HOA Fining me for vehicle I do not own

[enginataman]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Wa State

ok this is my third try. my previous tries disappeared from posts list.

I have been living in an HOA neighborhood for about 5 years in olympia wa (thurston county). Recently Board of directors decided to enforce the CCR related to parking restrictions. Roads in the neighborhood are not private. Public and belonging to the county.

I work for Comcast and I drive a ford F450 bucket truck for my job. I am a maintenance technician for the outside plant, responding to outages etc etc. I do not own the truck. Comcast does. HOA sent me a fine for the truck being park close to my house.

Before, i used to park it on my driveway but my personal cars would have to stay on the street then due to bucket truck being large and not leaving any room for any other vehicle. Since I figured they can fine me for the cars I actually own, I started parking the truck outside on the street (legally of course) and parking my cars on the driveway. This did not stop the HOA harassing me. I appealed their last fine and told them they can not fine me for the vehicles I do not legally own. They denied my request. I am thinking about taking them to small claims court. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Not owning the truck is a good case or not?

I have to work to make a living and selling this house to move another place or changing jobs not an option

 

[FlyingRon]

You're quibbling. You parked a commercial vehicle there apparently in violation of their rules. It matters not that the commercial vehicle is registered to a business that is not you.

If the HOA rules ban the parking of commercial vehicles (or trucks or whatever they're alleging you do) and the CCRs or whatever that you are bound to as a property owner allow them to issue fines, you will legally be able to be fined. It's quite possible with arrearage of fines or dues that they can lien your property and possibly even foreclose upon it.

Further, they will defend any legal action with a lawyer that you (and your neighbors) will ultimately pay for.

"I got to make a living" is not a justification.

"If I park this monster in my driveway, I can't park all my other cars there," is not a justification.

I suggest you find a legal place (I.e. on some public street or in a private lot where you have permission) to park your work truck and drive from your house to it. Be very careful if you do that that you select a legal space. I had to run off two charter vans that decided it would be convenient to park on our private streets. I called the operator of the business and he took care of reigning in his drivers.