pick up his truck and then go help you. Or hope that you never need that plumber quickly on a weekend. He will need to leave his house and family, drive to the office to pick up that work truck just so he can take care of your emergency. Don't complain that he wasn't there within an hour or two. After all, no one wants them in their neighborhood because they are unsightly and trashy.

This is absolutely not what I'm talking about. Personally, I have not used the word "trashy", but yes, I think a very big commercial truck parked in a driveway of a residential neighborhood is unsightly and unattractive. I'm not talking about a small commercial van that fits inside a garage. I'm talking about a large flatbed/tow truck with flashing lights on top. But the point is, the HOA has rules stating that it is a violation of the bylaws/covenants for anyone to park such a vehicle where it is visible to other lots and surrounding areas. The HOA board established the bylaws/covenants. Anyone buying property in this community is given a copy of the covenants. Homeowners are expected to follow the rules established by the HOA. You have the knowledge before you purchase property in this community concerning what is allowed and what isn't allowed.

Big stretch to say, "someone has to do those jobs but they aren't good enough to live in your neighborhood". How does an HOA rule prohibiting the parking of commercial trucks in driveways equate to someone not being good enough to live in the neighborhood? I'm totally confused as to how you came up with this.

I'm also sure that many other HOA's have the same, or similar, rules. It is not unique to this community. I understand that not everyone would have an issue with a big commercial truck parked in their neighborhood, but again, that's not the point here. My intent when posting this thread was to explain the situation and explain how the HOA is dealing with it. I wanted to know how other communities with an HOA deal with similar situations. Are the rules enforced or not enforced? Are fines enough to get someone to comply? Are we being unreasonable to expect people to adhere to bylaws?

"Someone not good enough to live in this neighborhood"? "Filthy blue collar workers"? "Elitist communities"? Very insulting and not at all what I'm talking about.

 

[ZTator]

You think you have it bad, my neighbor bulldozed in a huge rock and placed it just on their side of the property line. And now it has huge growing grass like wheat type long stems of some sort growing out it that are dead and get all over my yard and my driveway, the grass around it is as tall as I am, it has now grown so tall and wide it is twice the size it use to be and has grown up to the side of our driveway, it is a huge eye sore. Every time I get in and out of my car and the bush hits my car door I just want to lose my lunch. I have had a million conversations about it with my husband for the past two years and each time I tell him we are going to tell them to cut the dang thing back or else, or better yet remove the whole island of crap, but each time we see them we are like "hey ya'll" grrr so annoying , hahaha.

 

[luvsJack]

Around here they would just avoid that particular school around that exact time if that was the issue and the school requested it. They would still do it during the day. They wouldn't resort to going overnight as if that's the only reason one can come up with. Like I said going overnight isn't the only way to address safety concerns. Other mitigating reasons may be really coming into play..I suspect that's largely the reason.

My county is nearly 600K people..I'm going to guess they've got something figured out to be able to not do these things overnight

Your area is free to do what they feel the need to do obviously.

Why are you determined to continue to argue that it’s for some other reason? I know why they did it because they SAID why.

It does not matter how many people live in your county. It does not matter what other things they do or don’t do. Those things do not change one thing about why anything is done where I live.

I am really confused as to why you are so dead set on making this something other than what myself or the other poster has said.

No one has even suggested that your county is “doing it wrong”. Of course they are likely doing what is fine for them. But FOR HERE, they are doing what works best.

And honestly it works out well for our campus because our parking lots, where the dumpsters are, are filled to the brim during the day so no one has to worry about someone parking in the wrong spot around the dumpster or the truck having to navigate through all the traffic between classes.

The “exact time”? You do realize how often students are out of the classroom at an elementary school? Add in arrival and dismissal and it could literally be every hour of the school day. There is no one time.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Why are you determined to continue to argue that it’s for some other reason? I know why they did it because they SAID why.

It does not matter how many people live in your county. It does not matter what other things they do or don’t do. Those things do not change one thing about why anything is done where I live.

I am really confused as to why you are so dead set on making this something other than what myself or the other poster has said.

No one has even suggested that your county is “doing it wrong”. Of course they are likely doing what is fine for them. But FOR HERE, they are doing what works best.

And honestly it works out well for our campus because our parking lots, where the dumpsters are, are filled to the brim during the day so no one has to worry about someone parking in the wrong spot around the dumpster or the truck having to navigate through all the traffic between classes.

The “exact time”? You do realize how often students are out of the classroom at an elementary school? Add in arrival and dismissal and it could literally be every hour of the school day. There is no one time.

Why are you determined to go back and forth with me? You didn't have to comment on the conversation I was having with the other poster. Pretty sure you're just bound and determined to go back and forth with me and I just don't care to. Have a good rest of your night

 

[Boopuff]

We ended up in an HOA community. We were given all the rules etc. Knew what we were getting into. Do I love it? no. But even in our previous village, there were some very strict rules, no tall grass (if it got above a certain point they'd cut and bill you, no "commercial"vehicles. So if you had a big truck with "JO's Plumbing" it couldn't be seen from the street (garage ok). But my point is HOA's aren't the only "law" around. We own a big 'ole rv. When we bought our home we knew we'd have to find a place to park it. So be it. But I do like seeing a well manicured neighborhood. (we have 2 homes that are so far in arrears with fines that the HOA is beginning legal process with the owners)

 

[HopperFan]

This is absolutely not what I'm talking about. Personally, I have not used the word "trashy", but yes, I think a very big commercial truck parked in a driveway of a residential neighborhood is unsightly and unattractive. I'm not talking about a small commercial van that fits inside a garage. I'm talking about a large flatbed/tow truck with flashing lights on top. But the point is, the HOA has rules stating that it is a violation of the bylaws/covenants for anyone to park such a vehicle where it is visible to other lots and surrounding areas. The HOA board established the bylaws/covenants. Anyone buying property in this community is given a copy of the covenants. Homeowners are expected to follow the rules established by the HOA. You have the knowledge before you purchase property in this community concerning what is allowed and what isn't allowed.

Big stretch to say, "someone has to do those jobs but they aren't good enough to live in your neighborhood". How does an HOA rule prohibiting the parking of commercial trucks in driveways equate to someone not being good enough to live in the neighborhood? I'm totally confused as to how you came up with this.

I'm also sure that many other HOA's have the same, or similar, rules. It is not unique to this community. I understand that not everyone would have an issue with a big commercial truck parked in their neighborhood, but again, that's not the point here. My intent when posting this thread was to explain the situation and explain how the HOA is dealing with it. I wanted to know how other communities with an HOA deal with similar situations. Are the rules enforced or not enforced? Are fines enough to get someone to comply? Are we being unreasonable to expect people to adhere to bylaws?

"Someone not good enough to live in this neighborhood"? "Filthy blue collar workers"? "Elitist communities"? Very insulting and not at all what I'm talking about.

We had a commercial truck parking in our neighborhood. The HOA sent certified letter telling them that it was not allowed and it had to be removed / left at their place of business. There were told it would be towed if it wasn't removed in set period of time.

Rules must be adhered to or then you start to see all the rules not obeyed. If you aren't going to enforce them, homeowners will take advantage of them. Check with your local government to find out if they have anything that can help. Maybe even disturbing the peace if they are beeping before or after allowable hours. Look for the loop holes. Truck weight limits, tire limits, parking in driveway not garage etc.

If I were shopping for a home and saw this truck, I would not buy in the neighborhood so yes, it does impact property values. When home shopping you look during the day, drive back in the evening, drive through on weekends, early morning ... this gives you a good overall feel for a neighborhood .... what cars/trucks are there, what rules might be in place, are there kids, are people outside being friendly ....

Yes, HOA penalties can be hard because to enforce you really have to end up with a lien or legal document. In ours a realtor contacts that HOA to make sure a home is in good standing or all penalties and fees have to be paid up at closing. I had a house not in compliance for years - architectural issue. They put house for sale, had contract and then got my letter. Had the guy at my door begging for what he could do to make it good. We negotiated a compromise - he got more than we did but at least his blantant rule broken was addressed so the new owner wouldn't continue the practice.

HOA boards are crappy jobs most the time .... either DH or I have been on ours 10-15 years. We've had our share of battles with homeowners. Ours is an older one so covenants were written 40 years ago. New ones are awful. DD just moved into brand new, still building neighborhood. They've gotten 2 letters about their dogs ... who are in their own backyard in an invisible fence ... because they aren't on a leash AND one that they had about 6 weeds in their front yard. Luckily they are renting for a year to see if they really want to build in there .... needless to say they don't now and are talking about looking for non-HOA community. Sometimes people have nothing better to do that count weeds.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

Yup, because I have never seen garbage trucks out getting in the way when everyone else is trying to get to work and moving about their business during the day. Around here, garbage routes run over night. If I forgot the garbage and I happen to wake up half an hour early at 4:30, I'd be running out trying to get the garbage out as the truck went by. Dead end road, so I had time for when he returned through.

My mother's garbage comes around 3 am.

I've never seen one collecting residential in waking hours.

Our last house, the garbage guys came about 2pm on Thursdays. Just as the high schoolers were coming off the buses.

Here, there are a bunch of two lane roads (one lane in each direction, with no turn lanes). The garbage trucks (and mail trucks, for that matter) will stop at each place and pick up the trash, blocking the road. No trash pick up at night, daytime only. You learn, very quickly, which roads to avoid on certain days.

ETA: That was just for trash pickup. There was also recycling pickup (which came at about 7am on Wednesdays, as elementary kids were heading to school) and the twice a month big trash collection trucks (which came on Wednesday afternoons, but only if the recycling guys noted something needed to picked up or if you made a call to the trash company). Obviously, those days changed for others in the community, but those were the days for us.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

The house I just refered to in my last post was in an HOA.

The HOA had a rule that no basketball hoops could be left outside when unused. If the kids stopped playing, went inside for a drink, (even if intending to come play some more within 10 minutes), the hoops had to be put away. One person made it their mission in life to catch people breaking this rule. I'm not joking. After school and on the weekends, you'd see her driving around our little cul-de-sac (it would take about 15-20 minutes to walk the whole thing, but hey) and the minute someone left a hoop unattended, she'd pounce in with letters and fines.

I was outside mowing and watched her pull up to the curb across from the circle (parked by a fire hydrant, because rules didn't apply to them, I guess) and wait for 10 minutes while the neighbor's kid and mine played hoops. The boys stopped, and went in to get a drink (at their own houses) and the minute the doors to the houses shut, her car door flew open. I stopped mowing, went over to the neighbors, picked up the basketball and started dribbling. Took a couple shots by the time she crossed the street. She started to write a (note, fine, ticket?) on her little clipboard, noticed me, gave me a dirty look, and stomped back to her car. I just waited, shooting hoops, until the boys came back, then went back to mowing. My neighbor gave me an odd look when he came outside, but I explained, and he laughed.

She came back a few days later, with a measuring tape, and tried to give me a note about my bushes and the palm tree being too tall. Told her to send it to my landlord, because I didn't have anything to do with the height of the bushes; that was how the landlord wanted them. And trying to regulate the height of a tree? Psh, take it up with Mother Nature. She stomped off, didn't hear from her again.

The neighbor with the basketball hoop went to an HOA meeting a few months after this and noted that the HOA woman had been doing this swoop and ticket thing for the hoops for awhile, but also noted that at her house, there was a basketball hoop that had not moved for months, and he knew this because he drew a chalk outline around the darn thing after every time it rained, and would take a picture of it at 3am when he left for work. She stopped harassing people about the hoops after that.

 

[luvsJack]

Why are you determined to go back and forth with me? You didn't have to comment on the conversation I was having with the other poster. Pretty sure you're just bound and determined to go back and forth with me and I just don't care to. Have a good rest of your night

No I didn’t. But I only commented to say “yes this does happen and it does happen for this reason” because you were going back and forth so much that the reason he stated couldn’t possibly be the reason because it’s not the way it’s done where you are. So I was simply saying that, it could be for the reason he gave because that is also the reasoning here.

And yet you still continued to say “it must be because of some other reason”. I honestly don’t get it.

And I believe this whole thing started because a poster or two were trying to say that those 3 or 4 beeps from backing a truck up happen in the wee hours of the morning without a neighbor with a tow truck in his driveway. So with that being the point, the reason they pick up at 3 am does not even matter.

 

[luvsJack]

The house I just refered to in my last post was in an HOA.

The HOA had a rule that no basketball hoops could be left outside when unused. If the kids stopped playing, went inside for a drink, (even if intending to come play some more within 10 minutes), the hoops had to be put away. One person made it their mission in life to catch people breaking this rule. I'm not joking. After school and on the weekends, you'd see her driving around our little cul-de-sac (it would take about 15-20 minutes to walk the whole thing, but hey) and the minute someone left a hoop unattended, she'd pounce in with letters and fines.

I was outside mowing and watched her pull up to the curb across from the circle (parked by a fire hydrant, because rules didn't apply to them, I guess) and wait for 10 minutes while the neighbor's kid and mine played hoops. The boys stopped, and went in to get a drink (at their own houses) and the minute the doors to the houses shut, her car door flew open. I stopped mowing, went over to the neighbors, picked up the basketball and started dribbling. Took a couple shots by the time she crossed the street. She started to write a (note, fine, ticket?) on her little clipboard, noticed me, gave me a dirty look, and stomped back to her car. I just waited, shooting hoops, until the boys came back, then went back to mowing. My neighbor gave me an odd look when he came outside, but I explained, and he laughed.

She came back a few days later, with a measuring tape, and tried to give me a note about my bushes and the palm tree being too tall. Told her to send it to my landlord, because I didn't have anything to do with the height of the bushes; that was how the landlord wanted them. And trying to regulate the height of a tree? Psh, take it up with Mother Nature. She stomped off, didn't hear from her again.

The neighbor with the basketball hoop went to an HOA meeting a few months after this and noted that the HOA woman had been doing this swoop and ticket thing for the hoops for awhile, but also noted that at her house, there was a basketball hoop that had not moved for months, and he knew this because he drew a chalk outline around the darn thing after every time it rained, and would take a picture of it at 3am when he left for work. She stopped harassing people about the hoops after that.

Wow! Aren’t you sometimes shocked at the things people have time to actually worry about and do?

That’s crazy!

 

[nkereina]

Maybe he owns the truck and has no where else to park it. Maybe it's his only vehicle so even if there were somewhere else to park it, he'd have no way to get to and from it every day. Maybe he has to take calls at all times and it would take too much time or gas (that he may not be compensated for) to drive to some company parking lot to pick up the truck before driving potentially in the opposite direction to get to the customer who needs towed.

All of the things listed here have alternate solutions that would allow him to abide by the HOA bylaws. If he chose to move to the HOA with these rules in place, that's on him. If he chose to take this job and procure this truck after living in the HOA with the rules in place, that's also on him. We have a boat and are not allowed to park it in our driveway or on our property according to our HOA bylaws. So, we pay for a slip in the summer and pay for storage in the winter. We knew this was a rule when buying the boat and factored that into the cost of everything.

There were people posting that anyone who buys a house in an HOA knows what the rules are ahead of time, and I just wanted to point out that rules change.

Right, but I’m saying that you could buy a house, move in, and then face voting on a new rule. Just because you don’t like it and vote no doesn’t mean it can’t become active and you now have to abide by it.

This is true - rules do change. But if this is the case in OP's neighbor's scenario, then he would have had ample opportunity to voice his opposition to the rule. It wouldn't necessarily stop the community from passing the change, but everyone would have been on notice how this is now causing great inconvenience to him. If this occurred, I guess its possible the HOA could have "grandfathered" him in or given special permission with certain restrictions (we've done this in our community), and the OP may just not be privy to that.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

Wow! Aren’t you sometimes shocked at the things people have time to actually worry about and do?

That’s crazy!

Ayep. I'm one of those people with so much time on my hands, now that I am no longer working, DH no longer needs my help with his medical needs (since the transplant) and the kids have grown and all but one have moved out and into their own lives (and the one left at home is a 16 year old who only needs mom to keep food in the house; he can cook his own if need be, haha. He does his own laundry, keeps his own bedroom/bathroom clean, rebuilt his own computer...with DH's coaching...last weekend, and handles his school stuff all on his own.)

I rarely complain about our neighbors. If I have an issue with someone, I can go up to them and try to work out the problem I am having with whatever they are doing. I have rarely found that someone isn't willing to at least hear what was being said, if said tactfully and respectfully and not accusatory or angrily.

The only exception to that was when someone up the street at that old house was having a massive party. I didn't say anything, until there was a fight that spilled into the street, and as I was on the phone with the police, a few gunshots rang out. A massive party is one thing I won't get personally involved in.

 

[mjkacmom]

I will have to poke around and see what I can find out locally. But Googling "why is commercial trash picked up overnight?" generates a lot of places where it is the norm, and where is is also controversial. Like Hoboken, where trash can't be picked up before 1130 pm or after 530 am. https://www.hobokennj.gov/faqs/why-does-garbage-pickup-take-place-at-night

I live close to Hoboken, I can see how trash and recycling pick up would really effect traffic during the day.

 

[DisneyHardin]

I don't know how else to explain it. But I suspect that given many other places in the county are probably set up the same way as mine where trash collection is not done overnight for schools or homes for that matter and there's not a rash of news stories about kids being run over or hit by trash trucks left and right day in and day out (I'm not saying no kid ever hasn't been hit just that it's not super soooo crazy prevalent it necessitates an extreme choice made such as picking up at 3am) other places must be doing something else that other areas just can't OR won't do. That's why I mentioned different safety procedures. Picking up overnight, at 3am, is simply not the only way if your provider is worried about safety.

I teach at an elementary school. The dumpsters get emptied at our school about 7:15 AM.

 

[mjkacmom]

Trashy and unslightly. I'm sorry but those words got on my last nerve. Someone has to do those jobs but they aren't good enough to live in your neighborhood. God forbid you need a tow truck driver sometime down the road during the night. Don't complain if it takes awhile to rescue you. He may need to drive his car over to the business to pick up his truck and then go help you. Or hope that you never need that plumber quickly on a weekend. He will need to leave his house and family, drive to the office to pick up that work truck just so he can take care of your emergency. Don't complain that he wasn't there within an hour or two. After all, no one wants them in their neighborhood because they are unsightly and trashy.

My plumber can walk to my house in 30 seconds. He parks his vans in his garage, because he is not allowed by the town to park them in his driveway. He’s okay with that, he also wants his property values to be as high as possible.

 

[piccolopat]

I was a STAUNCH anti-HOA person. That is, until my neighbor built a wall hard up against or driveway making it unusable. Although he broke several city codes doing it, the city would do nothing because it was under 4 feet high. So...off to court we go. It's been 6 months so far and it will be another 2 before our attorney even meets with a judge, probably another 6 months before he will have to take the wall out. We're out of pocket $10K in legal fees already and expect that to double. We have a very strong case, but that's no guarantee. Do I wish we lived in an HOA community where the community would have gone to bat for me? Yes, a thousand times yes.

Hang in there - it sounds like the HOA will take care of it for you.

It's unfortunate t when a neighbor does this but if it was on his side of the property line and building codes allowed it, he wasn't wrong to do so. In your case it sound like he was in violation and so I hope you prevail. One problem is when homes are built where things like driveways are that close to the property line. We never put up a fence even though we had that issue many years ago. The problem was our neighbor's driveway was narrow and only a foot or so on his side of property line. Even when he wasn't driving on a part of our lawn, he and his family were constantly walking on it and causing some erosion. By the way, I also think it is crazy when homes are built and the garage is advertised as a 2 car but will only fit 2 Fiats. Builders need to provide garage and driveway space that fit today's larger cars/SUVs and to make sure driveways can accommodate them without impacting the neighbors.

 

[luvflorida]

All of the things listed here have alternate solutions that would allow him to abide by the HOA bylaws. If he chose to move to the HOA with these rules in place, that's on him. If he chose to take this job and procure this truck after living in the HOA with the rules in place, that's also on him. We have a boat and are not allowed to park it in our driveway or on our property according to our HOA bylaws. So, we pay for a slip in the summer and pay for storage in the winter. We knew this was a rule when buying the boat and factored that into the cost of everything.



This is true - rules do change. But if this is the case in OP's neighbor's scenario, then he would have had ample opportunity to voice his opposition to the rule. It wouldn't necessarily stop the community from passing the change, but everyone would have been on notice how this is now causing great inconvenience to him. If this occurred, I guess its possible the HOA could have "grandfathered" him in or given special permission with certain restrictions (we've done this in our community), and the OP may just not be privy to that.

We are in a new development. All of the houses are less than two years old. The HOA rules haven't changed in two years, and if they had we'd know about it. The HOA board always responds promptly to every email we've sent, and according to them, they are doing everything they can to get the truck owner to comply with the rules. Nothing has worked yet.

 

[tvguy]

I live close to Hoboken, I can see how trash and recycling pick up would really effect traffic during the day.

I was amused at 2:45 this morning as I passed all the commercial garbage trucks out on the highway.