Homeowners Association says I can't put a DISH on my house....I need some help here! (1 Viewer)

[Michael D. Bunting]

Props to the NFL for responding so quickly to Michael's post. Unfortunately, it wasn't the answer he was hoping for...

Yeah..I read that press release earlier today and it just made my day even worse....

I have not talked with the President of the HOA yet...but I plan to do so here soon.

The more and more I look around this community...the more dishes I can see.

And you wouldn't even be able to see where mine would have to be (to get Dish Network - not DIRECTV) unless you were basically about to pull into his driveway. Bunchacrap!

I may just stick the dish up there to tick him off and still get Digital Cable.

 

[MickeS]

You've obviously never been to Tucson, Arizona.
/mike

 

[D. Scott MacDonald]

Jeff, people are arguing here that ANYTHING a home owner wants to do to their house is none of their neighbors business, and this includes junker cars up on cinder blocks. An argument saying that junker cars are bad but that neon signs are OK is a bit subjective and dare I say hypocritical.

My neighbors with the neon beer signs in their window own about 7 cars that they have parked in front of their house and in their drive way. All of these cars are old and ugly and some of them probably haven't run in years, but none are on cinder blocks.

 

[Patrick Larkin]

Someone mentioned that when you invest hundreds of thousands of dollars, you want to know what you are buying. I see it as when I invest hundreds of thousands of dollars, I don't want anyone telling me what I can do with my property.

My neighborhood is a nice, older, and established. We have giant trees lining all the streets. The city itself has rules about trees and sidewalks but thats about it. The homes range the gamit from $125,000 to $1,000,000. Everyone keeps their property neat - there are city laws about upkeep and parking cars in the street without moving them. All that being said, I think you can find a respectable neighborhood where there aren't people with a say in ANY of your business and still have reasonable protection from your local government.

 

[D. Scott MacDonald]

All that being said, I think you can find a respectable neighborhood where there aren't people with a say in ANY of your business and still have reasonable protection from your local government.

But what I am saying is that I have no protection at all - not from my local government or from an HOA. How can one assure that their neighborhood will remain resectable if new neighbors don't behave respectably?

 

[Shawn C]

The NFL contract w/ DIRECTV is supposedly up after this season (2002).

They just extended the contract to 2007.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/846224.asp?0dm=s23Ds

 

[Ryan Wright]

http://search.mrsc.org/nxt/gateway.dll?f=templates&fn=bthlpage.htm$vid=municodes:Bothell

8.22.050 Public nuisances.
Any junk vehicle or parts thereof on private property are hereby declared to be a public nuisance. Costs of removal by the city may be assessed against the last registered owner of the junk vehicle if the identity of the owner can be determined, unless the owner in the transfer of ownership of the vehicle has complied with RCW 46.12.101, or the costs may be assessed against the owner of the property on which the vehicle is stored, provided that:

So neighbors have cars up on cinder blocks? File a complaint with your city. That will take care of it.

Really, what more do you want? You can't control the neon sign - and you shouldn't be able to. It isn't your house. But your city does indeed have laws on the books to ensure the neighborhood doesn't go to hell. Just because you aren't aware of them doesn't mean they aren't there.

 

[D. Scott MacDonald]

Really, what more do you want? You can't control the neon sign - and you shouldn't be able to. It isn't your house. But your city does indeed have laws on the books to ensure the neighborhood doesn't go to hell. Just because you aren't aware of them doesn't mean they aren't there.

I know that some of my neighbors have tried every avenue possible to get the signs and the cars removed, but with no luck.

But Ryan raises an interesting question: is it really OK for a neighbor to engage in an activity that will knowingly devalue the property value of it's neighbors? It seems like he is against cars on cinder blocks, but all for neon signs in the windows. What if I painted racial slurs on my house, or hung bigoted signs in my window? Would that be bad, whereas neon beer signs are good? What if I decided that I wanted to try my hand at art and start with a 30' impressionistic statue of Zeus made of concrete in my front yard? Should that be considered a public nuisance?

It seems that if anybody thinks that any of these activities should be stopped, then you are agreeing that SOME limit should be placed on the individual homeowners as to what they can or cannot do with their property. So since we agree that somebody must decide, then why not allow HOAs to set the standards for their neghoborhood? As long as you know the details of the HOA when you buy the property (which was obviously not the case with the original poster), then I see nothing wrong with it.

 

[Moe Maishlish]

So why are they parking their car there then?

Because if a guest comes over and there are already two cars in the driveway, they park right in front of the house. Then they get a ticket. This has happened to my sister's boyfriend coutless times already.

Other people in the neighbourhood park their OWN cars on the boulevard.

Moe.

 

[D. Scott MacDonald]

I should probably clarify that I'm not really a huge fan of HOAs, and I agree that some of them are probably over- the-top in their ideas and approaches. All I was saying that I can image why some of them could be useful in preserving property values. The only HOA that I've ever dealt with seemed reasonable enough.

 

[Ryan Wright]

But Ryan raises an interesting question: is it really OK for a neighbor to engage in an activity that will knowingly devalue the property value of it's neighbors?

Well, I think that depends. Is the neighbor just a complete jerk who is TRYING to ruin the neighborhood? Or is he simply living his life his own way, like my neighbor with the cardboard beer girl, and other people don't like it?

What I'm trying to say is this: The rights of the landowner come first. However, there is a point where those rights can and should be overridden for the benefit of the neighbors. I believe most cities have already defined where this line is: Junked cars. Trashy property (no or dead landscaping, garbage, weeds, etc). Too many animals. Noise limitations. Beyond that, you must accept your neighbor's home as his personal preference. That's who he is, and that's how he wants his home to look. If it doesn't violate any laws, live with it.

So HOAs do have their place: They are for people who simply can't handle these differences. If you are convinced these neighbors are trashy morons who are destroying your property value, you always have the option to move into a neighborhood with a strict HOA. This is the USA, after all.

As for your 30' statue of Zeus: Personally, I think that's cool. As long as it's built to code and doesn't endanger anyone, you have the right to build and enjoy it. Tough shit if the neighbors don't like it; it isn't their property.

As for your racial slurs, there are already laws (likely federal laws) on the books to take care of things like that. And if there aren't, you can bet city officials would put one together overnight or at least send a few big black police officers over to beat, err I mean talk some sense into the jerk. If not, I might suggest a late night visit from the neighborhood vigilante.

 

[MickeS]

I still don't understand why they keep parking in a no-parking zone, knowing they will get ticketed. Do they really have to park in front of the house? Are there no parking spaces within walking distance?

 

[Moe Maishlish]

I still don't understand why they keep parking in a no-parking zone, knowing they will get ticketed. Do they really have to park in front of the house? Are there no parking spaces within walking distance?

There are no signs ANYWHERE which indicate that there is no parking allowed on the boulevard. None. Nada. Zilch. Not a one. It's like a regular curbside in front of a house, with a lawn in front of it, but missing the sign.
My parent's live in a suburb, in a residential neighbourhood that lacks any kind of public or visitor parking. Hence, if the driveway is full, then people park on the street (like any other place in the area). They can park in front of ANOTHER person's house to avoid the scrutiny of the neighbour of course, but that's hardly a solution to the overall problem.
The neighbour herself only has one car in the household, which they park in the garage. Hence, when they have company, they can easily park in their driveway.
However, they have to early-teenage daughters whom I assume will be driving in the next few years. We'll see what happens when the shoe's on the other foot, and they or their friends are forced to park on the street.
Moe.

 

[D. Scott MacDonald]

OK Ryan, so we are coming into agreement. Your previous posts mistakenly led me to believe that that your view is that the property holder should be able to do whatever they want to. But what you really meant to say was "within limits". As to whether the neighbor is doing it to "live his life" or "to be a jerk" shouldn't enter into the legal equation, however. (In my neighbor's case I think it is a little of both.)

Like I said, in the area that I live this isn't as big an issue since very little new housing is available and there is great demand for the existing housing. This leads to the situation where people are willing to buy nice houses even if they are close to junky ones. In Texas, however, this was usually not the case since there was always lots of new housing available (at least when I lived there 8 years ago), so people would refuse to look at a house if they could find anything wrong with the neighborhoods at all. In other words, a 30' statue of Zeus would be a deal killer for most people, bringing the property values down significantly. In this situation, it makes sense to me why almost every new neighborhood in Plano had an HOA, but they are much more rare here in the Seattle area.

As to local government handling the issues, I think that some are more willing to get involved then others. For example, I have seen a lot of houses around with unfinished landscaping (for several years) and weeds, but it doesn't appear that the local government has made much of an issue of it.

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

I'm sure there are plenty of HOAs which have rules that are perfectly agreeable. We just don't hear about them.

 

[KyleS]

There are no signs ANYWHERE which indicate that there is no parking allowed on the boulevard. None. Nada. Zilch. Not a one. It's like a regular curbside in front of a house, with a lawn in front of it, but missing the sign.

Moe,

If there are no signs, the curbs are not marked, and there isnt a fire hydrant, etc. then giving you a ticket shouldnt be legal. Sure they may have used to have a sign but if absolutely nothing is marked then if you get a ticket it wouldnt be very hard to fight it and WIN.

KyleS

 

[Moe Maishlish]

Kyle,
Unfortunately my parents have contacted the city time, and time again... and my sister even went so far as to take the ticket to court.
My parents have been told repeatedly that the city does not need to place warnings, and that it's our responsibilities are "residents of the township" to read the local bylaws. Apparently, we don't need a sign, but we need to come home every day and make sure that the local dumbass policitical figure hasn't institued a new bylaw which makes it illegal to park in your driveway too. I wonder if there's a little point somewhere that says that the rules can only be used selectively though. I'll keep this out of the political realm though...
Funny enough, when my sister's boyfriend took this to court, his lawyer (yeah, he brought one), brought this point up, and the case was deferred for the parties to investigate further. I haven't heard boo about it since.
Moe.

 

[Ryan Wright]

As to local government handling the issues, I think that some are more willing to get involved then others.

That's for sure. Some just don't care and don't enforce their laws. Others (such as mine) act like a police state. I was threatened by the city for having a wrecked car on the side of my house. The car is the remains of my beloved Pontiac Fiero, and since I bought another Fiero, I'm keeping my old one for parts.
The car is kept under a car cover at all times (unless I'm pulling a part out of it, which I've done only once in the last year it's been sitting there). So you can't even tell it's a wrecked car unless you trespass into my yard and look under the cover. Furthermore, it is parked behind a 30 foot RV towards the rear of my house and was fenced in on three sides (well, two sides, the third side was my house). I simply didn't have a gate across the front. Why anyone would complain about this is beyond me, and why the city would try to enforce their junked vehicles law in this instance is also beyond me. I could have taken the warning to court, as I clearly was not in violation, but instead I put a gate across the front and now you can't even see the RV, let alone the Fiero. (well, you can see the top of the RV over the fence, but that's it.)

 

[Jeff Kleist]

bigoted signs in my window? Would that be bad, whereas neon beer signs are good? What if I decided that I wanted to try my hand at art and start with a 30' impressionistic statue of Zeus made of concrete in my front yard? Should that be considered a public nuisance?

Then you take the sculptor/artist to court. Same as everyone else

 

[MickeS]

The whole point of HOAs is to try and avoid lawsuits and cops. You set the rules up front, and hope that everyone will follow them, if you refuse, then you shouldn't buy there. IMO, a HOA is a much better alternative than courts and lawsuits, because the homeowners can actually influence the HOA rules directly and easily, compared to laws.