I could be mistaken, but I too am on my HOA board, and I think that the last time I spoke to my attorney about forcing someone's hand who continually was being cited for noise complaints he told me that unless the association was willing to buy that person out of their house... there wasn't much I could do. This is however probably a state-by-state type of issue.

I would file a harrasment complaint with the board and then spend the $500 to have an attorney review the declarations and write a letter to the association and the unit owner in question explaining that you are in no way violating the rules and regs and that any continued harrassment would result in legal action.

+1

If you get harrassed by them again, call the police and file a complaint against them. Tell the police you are concerned about your safety. Maybe see if you can get a restraining order against them, though, I really have no idea if that's do-able. They are emboldened by their friendship with the HOA Prez and your lack of fighting them back hard. Time to change that, if you are within your rights. Good luck, I hope you cut off their harrassment.

i WISH someone else in my neighborhood would restore a car in their garage/driveway! i'd bring my folding chair and some beer and park my ass right in his driveway to watch/help. beats the hell out of watching Joe Walmart fiddling with the latest inflatable yard art product.

Sic the HOA on them for disturbing your "peaceful enjoyment" of your home.

Is there a clause that says they can't do that?(probably is)

I lived in Clayton (right outside Raleigh) for a while and the rules were a little different.

We were required to keep the entire family history of auto purchases in the front yard. We could use the back when the front filled up.

In addition, A couch and Refrigerator was required in the garage.

Absolutely. In some neighborhoods, in fact, you are considered an effeminate little poofter if you don't have an 18 wheeler cab and/or a 4-bay shop in your backyard.

That's close to my neighborhood. No complaints with any of them, just no other Greasy Hand Club members.
Jim

I live in Greensboro (right outside of San Francisco :)), and it's about the same "night and day" difference. One of my college buddies was from Clayton (his dad was a hog farmer), so I can relate.

Exactly the reason why I moved to 5 acres on a lake. Stupid neighbours were pissing me off... now I only have to contend with beavers stealing trees out of my yard.

Buddy up to the other neighbors, then turn them against her. If she's an angry, nosy b!tch, it shouldn't be hard. That way you can tell her to f-off, and still have neighborhood support if she goes to the HOA. Just so you don't break the rules, you'll be golden.

This would be excellent coupled with the pre-emptive strike. Approach the HOA first, have a lawyer draft a scary letter, etc.

ya ya ya, you're not living up to your end of thing in Greensboro, Harley's and rock bands just aren't allowed! Don't you know, UNC-Gay is located here.


:)

Edit: oops, I guess I should update my location.

Making peace or leaving are the only two long term options. Anything you "get over on" a neighbor will come back to haunt you. You will become ever more the focus of their attention, with your every move scrutinized, until they feel they have "gotten even". That's no way to live.

I've had a couple of neighbors like that; that I was at odds with. The first one moved and solved the problem. Geez, all I ever did was shoot his dog. He took that rather badly.

The other one is still here, and we are on happy, speaking terms. She had issue with my "loud car" starting too early in the morning and waking her up (I typically leave for work between 5:00-5:30 am, and for track days about the same time). It used to really upset her, and she would show up in her robe and slippers, almost in tears asking me if there was any way to "turn it down". I was always apollogetic and as friendly as can be. I finally wore her down.

When I first fired up my new motor about a month ago, I ran it at the requiset 2,000-2,500 rpm for half an hour (per Wayne's book, by the way) for the initial cam break-in. A sport muffled 3.0 is pretty darn loud buzzing away like that in the driveway for so long. She was one of the first to come over to see what the racket was all about (this was high noon on a Saturday). "So it sounds like your new engine is done. It sounds a lot faster than the old one; I bet you are going to have fun this summer with it. You'll have to give me a ride sometime..." Nothing like good, neighborly relations.

It's funny, I've never had to deal with this. I did a huge amount of work in my rented garage in a complex in Washington, causing what ended up to be permanent damage to the floor of the garage. I worked until all hours of the night, sometimes with loud power tools or a bad muffler, making noise that could be heard across the complex. Oddly enough, I never got a single complaint. Not one. People would drop by to see what I was up to, have a friendly chat, and then go about their business. Attractive women would drop by and offer me drinks, or ask if I'd like to come up to their apartment for "dinner." Seriously. I never understood why this worked.

Here in VA Beach, my neighbor has drawn numerous complaints for less onerous things than I've done. I've worked on cars in my garage as well as in the street. I tore down my deck, then left the pile of wood in the yard for a month while I went underway. I had a 1970 VW Beetle sitting in front of my house for months with no indication that it ever would or could move. No complaints. Meanwhile, he keeps a classic Ford truck (1930-something, I think) parked beside his house, and the neighbors complain that it isn't licensed. He's aggressively working to repair the damage to his garage caused by a falling tree, and the neighbors complain and call the cops on him for "unsightly damage," or some such nonsense.

I don't really understand, and maybe I'm due to be treated like the jerk that I'm sure I am. Heck, the last time I was out working on my car in the street late at night, one of the neighbors invited me to a poker party. I just don't get it. Maybe I just got lucky on my neighborhood selection?

Acreage is your friend. Men weren't created to live like pansies.

Me, 3.6 acres now, but as funds become available more will be added.

So I take it you're in Winston now? New job, house, etc.? I'm still making the drive to W-S for a few more months before "they" set me free :) Hope all is well!

sounds like a neighborhood where one should drive a prius or a volvo, with a mandatory Hillary! sticker on the back...

Had a neighbor like that once. Name was Charlie.

Good enough guy.

Was a bus driver in the city and had somehow managed to scrape up enough scratch to buy a house in a fairly high end middle class hood.

He would do weird stuff. We shared a triangular strip of grass between our driveways. Went from about one foot at the narrow end to about 4 ft at the wider end.

Whenever I mowed the grass I'd cut the whole thing. He would cut it right down the middle which was way more work that the two passes required to cut the whole thing.

He had his bedroom in the front of the house, we were the center 2 houses in a cul de sac.

So when you pulled up in from of my house at night the lights would shine into his bedroom. he used to get up around 5 am to get to work so being nice sensitive folk we would kill the headlights and cut the motor half way down the street and coast into the cul de sac.

My buddy used to keep his 64 Chevelle track car at my house.

One night he and my brother come home from Englishtown, only around 10 pm, they coasted up to the house with the trailer in tow. Unhooked the trailer and muscled it up the driveway to it's normal spot next to the garage. I was home and did not know they were there till they walked into the house.

About 2-3 in the morning we are woken up by the sound of someone gong nuts with what sounded like a semi auto 12 gauge.

We all jump out of bed and stick our heads out the windows to see what's going on.

We hear Charlies wife yelling, "Charlie, Charlie, WTF are you doing?, are you f'ng crazy"

We run outside and see that Charlie has pulled his car out of the garage and onto the driveway and is repeatedly opening and slamming the drivers door.

Apparently my friend and brother made a little more noise than they thought and Charlie was "making a point"

He stayed up and stewed for 4-5 hours just so he could make his point.

Some people are just nuts.

Main Entry: 1ga·rage
Pronunciation: \gə-ˈräzh, -ˈräj; Canada also -ˈrazh, -ˈraj; British usually ˈga-(ˌ)räzh, -(ˌ)räj, -rij\
Function: noun
Etymology: French, act of docking, garage, from garer to dock, from Middle French garrer, probably ultimately from Old Norse vara to beware, take care; akin to Old High German biwarōn to protect — more at ware
Date: 1902
1 : a shelter or repair shop for automotive vehicles

Measure the exact distance from your front door to theirs. Get a restraining order with that exact distance on it. If they walk out their door, walk out your and call the cops that they are in violation of the order. :D

Up until this point I have tried to be a perfect neighbor. I only drive the P-car in the day time as not to wake up the neighbors, I never have more than a handfull of friends over, and when they are over I have them park on the main street and walk instead of using visitor. I am also sure as not to make a peep when I do come home late.

I am not a minority, but I am about half the age of all my neighbors. I do also have a Porsche, audi, and Tahoe. When she yelled at me that night, she said that her and her husband sold their "estate" to buy this house. they drive an old volvo, and jeep (not old in the good classic way, just cheap). After she bragged about the estate I checked the real-estate records and they took out a 90% mortgage. Maybe they have a great retirement plan, and they are frugal with their money. I have a feeling this all has to do with jelousy! Not to mention I believe she is Bi-polar.

There is about 20 townhouse units on this street. I think it would be safe to say 1 out of 20 people would be extremely jelous of someone who is just as successful if not more, and they are closer to the age of your child.
I dont want to turn this into an all out battle with these people, and I dont want any other neighbors to get burned. I just want this over. I am not worried if they aren't happy when its all said and done, b/c people like that will never be happy, they will just move onto the next person.

I am meeting with a real-estate attourney tomorrow (I have used him many times in the past for my business transactions) and he is going to look over the HOA docs. If I get a good feeling from him then I will either write a letter to the HOA or I will call in a favor (I would hate to waste this favor though) with a law office downtown who just can't be beat no matter what it is.

Thanks guys for all the idea's. It is good to know I am not alone with this issue. I will keep you all updated.


P.S. they cannot force me to move no matter how many HOA complaints I get (NC Law). They could probably fine me or enforce policies aimed at me, but they have already done the second.