iradney
05-18-2007, 02:40 PM
Ok. TTO and I share a 3 bedroom townhouse with his sister, S, and a friend ours, R.
The 3 bedroom townhouse has a one car garage and a one car driveway. We have 3 cars.
When we viewed the property, the agent assured us we could park on the grass strip for our 3rd car. (see attached piccie). By parking on the grass, we are blocking NO-ONE. We were given no documentation pertaining to codes of conduct or rules or anything.
We moved in beginning of November 06. We have had no problems, no complaints (we dont really "party" - unless you count DoTA :rolleyes: ). Then, the in-laws came to visit for Mother's Day. They're travelling Southern Africa in their neat mobile home, and popped in by us for a few days. They parked in OUR driveway. We just put 2 cars on the grass strip and one in the garage. Inconveniencing no-one. There is NO visitor's parking, btw, and there will be none.
But, all of a sudden, the neighbours have a problem with it, and kicked up a fuss to such an extent that my poor inlaws felt very unwelcome, and left on Tuesday (they arrived on Friday).
Then all of a sudden, our parking was an issue. Our neighbour (who is the chairperson of the HOA) offered to let a car park on his driveway. Only problem is, he parks his car in his garage, so whenever he wants to pull in or out, we have to move the car.
Now, in our house, TTO and S work from home, R and I work call centre shifts. So we're not always 9 - 5. R is more often than not graveyard so he gets home late and likes to sleep late. He got home late last night, and parked on the neighbour's driveway. 6:30am this morning, we get woken up by the neighbour wanting to pull his car out. I do it for R since he's completely comatose and I don't want to wake him. But TTO is now fed up.
I email a friend of mine who is a legal secretary AND on an HOA herself, outlining our problems. She says that it is up to the landlord to organise parking for us, since the agent promised us parking for 3 cars. Not only that, but we must yell at him for hiring agents that use misrepresentation and bad management to trick people into signing leases so they can get their commission.
I also got a copy of the HOA rules and Code of Conduct. They are obviously pulled from other complexes, since the CoC makes mention of a communal pool that we do NOT have. Also, they are not dated, and contradict each other. For example, one says the speed limit is 40kph, the other says 20kph. One says you may not have more than 2 dogs without written permission, the other says you may not have ANY dogs without written permission. (we have a dog, and no, we will not get rid of him).
So TTO has organised a meeting with the landlord for Tuesday. We seem to be the only ones who are being "targeted" with regards to the parking thing, since we see other people who park on the street with no apparent repercussions. Of course, those people are home OWNERS, not tenants, and obviously older than us. I'm really hoping the meeting is for the evening so that I can sit in on the proceedings and insert my two cents, as this is utter nonsense. We pay our lease, we keep our noses clean, our music down and our property clean. Why pick on us?
The 3 bedroom townhouse has a one car garage and a one car driveway. We have 3 cars.
When we viewed the property, the agent assured us we could park on the grass strip for our 3rd car. (see attached piccie). By parking on the grass, we are blocking NO-ONE. We were given no documentation pertaining to codes of conduct or rules or anything.
We moved in beginning of November 06. We have had no problems, no complaints (we dont really "party" - unless you count DoTA :rolleyes: ). Then, the in-laws came to visit for Mother's Day. They're travelling Southern Africa in their neat mobile home, and popped in by us for a few days. They parked in OUR driveway. We just put 2 cars on the grass strip and one in the garage. Inconveniencing no-one. There is NO visitor's parking, btw, and there will be none.
But, all of a sudden, the neighbours have a problem with it, and kicked up a fuss to such an extent that my poor inlaws felt very unwelcome, and left on Tuesday (they arrived on Friday).
Then all of a sudden, our parking was an issue. Our neighbour (who is the chairperson of the HOA) offered to let a car park on his driveway. Only problem is, he parks his car in his garage, so whenever he wants to pull in or out, we have to move the car.
Now, in our house, TTO and S work from home, R and I work call centre shifts. So we're not always 9 - 5. R is more often than not graveyard so he gets home late and likes to sleep late. He got home late last night, and parked on the neighbour's driveway. 6:30am this morning, we get woken up by the neighbour wanting to pull his car out. I do it for R since he's completely comatose and I don't want to wake him. But TTO is now fed up.
I email a friend of mine who is a legal secretary AND on an HOA herself, outlining our problems. She says that it is up to the landlord to organise parking for us, since the agent promised us parking for 3 cars. Not only that, but we must yell at him for hiring agents that use misrepresentation and bad management to trick people into signing leases so they can get their commission.
I also got a copy of the HOA rules and Code of Conduct. They are obviously pulled from other complexes, since the CoC makes mention of a communal pool that we do NOT have. Also, they are not dated, and contradict each other. For example, one says the speed limit is 40kph, the other says 20kph. One says you may not have more than 2 dogs without written permission, the other says you may not have ANY dogs without written permission. (we have a dog, and no, we will not get rid of him).
So TTO has organised a meeting with the landlord for Tuesday. We seem to be the only ones who are being "targeted" with regards to the parking thing, since we see other people who park on the street with no apparent repercussions. Of course, those people are home OWNERS, not tenants, and obviously older than us. I'm really hoping the meeting is for the evening so that I can sit in on the proceedings and insert my two cents, as this is utter nonsense. We pay our lease, we keep our noses clean, our music down and our property clean. Why pick on us?