How would you deal with the HOA moving/changing parking lines that you own?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I live in a townhouse community, I’ve been there for 20 years and for the most part things are fine. A couple of weeks ago the HOA decided that they were going to repaint all of the parking lines and numbers. They also milled and paved a couple of areas, including in front of my house.

To the best of my knowledge, from looking at my survey, I own my parking space. My property is supposed to run from the corner of my house to the sidewalk, and then it makes a slight turn to make a parking space in front of the road. When they repainted they moved my space over by 3+ feet on one side, and 2 or so on the other.

I emailed the HOA and asked them to come look at the lines because I thought they were not in the proper place. I’ve now emailed twice to two separate people and not gotten a response to either.

Now I’m kind of stuck and thinking on if I should hire a lawyer or just let it go. I talked to a friend of mine who is a property lawyer, not in my state, and he gave me a contact for someone. He also said that even though it’s been moved it may not be worth it and I should think about letting it go.

What would you do in such a situation? On one had it is my property, but then as my friend says it’s really only moved over. I have lost a foot or so of parking, I think everyone kind of did as the guest spots at the end are pretty big it seems. Plus it will not be cheap to hire a lawyer, and I’m still going to have to pay on both sides since it is the HOA.

2

That’s the first and, right now, the ONLY thing to determine.

3

Has the HOA recently elected new officers?

Can you go to the office(?) Or where these people are?

Sit on their doorstep til you see them. They’d be explaining that to me.

4

I have a plat that shows it as mine. I do not have the actual deed, I was planning on going tomorrow to get a copy. The thing is that some homes, like mine, the spots are right out in front, others are not directly in front of their homes so I think it leads to some people owning spots while others have assigned spots.

5

Yes but those are things concerning only the owner.

Half kidding but, if you confirm ownership, you could (continue to) leave your car parked where you think your rightfully platted spot belongs and see what happens.

6

First, find your deed and get the description of your parking spot from it. If it’s vague and non-specific, you may be out of luck. If, OTOH, it has a legal description of some sort - Metes & Bounds, Lot & Block, Parcel Survey, or other - then the markings on the pavement are superfluous. You may need to hire a surveyor to mark your legally defined parking spot, but once you do, the HOA must honor your ownership.

Note that this could backfire, and you may not own what you think you own. Many property owners do not know the actual boundaries of their property, only what they think are the boundaries, based on fence lines, what the neighbors think, what the prior owner told them, where the road is, where the hedge is, etc.

7

I’d certainly request - in writing - explanation from the HoA board. Also, you ought to be able to identify whether you own a particular parking space and, if so, where it is.

Does the HoA hold regular meetings? I would send mail to all officers of the HoA, and ask for a response within a specific time - maybe 10 days, maybe a month. How long ago did you email the people - and who are they?

You don’t explain what parking is like. I’m having a hard time figuring out how this is configured - what a “parking space in front of the road” is, or how the property line “makes a slight turn” to create the parking space. Is this a situation in which people are regularly vieing for parking spaces? Is “your” space numbered or otherwise identified as going with your unit? Is the 1’ smaller space still ample for your needs? If it was moved, do you now encroach on someone else’s space? Did more people than you have their spaces moved/shortened? How clearly is the parking space defined? Specific measurements, or simply in general terms, like, “the parking space closest to the front door.”

I tend to be pretty anal about surveys and property matters. If a space of a certain size is deeded to you, you paid for it. It should not be relocated or reduced by an inch - let alone a foot - without good reason, compensation, and your agreement. It may seem minor - but someone is essentially trying to take some 10 sq feet of property from you. If it were up to me, I’d prefer that someone give me 10 MORE feet than take 10 feet away. You’ll also have an (admittedly minor) potential issue should you go to sell - your apparent space will not conform with the survey. Or when a neighbor - whomever owns an adjoining spot - sells and a new survey is done.

I would expect your deed to be pretty specific as to exactly what space you own. I would also look into your state’s laws regarding condos/HoAs, to see what is required of the board, and what might be done about parking.

In a weird way, the deed probably still controls. Your space remains where it originally was (presuming it was correctly marked before.) Someone repainting the lines (or putting up a fence) does not change the boundaries of your property. So you probably could just keep parking where you previously did - tho that would likely cause confusion.

I assume this was a mistake rather than some nefarious plot. But who knows? Maybe the HoA board tried to shrink all the spots to gain space elsewhere. Unless the HoA TOLD the contractor to mark the spaces differently, the contractor fucked up, and should be required to correct their error. And if the HoA failed to adequately supervise or something, well, they probably have insurance, or should otherwise have to eat the repainting out of reserves.

It is too early to start hiring a lawyer. But I would definitely pursue answers from the HoA. And I would escalate my efforts if they failed to respond.

I’m very surprised your friend, the property lawyer, would say it is no big deal because it was simply moved. What if they moved it significantly further from your home? Or underneath a tree that dripped sap? Only you can decide how big of a deal this is to you. But there is a lot of stuff that is vague and impermanent these days - and the boundaries of and rights to deeded real property ought not be among such things.

<On edit, the previous 2 posters said the important parts of my post much more concisely. >

8

Talk to your neighbors. If your community has a text group, post there. Ask if it was just you, or everybody had their spaces moved and shrunk. Get a feel for the room, see if anyone else wants to complain. It’s better to be part of an angry mob than to be a sole crank.

9

I emailed the HOA through our portal, I asked if they would come look at the lines. That was 10 days ago. I also emailed the person who was in charge of all of the work last Thursday. I haven’t heard from either party yet.

There are six townhouses on my side of the road, we each have one large space, each one can fit three cars, there are two guest on one end. Our spaces are numbered with our house number. The lines are only about 3-4 feet long and don’t go all the way to the road. I haven’t tried to fit three cars in so I don’t know how much difference there really is. I do encroach on the neighbor to one side, each space is off, all by a different amount.

This is what my plat looks like.You can see where it says asphalt parking. The line for my space now is in front of F in S.F.

This is what I think in some ways, but I’ve asked and not even gotten a “yeah we will look in to it” response. I have had other problems that I’ve asked the HOA about and they don’t seem to get back at all.

Everyone on my side has had their space changed in some way. I don’t know how many people will care too much, I know at least one person is.

I have walked around my neighborhood, there are only 260 homes here, and my side of the street seems to be the only one where they painted in the wrong place. Though most of the spots were only repainted.

10

In addition to your deed, you’d want a detailed review of the HOA documents. Constitution, bylaws, site plans, etc. The details vary by state law and local custom (AKA common practices), as well as what your docs actually say. Or fail to say.

I’m intimately familiar with condo law in FL. Which is not your situation.

But in our situation, all parking remained the property of the Association, but each unit had a non-deeded non-transferrable right to a specific identified space on the master site plan. Which was fully dimensioned such that the location on the ground of any space could be objectively determined.

11

Would it be cheaper just to repaint the lines?

12

Thanks for the clear answer/plat. Confirm with your deed. But I personally would step up the aggressiveness, likely first with a letter to each board member, noting the previous communications, followed by attendance at the next board meeting. Might even copy the letter to the contractor, if you have their name.

Check with the HoA rules and any state law to see what provisions there might be for legal fees if successful. Unsure if this could be handled pre season or in small claims.

13

Check that plat. Walk the street. Check to see if some owner has an extra space now.

If everyone lost a foot of parking, it went somewhere.

14

Your parking spot looks pretty clearly delineated on your survey. I don’t believe the HOA can legally move your parking lines. And I wouldn’t let it go because you could possibly lose some of your property by adverse possession statutes (if applicable in your county and state).

I would consult with a surveyor and an attorney if you don’t hear back from your HOA.

15

If you want the attention of the HOA, just put a couple of plastic flamingos in your front yard.

16

Thanks for link to actual surveyor’s plat map - too many people use their local city’s tax assessors’ overlay on Google Maps. But it’s disconcerting that a plat stamped by licensed State of Maryland Property Line Surveyor also bears the text “This plan does not provide for the accurate identification of property line boundaries”. That plat pretty clearly shows the bulk of your lot is 22.6’ wide, and contains 2294 sq ft - so the AVERAGE lot depth is 101.5’, but the side lines are not fully dimensioned. Even so, this implies that the lines jogging across the ‘asphalt parking’ area are indeed intended as property boundaries of your full lot, and not just indications of easements, or hints to the line painters…despite what the disclaimer text indicates. Your deed SHOULD provide some clarity here.

PS: what’s the full text at upper left where “…operty corners found” is clipped off?

17

Another option; ignore the lines for now and park as if things are unchanged.

18

The easiest way to undermine adverse possession is to post a sign that says something like “Permission to pass revocable at any time”. In every jurisdiction of which I am aware, adverse possession can only be invoked if the possession is hostile to the owner’s intent. If the owner grants permission, there’s no hostile possession. The sign implies permission, and also implies that it can be revoked.

19

That could lead to getting towed, which will be unpleasant to unwind. I’d suggest a registered letter to the HOA indicating that you are contacting them based on legal advice (hey, that doesn’t have to be true–besides, it isn’t illegal advice!). If that doesn’t get their attention, something is VERY wrong!

Adverse possession is what I’d worry about too.

Semi-related: our lot backs up to a path. There is a common area about 10’ wide between our lot and the path. We’ve been in this house for 35 years and I’ve maintained that area, weeding and mulching it. I suspect that if I wanted to be a jerk about it, I could claim adverse possession. I’m not interested in doing so, but sort of focused on it because next-door-neighbor recently put a few paving stones through their equivalent, un-maintained common area and got a nastygram from the HOA saying to remove them. So I wonder in my heart of hearts whether they’re aware of my maybe-claim on the property and are letting that sleeping dog lie–wise if so! I’ll move or die eventually, after all…

20

The OP said that the HOA is not responding to inquiries. If they actually towed vehicles properly parked in the deeded spot, that would certainly force the issue of whether the vehicles were in violation.