No HOA where I live, which was one of its best features when we were house hunting, but there is a City ordinance prohibiting non operative or expired registration vehicles being parked in public view. Also, it is against the law to park three cars side by side on a two car driveway, even if they fit.
What keeps it from being a three car driveway? Not the garage door?
Yep - 2 car door = 2 car driveway. Anything else must be behind the front plane of the house. Oddly enough though, you can park a largeRV sideways across the driveway, sticking out over the landscaping each end, and still be perfectly legal. Tell that would look better than three small, registered, roadworthy cars parked side by side.
There are very specific laws in many places. There are actually places where the city has the right to remove non running vehicles even if they are parked in your backyard behind a fence. Most of the time its becasue someone calls and complains becasue it is low class to drive a car over 5 years old, or to have a car in your driveway that doesnt run, even if it still looks fine.
I still contend and will 'til I die that the playskool explosion over every other house in suburbia is more of an eyesore than any car ever will be.
Read your deed restrictions. If they're like mine, they prohibit unlicensed and/or inoperable vehicles unless they're in a garage or behind a privacy fence. We also prohibit car covers. I'd be surprised if they can tow it from your driveway, though. That starts to sound a lot like theft.
If I were you, I'd just keep the registration current. It's not terribly expensive and is less headache than fighting with the HOA.
Incidentally, I had so much trouble with my HOA last year that I went to the trouble of getting myself elected to the board this year. It seems that HOA boards rarely mess with people who are actively involved in the association. Spend a little time getting to know the shiny happy people in charge (and/or become one of them) and you'll have less trouble, even if you keep doing the same stuff.
Just one more story to ensure I avoid HOAs like the plague. My realtor started hating us because we had very specific house requirments and she would be all happy to find an exact match but as soon as she said HOA (thus eliminating the exact match, but whatever) I wouldnt eve go see it.
Our neighborhood is a nice one but when we went to look at the house I spotted at least one or two project cars in driveways and have since found alot of other gearheads in the tiny development so I guess its a good place. Noone complains about my junk anyway.
The town I live in has a non registered ordinance but... I had a RX-7 across the street(no houses) from my house for years with no problem. Have a 70 Chevelle and the ThunderTurd beside my house now. As well as a 8X20 enclosed where the RX-7 was. In a month or so I will have to go get my boat out of the barn for the summer. My neighbors don't seem to mind. Just guess I'm lucky. That and no HOA
WilD wrote: In some states, tresspassing is illegal. In my old hometown, some years back, there was a bit of a stink about some official who walked all over someone's property to photograph junk cars that were not visible from the road. When the notice to remove said junk was receiv ed by the owner, he fought it, and had varuious junk cars for many years afterwords. He did add a bit more privacy fence though. That official ended up loosing his job.
Alot of times its your neighbors who will complain about stuff like this, so many Zoning Officers will just ask to walk on your neighbors property in order to photograph the offending "junk". We tried having someone pull the whole "i'll get a lawyer" on us when I worked at the township and the zoning officer just claimed she was viewing the "junk" from neighbors yards. She could probably go as far to say she was standing on a ladder in the neighbors yard to view the offending "junk" if she really wanted to.
The best way to avoid problems with HOA and municipalities is to just talk to people nicely. Officials really hate making the nice people angry.
Why can't people mind their own berkeleying business? Busybodies piss me off to no end. O/P, you have my vote to fatally shoot the next person that tries to touch your car. Uhhh, you don't get to use that in your legal defense though, as it's generally pretty worthless.
well, coming from the guy with the junkiest yard on the street, I think it's reasonable for folks to get upset when things are disorderly. It clearly and demonstrably reduces property value in the neighborhood. Therefore it is their business.
Like I said, I'm can see both sides of the equation. I'd prefer to be out in the country with acreage where I could keep all my junk. Given my circumstances though...a privacy fence is a lot cheaper.
Fortunately for me, most of my neighbors love me and know that I'll steer them the right direction if they ask for advice on ther car/house/etc.
Clem
The ONLY time I will complain is in this situation
I live in a middle class older (1960's era) neighborhood. most people that live here are hardworking people with families that don't want or can't afford a brand new house.
But, there are some duplexes at the end of the block. with white-trash renters.
They had a rusty beatup 1987 Dodge Caravan sitting in the driveway.
on jackstands
one wheel removed.
for 5 months.
they had bought a newer van since the work started. yeah, the dodge POS was abandoned in my eyes.
I called the Township to have it removed. and it was 2 days later.
Sorry, Tagged running vehicles in the driveway are fine with me. I usually have a couple myself. if they're not running, you couldn't tell.
all torn apart and looking like E36 M3 in a decent neighborhood? No.
I want my neighborhood to remain decent. and yes, I'm younger at 30 years old.
the people who had the POS? in their 40's.
Take pride in what you own people and don't leave eyesores out for your neighbors
In my city the law is poorly written and technically it's illeagal to have a non registered vehicle in your garage! I don't think it' sever been enforced though (in a garage). The law is also only enforced on a complaint basis. There is an exception for recreational (including racing) vehicles so the two turbo sprints that are not running in my driveway both have magnetic autox number on the sides (one is uner a cover).
monark192 wrote: No HOA where I live, which was one of its best features when we were house hunting, but there is a City ordinance prohibiting non operative or expired registration vehicles being parked in public view. Also, it is against the law to park three cars side by side on a two car driveway, even if they fit.
We have the city ordinance about non-registered vehicles. Not allowed, but no "in view" part.
The town code enforcement officer's daughter lives down the street. Yes, we used to get letters weekly.
The most irritating instance happened when we had a car backed up against the garage, literally bumper touching the wall. You would have to really strain and actually lean on the fender and garage to see if it had a current reg sticker. Still got a letter.
So we got some Ugly "garage" tents. Then the code enforcement officer gave the town sheriff a parking ticket for parking illegally while running into the court house. Not sure if she lost some authority with that little stunt or if our tent garages worked, but we haven't gotten a mean letter in a while! Now I have my registered and inspected beater proudly displayed on the edge of our property for all to see.
My personal opinion, if your not the "get involved type," (which probably would work...) hide the license plate behind a NO TRESPASSING sign. Maybe even write a note on it explaining trespassers will be prosecuted and something or the other about closed circuit surveillance. 
You can get a car cover for like $15 at Autozone and that will shut people up. Or you can always just add a beware of dog sign near it.
My father lives in a Nazi oriented upscale neighborhood with a very strict HOA. When you purchase a home there you have to sign the convenants or you cannot buy. Basically it says if you do not obey the rules, then they can put a lein on your property. They have rules like your car cannot be out of the garage for more than 3 consecutive hours, or something like that, and you cannot load and unload anything from the front of the house, not even to move in. Crazy stuff. I'd have never made it past the first 10 minutes, but people are lining up to buy houses there. Go figure.
The BEST thing to do is to find the UGLIEST (and I really mean ugly) beater POS car you can and stick in your driveway with a shiny new plate with current tabs. That REALLY pisses them off because there's nothing illegal about it. I've had to pull that trick once...
ClemSparks wrote: I'd like to start a gearhead HOA. Bi-laws could have verbage like: If at any time a homeowner's property goes without having an unlicensed vehicle for more than 30 consecutive calendar days, the owner shall be found in violation and required to check craigslist every day, twice, under the supervision of the HOA car-czar or other qualified neighbor. Every other Saturday at Noon, the streets will be Hot. Regular traffic will cease and only race vehicles will be allowed on the streets until the culmination of the day's sanctioned events. Coffee cans over the exhaust stacks of tow vehicles and tractors shall not be too rusty. Tennis balls are preferred. Your scrap pile shall be enclosed by a privacy fence. Any home with a pool shall be required to have at least two functional bumper boats on the property at any given time. I could go on all day... Clem
I want to move to Clem's neighborhood!!
There is an ordinance prohibiting non operational vehicles in my 'hood. It's a city, not a HOA thing (but the HOA president is a fellow autocrosser. 
) So I keep my POSs behind the Garage Majal. They are not easily visible from the street and I have spoken with all of my neighbors (including a city code enforcement official who lives around the corner) and I will go out of my way to make sure to help them with car oriented issues. 
If the car cannot be seen from the road then someone was trespassing. You need one or all of: A viscous dog, a shotgun, a security camera... send the pic to the local cops and report a perv snooping about.
Or... just get a legal tag for the car.
I like the idea of building a development for car enthusiasts. They have two neighborhoods in the DFW area for airplane owners built around a landing strip where every house has its own hangar. Why not something similar for car enthusiasts around a road racing course and a skidpad. Every house gets a 6 car garage with a lift and a fenced area behind it to be used as a personal wrecking yard.
Snowdoggie wrote: I like the idea of building a development for car enthusiasts. They have two neighborhoods in the DFW area for airplane owners built around a landing strip where every house has its own hangar. Why not something similar for car enthusiasts around a road racing course and a skidpad. Every house gets a 6 car garage with a lift and a fenced area behind it to be used as a personal wrecking yard.
I've been trying to talk Joe and Greg into something like this. There's a lot of cheap land available here in Florida.
A lot of it is unpaved, though, so we'd start with a Rallycross course and maybe create a road course/skid pad much further down the road.
Motorsports Ranch in Ft. Worth (actually Cresson) has some houses around it.
Does it?...I've been there once or twice while working in the area, but that was 6 years ago now.
Yep. There's plenty of spots still up for grabs. The first floor of everyone is a giant garage.
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