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MarieL
(Illinois)
Posts:55
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| 08/08/2010 7:38 PM |
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The parking lot in our HOA was recently seal coated. This upcoming poject was mentioned in the minutes, but not when it was going to be done. Three days before the work was going to take place homewoners were notified they had to remove their cars from the lot.One homeowner was out of town,had no knowledge of this and the maintenance chair had the car towed from the lot. The towing company towed it to their facility and when the homeowner returned they had to pay the towing fees and storage charges to recover their car..
My question is how much notice should homeowners be given in a non-emergency repair like this and who is responsible for paying the fees involved.This is not addressed in our CCR's or bylaws and the homeowner wants the board to reimburse them for the charges, because of failure to notify them in a reasonable amount of time, not three days before the work was to be done..
Any answers to who should be responsible for the towing and storage fees of over $200.00???
Thank you.
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MaryA1
Posts:0
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| 08/09/2010 8:02 AM |
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Marie,
IMO, no matter how much time was given if an owner was out of town the HOA should pick up the towing expense. The member would be required to show proof of being out of town (i.e. motel receipt, copy of airfare, etc). If a person was out-of-town at the time the notice was given and didn't return until the work was completed how would they be resp. for moving their car? Of course that is just my opinion. IMO, the best thing to do would have been to notify the h/o's as soon as the board knew what date the work would be performed. If they didn't know until 3 days b/4 then they had no choice. A 3-5 day notice should be sufficient but 1 wk would have been much better. |
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BonnieE
(Illinois)
Posts:331
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| 08/09/2010 8:24 AM |
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Hi Marie,
Coincidental sealcoating... I live in an IL condo HOA and we had 1/2 of our driveways/lots sealcoated last week with the second half to be done this week. Notice was posted on each affected garage door 1 week prior. I agree with Mary that if the HO can prove when s/he was gone and no one else was there to receive the notice, then the towing should be covered by the HOA, IMO. In our case, the company will first ring the doorbell, but if no one is home, will skip that drive/lot and leave another notice that the drive/lot will be done in the second phase (1 week later). If it happens again, then our policy is that that HO will be responsible for the additional charge for the company to come back. We do not have a towing policy, so can not tow vehicles.
Bonnie |
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BrianK1
(Colorado)
Posts:51
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| 08/09/2010 3:59 PM |
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Help me avoid mistakes, thanks. We have several townhome buildings with one big rectangular parking lot in the middle. I'm planning a sealcoat job later this month. It is actually crackseal + sealcoat + restripe and I think it all must take more than a day; the parking lot might have to be closed overnight. The lot entrance is too narrow to divide it in half; cars can't make the sharp turn off the city street into the driveway that is half blocked off. So the job is to do the whole lot all at once. Vehicles will have to be removed entirely from the community private property, there is no other location for them.
The residents don't know yet. I would be surprised to see that an association's governing documents are so thorough as to include a notification clause specifically for repairs to common areas such as a parking lot. Our CC&Rs only provide "the right of the Association to close or limit the use of any Common Area while maintaining, repairing and making replacements in any Common Area" but doesn't specify a notification period. The Associaton has easement rights to the townhome lots for performing non-emergency repairs, subject to 24 hours notice. The Association's Rules and Regulations for towing only address vehicles that are in violation of some restriction.
There are no garages or garage doors for placing notices. I plan on tacking up notices to the two mailbox structures 7 days in advance (when the old mailboxes are replaced by USPS approved cluster boxes next year, this useful billboard will go away). Several days before the job begins (the day(s) for the work will probably be Wednesday and/or Thursday), I will hand deliver or tape notices to the front doors of the townhomes. I don't see the need to mail notification letters to the owners or their property managers, if any.
The towing companies tell me it's against their policies and city ordinances to simply move a vehicle from private property to the city street. They will only tow to a storage facility that is still accepting vehicles (the closest yard that is still accepting towed vehicles is 10 miles away). I searched through city ordinances for the towing restrictions from private property, but the online resource here is hard to use. I'll ask the paving company rep for what he knows about legally towing vehicles that are left in the way.
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GlenL
(Ohio)
Posts:3526
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| 08/10/2010 12:29 AM |
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| Brian it sounds like you are getting your ducks in a row but I would suggest you start now letting homeowners know what is coming, especially if you have H/O's with special needs. Maybe a big countdown sign, like 30 days until sealcoating, 29.... etc. |
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Too bad the only people who know how to run the country are busy driving cabs and cutting hair. - George Burns |
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