Jul 24, 2024
A Florida homeowners’ association (HOA) is using a legal loophole to bypass a state law and prevent homeowners in its community from parking their pickup trucks or work vehicles in their driveways.
Per an archaic HOA rule written in 1976, residents of The Meadows subdivision in Sarasota are banned from parking their vehicles at home between the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.
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“I can’t park my own truck in my own driveway,” resident Ryan MacIntyre, who drives a 2014 Chevy Silverado pickup truck, told ABC Action News. Instead, he pays $500 a year to park his truck overnight in a fenced-in lot 0.8 miles away — on top of the HOA fees and the mortgage he pays to live in the community.
MacIntyre agreed to follow the HOA’s rules and regulations when he bought his home in 2019. If he did park his truck on his driveway, The Meadows’ nightly safety patrol could issue him with a warning letter, fines or even tow his vehicle.
Tired of the inconvenience of making two trips a day to drop off and collect his pickup truck, MacIntyre was “ecstatic” when he learned of Florida House Bill 1203, which prohibits HOAs from implementing anti-truck parking policies. But his happiness quickly turned to confusion when The Meadows announced it will not change its parking rules.
New Florida law for HOAs
Effective July 1, Florida House Bill 1203 has adopted sweeping changes for HOAs in the Sunshine State. The law has overhauled many issues, including director education, records maintenance, meeting requirements, fines and, of course, parking restrictions.
Per HB 1203, HOAs may not prohibit a homeowner, tenant, guest or invitee of the property owner from parking:
- A personal vehicle, including a pickup truck, in the property owner’s driveway or in any other area where they have a right to park as governed by state, county and municipal regulations
- A work vehicle, which is not a commercial motor vehicle, in the property owner’s driveway
- An assigned first responder vehicle on public roads or rights-of-way within the HOA community
“I thought it [the law] was for everybody,” said resident Melissa Siet, who runs a mobile spa called the Maui Skin Bus from her Mercedes Sprinter van and pays to park two vehicles in the same lot as MacIntyre.
She told ABC Action News she was “so excited” when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 1203 into law on May 16. “We thought: ‘Great, this is going to save us $1,000 a year.’ And … that’s not happening.”
Shortly after the law was signed, The Meadows HOA emailed residents stating: “This new law WILL NOT affect the current policies of The Meadows Community Association … all current parking rules and regulations will remain the same.”
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When asked by ABC Action News about its rejection of the parking rules, the HOA’s general manager cited what is known as “Kaufman language” and explained: “The application of the new law depends on the governing language of the community association and the time it was recorded.”
“Kaufman language” refers to the phrase “as amended from time to time” in association with HOA governing documents and covenants. Originating from the 1977 Kaufman v. Shere case, it ensures that future legislative amendments automatically apply to those documents — but without this phrase, only laws existing at the document's recording date (which in The Meadows’ case, was 1976) are enforceable.
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What are HOA residents paying for?
The parking predicament at The Meadows begs the question: What are you really paying for to live in a HOA? And do the benefits of the HOA override the inconvenience of signing away certain freedoms — in this case, your ability to park your own vehicle in your own driveway or in your well-kept neighborhood?
When you buy a home in a community governed by a HOA, you automatically become a member and will have to pay a HOA fee (either annually, quarterly or monthly) for as long as you own the home.
Generally, HOA fees cover maintenance and upkeep of common areas, like shared walkways, elevators, parking lots or community parks. This pot money would cover landscaping, exterior painting, pool and gym maintenance, snow removal and emergency expenses, among other things.
When alerting its residents it would not be abiding by HB 1203, The Meadows Community Association explained its founder “had a vision for a community with beautiful landscaping, open green space and a variety of architectural styles to appeal to a broad audience of residents.” It also said the rules and regulations are there to preserve the HOA’s beauty and its property values.
But for the residents of the subdivision, these efforts to protect their property values have left them feeling both frustrated and hopeless.
“We don’t feel like we have a voice,” says Siet. “We don’t really know what to do.”
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Bethan Moorcraft is a reporter for Moneywise with experience in news editing and business reporting across international markets.
