Florida HOA Insists New Law Meant To Stop Its Truck Ban Doesn't Apply Because Reasons

Home Owners Associations suck but one Florida HOA is particularly bad, as it is still enforcing a rule to keep pickup trucks out of driveways despite a state law protecting truck owners from such HOA ove

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Residents of a Sarasota neighborhood — The Meadows — enforces a weird rule regarding pickups that was created in 1976, Tampa Bay’s ABC Action News reports. The rule states that pickups can’t be parked in the driveway of residents homes between the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. If a resident is caught with a pickup in their driveway by the neighborhood’s safety patrol, they can face fines or even have their truck towed right out of their driveway.

Some residents have taken to parking their trucks in a pay lot over half a mile from the neighborhood, like Ryan McIntire and his wife who spoke with ABC:

McIntire and his wife now make twice-daily trips to drop off and pick up his truck at a fenced-in lot eight-tenths of a mile from his home.

He and his neighbors pay $500 per vehicle per year to park there.

“We all know each other. We see each other every night and every morning,” McIntire said.

“If you come back at night, it’s full. Everybody’s paying to park in here,” neighbor Melissa Siet said.

She lives on the opposite side of the 1,600-acre neighborhood.

Residents finally thought they would get a win when a Florida state law H.B. 1203 passed. Essentially, the law says that HOAs can no longer keep “…a property owner or a tenant, a guest, or an invitee …from parking his or her personal vehicle, including a pickup truck, in the property owner’s driveway.”

Many residents in The Meadows thought there would be a change immediately, but that’s not what happened. A notice was sent to residents saying that the pickup truck rule would continue to be enforced.

How’s the HOA able to essentially violate state law now? It comes down to the language of the rule. In an email to ABC, the HOA called it “Kaufman language.” An attorney explained its meaning to ABC.

Attorney Jonathan Ellis said some HOAs incorporate the language “as amended from time to time” in their bylaws and other documents. That’s indicating if the legislature changes the statute, that would apply. Most homeowners’ associations don’t have that language,” Ellis said.

Basically, the HOA is saying that the state law lacks the language that would enforce them to not enact the pickup rule against the residents and until the law contains that language, there isn’t much that residents of The Meadows can do. And considering that we’ve seen HOAs act as if they’re their own governments before — from stupid garage door policies to towing a dead man’s car before his funeral — Meadows residents are going to have to keep an eye out on their pickups.