The Parking Enforcement Forum - View topic - I AM DOLLY MAN UPDATES THREAD - Audi Booted By APS

I found this on a local forum I go to. Apparently it's splashed everywhere. It's a pretty long read with some very funny stuff but I have to applaud the guy on keeping his cool and handling it all very well.

Cliff's notes:

Dude buys house in area with HOA. Later HOA contracts with APS on the parking spaces outside of the garages. Everyone must have mirror hangy thingy to park in spaces and be legally parked or be fined by APS. Contract says two warnings then a boot. Dude parks car in the same spot everyday, forgets one day to hang up hangy thingy, gets booted instantly, no warnings. Contacts cops, HOA, etc and proceeds to put car on dollies and push it into his garage. Throws APS into a stupor *how'd he move it?* LMAO and the battle is on. They took their boots, he didn't pay said $140 fine and THEY'RE suing him for something else because he didn't damage the boots *2 of them on one car* and didn't ever state he wouldn't pay, just said there they are, take them if you want them and the company took them.

The original thread, linked at the top of the one I linked to is over 61 pages long and locked. This one has just his posts containing the story and none of the WTG his newly found fan base has put up.

So what do you think about HOA's and Parking ****'s like APS?

 

So the way I read it is the guys car is on his property and its booted? What they hell kind of bass-ackwards commie town do they live in. Given the circumstances I think I'd do the samething he did. If my sawsall wouldn't bust it off then I'd let my buddy take his plasma cutter to it. I'd then graciously return their mangled boot back to them.


Kind of a related story, I had a buddy in high school who unjustly got the boot. Students who kept a GPA of 3.8 or higher were given a sticker for their car and they were allowed to park their vehicles in the very nice teachers lot in front of the building, as opposed to the gravel mine field the rest of us got to park in.

He had a permit and had been parking his car in the same spot for over two years. One day his window tag was either torn off by someone, or by acts of nature, and he got the boot. The office wouldn't bulge, it was on file that he had a permit yet the insisted he pay the 125 dollar fine.

His car was a 93 mustang GT with a set of brand new set of American Racing Torque Thrust Rims. They used a pad lock style boot on his car and in the process scratched the absolute hell out of his rim.

Since the boot just locked around the rim and not the lug nuts he was able to put his spare on and drive home. The school threatened him with suspension and wouldn't allow him to graduate till the fine was paid. His dad and him took it to court and won, he graduated and the Iowa tax payers bought him a new rim.

 

he bought his house in an area where they're under a home owners association. the hoa entered into a contract with the parking company to monitor the parking lots. everything is subject to it except your garage. t

hese hoa's are ridiculous, they'll do anything from banning your lawn decorations to telling you your truck is too big to park in front of your garage and you need to sell it. *that one was in dallas, couple had an f350 and were told they had to get rid of it basically because the neighbors didn't like looking at it.*

anyway, he parked in one of the parking lots rather than in his garage because apparently he had it full and he always parked there and didn't display his paid for parking pass so they broke contract and booted his car rather than issuing a warning. it is against the law to damage the boots, you can get in trouble for that but apparently not for moving the car if you don't damage the boots.

after he hacked off the company they went on a boot spree and booted everyone. if your car was parked barely on the line it was booted, which again, is in breach of their contract. the dude's fighting it and the company surely knows they messed up but because he took a picture of the head scmuck *that's his name on myspace too btw* and posted it on the volkswagon forum he goes to they're suing him for that, something about privacy. dude was on the owners property and allowed hisself to be photographed more than once on the dude's property while waiting for his lacky to get the boots *again 2 of them* off the car in the garage. there's pics on there as well.

so why do people in america, the land of the free, tolerate hoa's like this? too lazy to keep looking for somewhere else? i don't get it... why wld anyone tolerate being told what they can or can't do on their property?

 

this is some good stuff, I'll have to read it all when I've got some time to kill

 

There are no four-letter words bad enough to describe what I think of HOAs. And, if they did exist, the world would unanimously agree that the user should get the death penalty. Instantly.

Jason

 

> So what do you think about HOA's and Parking ****'s like APS?

When buying a house, I searched for one not covered by a HOA and when I bought a large tract of wooded property it was without any restrictions attached.

 

i find it strange they give him a gag order,wonder why?they must be up to no good or trying to hide somthing. he'll get the shaft im shure but i hope not

 

this guys condo complex was "bought out" a year after he moved in

 

no he said the hoa was in place at the time but the parking was contracted with APS a year after he moved in. he was having difficulty finding a place elsewhere as apparently they were in a big real estate boom at the time he was trying to move in and took what he could find when the realtor showed it to him.

 

There seems to be a trend amongst HOAs to contract out their parking/covenant enforcement lately.

My parent's neighborhood, which they've lived in for 8 years, recently did this. Probably not 2-3 months after this transpired, about 70% of the homes in the neighborhood received warning letters about alleged "violations" of covenants, mainly for tall grass or weeds. This being early April, most folks haven't even cut their grass for the first time because most lawns are just coming out of dormancy from the winter, as everyone is required to have a Bermudagrass front yard. The grass itself wasn't even that high, and almost everyone had the random weed here or there, except for the more **** folks who probably dig up each and every one by hand as soon as it appears, unlike those who have better things to to with their time and just apply some weed and feed to the lawn once a year. Within about a week of the letters going out (it was May by this time, so most of the alleged "violations" had been corrected before anyone even got a letter) the president of the HOA (someone who does live there) got about 300+ calls from a bunch of pissed-off homeowners. Because not only did these ridiculous letters go out in the first place, but the person who recorded all of these "violations" was never available to explain their actions. He came by and looked at each and every property and of course found nothing wrong with any of them. I get the impression that this management company may end up getting fired after the contract expires.

Irony is, it was my father who was in charge of the architectural control committee a few years ago who drafted up the current set of landscaping and architectural rules. Which he relaxed significantly, BTW. Someone can actually paint their house a reasonable color or add a deck to the back without having to get permission first.

 

I believe that as a home owner you are part of the HOA and can go to meetings right? Express you rights at these meeting if you don't like something.

Secondly I think that HOA's are a good thing. Keeps the whole nieghborhood looking nice, and discourages neglegnt homeowners from even moving in.

 

My neighborhood has an HOA.
Yes, I can attend meetings. It is like a Kangaroo Court, though.
The homeowners are given THREE minutes to speak, at the end of the meeting.

HOAs are good and bad.
Mine. . . . BAD.
The BOD decide who they want to harass and what they want to enforce.
For example. . .I got a notice to pressure wash the north end of my house.
O.K. I did it. I went even farther. I pressure washed the whole house.
(Sidenote: I keep my house/property clean, woodwork painted and the yard is kept cut and looks pretty darned good, if I do say so, myself.)


The president of the HOA has several dead cars in his yard (violation of HOA rules!) and has NEVER gotten a violation notice.

When this is brought up at an HOA meeting. . . those persons that bring it up are told that they are 'out of order' and that the issue is for the HOA BOD to decide.

 

the best part:

-Why did you move your car into the garage?
-I needed to vacume the carpet.


thats just great! i hope i can find out what happens to him...ie all the threads get locked or smething...

 

HOAs are about one thing and one thing only: money in the form of property values. What you are trading for more money (property value) is some of your rights and freedoms as an American. Disgusting in my book. If part of my personal expression is to paint my house fluorescent green, so be it. No HOA would likely allow that, as it would probably be detrimental to their property value.

I wonder how long before HOAs start requiring regular appraisals and require that your home can't drop in value...oops...hope I didn't give them any ideas...

Jason

 

that woudlnt work to well cuz sometimes homes drop in value just because, like here in CA homes that went for 500K now are selling for 200K just because no one wants to buy...