So I live in a suburban housing addition. Naturally I bring my boat home to load it up, or wash it. I had it at my house on the 9th and 10th. I was off both days and spent the entire day cleaning it up, changing out light bulbs, etc. Today my wife got the mail and we have a letter from our HOA stating that a site inspection was done and it shows we were storing a boat/trailer on our property. The letter quotes the covenants very poorly by stating that "trailers are not permitted to be stored in the community unless enclosed in a garage."

Upon reading the covenants, I noticed they state the following...

"No boats, campers, trailers of any kind, busses, mobile homes, recreational vehicles, trucks (larger than 3/4 ton), motorcycles, minibikes or mopeds shall be permitted, parked or stored anywhere within the Tract, unless completely enclosed within a garage."

Now the way I read that is I can't bring my boat home to even fill up the freshwater tank, and our only motorcycle cop in town who lives 5 houses down from me can't bring his bike in the subdivision?

Just my preference, but I'd move...

that STINKS!! but you had to know about the hoa before you bought the house.
just build you a BIG HONKIN garage that all your toys will fit in

woosterken

I think they have it all covered in black and white.

Hate to say it but nobody forced you to live there.

We have had this same issue with our HOA.

While I agree that generally speaking a HOA is a good thing and serves a purpose. They usually tend to be conservative and help preserve the neighborhood, ie: preserve home/neighborhood value.

That being said, they also tend to be nit picky as well.

Where we live the HOA has absolutley nothing to do with the city street that we live on. I believe this is the case in most areas? This is a good thing because this means the HOA cannot enforce their restrictions on the city's property. Therefore if you parked your boat on the street the HOA can do all the site inspections they wish and you'll be saving them the 42 cents hate mail postage because their hands are tied. If the HOA maintains your street then this may not apply.

You can also call the HOA and see if they have a problem with you bringing the boat home for 24-48 hours every so often for cleaning, etc. We have done this and the guy my wife talked to was actually very nice and understanding.

Good luck and let us know how things turn out.

This has been talked over so many times here. We no longer live with a HOA but we still have city ordinances to deal with.
For Christs sake why don't people mind their own fricken business!!!!!!!!
Moving does not always solve these petty nosy ash hole people.

Our neghborhood has a similar restriction. We've had our boat at the house upward to a wekk at a time and have never had a problem with our folks in the HOA. We bring it home to clean it, get ready to go out to a different lake where we're trailering directly from home w/o going to the storage unit, etc. Haven't ever had a complaint from anyone. If you talk to the folks who sent the letter, perhaps you can come to an accord, especially if you're only bring it hoem for things like I've mentioned. WE certainly don't "store" the boat at home on a permanent basis.

Get one of those cardboard tubes they wrap carpeting on - paint it Olive Drab Green, stick it in the front of your boat. Then cover everything but the tube with a tarp.

When you get the next letter; reply:

Its a tank - and its not on your list. You got a problem with that?

Or do like someone suggested to me when I had my boat parked in the driveway....put a mailbox on it and tell 'em it's your new mailbox stand.

In our sub the streets are private property so parking on the street wouldn't get around the problem. I simply told the covenant nazi when he came by that the boat was there, and it was going to stay there for a week until I took it on our vacation. Then I just looked at him. He turned around and walked back to his truck and left...no further conversation about it.
Good Luck. HOA's can be a pain in the kazoo.

Most HOA's don't have a definition of "store". Does yours?

Some put a time limit on how long it can be "parked" in the driveway (ie.. 24, 36 or 48 hours).

I don't live in a HOA area, and I never will...

Good luck!

Here's GFC's long and interesting post

We have a 48 "period" that we can keep the boat at home. It is not enforced very well as the guy a few doors down keeps his boat in his driveway for "weeks" at a time sometimes which pis ses me off because we follow the rules. I would rather have them get more strict on junk...you should see what I live across the street from.

Check your bylaws...there has to be a period that you can keep the boat at home.

My partners and I are developing a residential subdivision. Houses are on 1/3 to 1/2 acre lots, many with front loading garages. We tried to be reasonable when we drafted the covenants. We drafted the covenants to require boats to be stored in the garage or behind a privacy fence. We have several boat owners who have built privacy fences to store their boat in the back yard. We have only had a problem with one homeowner who insisted on leaving his bass boat in the driveway. Once he understood the $100 per day fine after receiving two warnings, he moved the boat. There is absolutely no problem with a homeowner bringing their boat home for a few days to clean or perform maintenance. Even if we followed the strict letter of the covenants, they would receive a warning and have 15 days to move the boat, plenty of time to do their work.

I'll spare you the long and vitriolic lecture I have for 'developers' of HOA subdivisions. Hate to chase away a longtime contributor.

Confession: I own the mineral rights to 100 acres my parents sold three decades ago...

Oh please!! Lecture us.