The rules are too inflexible?
You can always bribe the security guards

The manager imposes a stupid rule on the residents that the low-paid guards have to enforce. To get around the rule, this resident buys the guards fast food in order to get extra parking passes.

There is a lesson here. Treat your condo's cleaners and security guards with respect and give them the odd gift card, coffee or fast food and your kindness, since it will be so rare, will be greatly appreciated.
—CondoMadness

Homeowner association enforces parking rules to the point of absurdity
The Los Angles Times
By: Donie Vanitzian
10 April 2016

Question:
I live in a common interest development and my association's parking rules do not allow me to get a parking sticker on more than one vehicle. That creates a problem for me since I do not own one specific car that I can call my own. I buy and sell cars for a living, so I drive a different vehicle nearly every week. I only use one car at a time and park it in my designated carport. But security guards deny entry into the development of any vehicle that does not have a valid parking permit. The manager is uncooperative and influences the board to follow her lead in furthering this ridiculous mind-set.

In order to make a living and keep a roof over my head, I have to bribe the security guards to let me get to my home. It's easier and cheaper to bribe them than deal with the property manager and the board directors she controls. Each time I drive home in a different car, I bring pizza, sports drinks and some junk food for the guards on duty. They give me all the passes I need so I don't get a parking citation. I don't like doing this but learned it's impossible to get around this manager and her rules, fines, penalties and time-consuming, inquisition-like hearings.

Is it legal for the association to prevent me from driving different vehicles, deny me a parking sticker and deny me access to my home?

Answer:
Although the association is free to enact and enforce reasonable parking restrictions, accommodations must be made to ensure that all owners and authorized guests have access to the property.

Civil Code section 4505 states that an association cannot prevent owners and residents from gaining access to the development and their property through the common areas. There is an implied right of ingress and egress for access that may not be blocked and that includes the entrance gate. If these unreasonable and deliberate actions persist, they can be construed as a "constructive eviction" from your property, and an action may be brought against the board and the manager.

Protest this unreasonable parking scheme in writing to the board and voice your unique situation and grievances at the next open meeting during the speakers' forum. Ultimately it is the board's responsibility to ensure that the association and its vendors are in compliance with the law, including Civil Code section 4505. Also point out that the security the association is probably paying a considerable amount of money for is being easily bypassed with junk food.

(Oh no, don't rat out on the security guards. That would not be kind. They are poorly paid and they are doing you a favour. If some of them get fired, you will never get a break from any of the guards again.—editor)

The buck starts and stops with the board of directors. The board is vested with the duty of supervising its employees, including the manager. When rules and regulations are enforced to the point of absurdity for owners whose situations don't fit inside the typical box, it creates a liability for the association. It isn't even a question of the board choosing to side with the manager and her draconian implementation of parking permit rules; it's a question of the board's failure to perform adequate oversight over its operations. In the event of a lawsuit for breach of fiduciary duty, it will be difficult for the directors to justify spending association funds on bad management and inefficient security. There may as well be no security at all.

(Come on now. Belittle the manager all you want but there is no evidence that the guards are not performing their legitimate duties.—editor)

Many residents own and operate more than one vehicle. The considerable inconvenience, let alone the anxiety of wondering whether you will be allowed into the parking lot where you live, is a harsh reminder that purchasing property subject to a homeowner association is complicated.


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