Late to the party, but I live about 20 minutes from this guy. His problem is that he owns the garage he parks in front of, but, get ready for this... He doesn't own the driveway. The HOA owns every driveway, lawn, and common area. This way they can dictate what can and can't be in your driveway, what you plant, shrubs, trees, if its visible to the neighbors the HOA has a say in it. Here's a good one too: No Propane grills with tanks, no portable charcoal grills (if it was legs and/or wheels its a no go) They want built in grills, natural gas prefered, and they have a list of approved architects to design and install your "outdoor kitchen". If your house was approved for a porch, you must have an OK for any seating you wish to put on the porch and seating is all that is allowed on the porch, no recycling, no trash cans, no hoses can be visible. You may not wash, wax, or maintain your vehicle in the HOA driveway or roads. The HOA in that guys development is out of control. Now I do have to tell you, its a VERY elite area he lives in, you must be pre-approved to even look at houses in his tract. The town of Manlius is very neuveux riche and way snotty, mostly because they're they were rejected from hobknobing in the Hamptons of upstate, Skaneateles. If you have some money here you live in Manlius and Fayetteville, if you have stupid money, you live in the power play compounds of Skaneateles.

 

The F150 is both an automobile and a passenger vehicle.

I suppose "cars" aren't allowed either then, right?

What would be excluded by saying 'automobile' and 'passenger vehicle' would be busses, campers and commercial vehicles.

Idiots always read into terminology what they want.

The F150 owner will sue and win.

 

Come on guys ! Rules is Rules.... and laws are laws...
Now I know that some idjuts go overboard (sorry, ALL politburos do that ), but when you buy a home the deed restrictions are specifically part of the contract you sign...

Don't like them, don't sign - don't buy


After I moved into a nice neighborhood and the people moved next door to me and started parking their SATELITTE demonstration trailer in front of our driveway (when they were selling 6 and 8 foot dishes !!!)

I now LOOK for HOA's to protect us from that

 

I knew a guy that his truck had to be in a enclosure after 6pm except if it is being used. He build a garage out of commercial glass doors to put it in and lit it up so everyone could clearly see it.

 

When I buy a house, the number one test is that I must be able to step out on the back porch and shoot a woodchuck without violating any laws or having some jerk neighbor making an issue out of it!
Therefore, I will never live in a city and I will NEVER be under the dictatorship of a home owner association!

 

Park the f150 in the garage. Why would you spend that kinda money on anything and then leave it outdoors.

 

Yup!! Sounds like Good Ole NYS and all of their corrupt politicians!! I am originally from Upper US but will never go back because of all of the graft etc. Last real Governor they had was Nelson Rockefeller!!

 

I dont know the specifics of his HOA rules so I can just speculate, but if it says as posted then he has nothing to worry about and would counter sue for sure. A pickup is a automobile and passenger vehicle.

 

It may not fit

 

Lol, maybe he doesnt have room at the present moment or whatever, gally, really.

 

Technically the state of NY doesn't define a "passenger vehicle" class. So the HOA is SOL. Check out the registration form: http://dmv.ny.gov/forms/mv82.pdf


Yes, there's a checkbox for Pickup truck. But, the HOA doesn't define it that way. In fact, they don't say how they define it and technically a pickup truck can be classified as a passenger vehicle. I've lived in states where it was and there would even be a "P" somewhere on the plate number indicating "passenger." You had to have a certain weight rating to get the "T" on your plate.


All that aside, HOA's can serve their purpose: To prevent a-holes from ruining everyone else's life with their barking dogs, junk vehicles, stupid political signs, pink houses and terrible landscaping choices. I've lived in both neighborhoods and I prefer non-HOA. If everyone would actually have a relationship with their neighbors and talk thru their issues instead of freaking out, HOA's wouldn't be needed except in the neighborhoods where no-one is there anyway cause they are all single execs who work 90% of their life. I used to be one, and in that day, an HOA was fine by me.


Regardless, this guy will probably nut-up and counter sue. Then, all of his Prius driving liberal neighbors will get together and change the rule. In a year he'll be SOL again anyway. Glad it's not my problem and my jacked-up, straight-piped, 7.3 PSD Excursion is fine in my neighborhood. My first love is the Excursion. If I had to choose, house or Excursion, the house would have to go!

 

This is what happens when you give some people a little bit of authority.

 

This is not a good situation, however when you look at a home in a neighborhood with an association like this you are given time to read the covenants. You then have time to get out of the contract if you can’t live by the rules.
That said, how is the vehicle tagged? There are laws or statutes that determine if a vehicle is a “Commercial Vehicle.” Does NY still have the “Non Com” tags?
Also, how are the vehicles defined in the covenants? In my neighborhood it is a limit on size in cubic feet.
Is the person two doors away with the pickup being sued?

 

The sad part is people pay to live in HOAs. I was considering buying a condo in Florida until I found out the HOA fees were $409 a month. What do they spend all that money on? Lawn care? A new roof? With 200 residents that's almost a million dollars a year. Like scrum can really afford to move in there.

When I was younger three of us rented a 3 bdrm. villa with a HOA. It only had 2 parking spots. One of us was SOL, lol. Some of these rules are outrageous. I can see protecting your property value but when you get a couple hundred people creating a HOA then everyone has their own little rule they want enforced. The end result is stupid crap like this.
I'm sure the rule was first written to keep commercial vehicles out. Then little granny with nothing better to do than stare out the window to get her blood pressure up for excitement. New pickups look as good as any passenger vehicle. It is an extended cab.

Thank God I live in a rural area. If we have a problem with a neighbor we talk like normal people. We don't have to sue them.

 

I am sure there will be a howl of protest, indignation and vitriol directed my way BUT this is how I feel about it; Personally, trucks are great to drive but I think there are too many folks out there who drive trucks that don't need a truck (suburban housewives, office workers, etc). Ford pushed trucks on America very successfully because they are a high profit item. Uses more gas than a passenger car or station wagon, etc. because they were exempt from the CAFE standards for so long. I feel differently about trucks that are actually used for work/business/towing as they are needed for the task and vintage trucks as they are not driven every day. I have a 1963 Unibody shorty that is being restored so I too am guilty of owning a truck, albeit one that gets driven very little. people that use a truck just to drive their kids to soccer and to the store, shame on you. I think we all need to be responsible in our daily driver vehicle choices. (I personally drive a turbo diesel Jeep, 25 mpg city, 30 mpg hiway) This truck in the driveway appears very clean and is probably just a passenger car on steroids, so sure, why not ban it? The purpose of such a ban is to keep commercial vehicles out of the driveways, and trucks are intended to be commercial vehicles so the homeowner will likely lose. I am donning my body armor now.