need help fighting my HOA !!

[flmgrip]

southern california, regulated by HOA.

i live in a townhouse (3 units per building, about 87 total units in HOA right now)

i want to install a 5x5 inch vent coming out of my garage in a very hidden area. the vent is the same vent than elsewhere used in the same building and color and stucco of course will match.

the visual impact and overall community look will be zero. you won't see the vent unless someone points it out. so there is no harm done to the overall apperance...

the vent is for a fueling station (phill) for my NGV car. natural gas cars are the cleanest cars availible, with lower emissions than the prius. so i am doing something good for the enviroment !! i'm not insalling a dish or running cable or doing something else that's just for my personal benefit, i am reducing my carbon footprint !!

the HOA has denied my first request !!

i am planing to get approval by all individual ownersby going around and explaing what i am doing and that there will be no visula impact and tha i will carry any liablity for any damage that might occur directly caused by the vent (such as leaks, cracks etc...

please help !! how can i make my HOA approve this little vent ?

it's a shame, i am trying to go "green" and i am beeing shut down. further more they turned down my application for a solar system. stupid on their side since there is the california sloar right act that allows me to install a solar system. even in community properties (AB1892 and cicil code 714)

any inputs ??

thanks !

[larrycng]

Re: need help fighting my HOA !!

Get on the Board, and start educating those who are ignorant

[flmgrip]

Re: need help fighting my HOA !!

while getting on the board does not seem a viable option for the time frame availible (and time pressurefrom the city permit office etc.).

me going around an educating all owners and getting approval from all owners (i hope) will overrule any decission of the board. after all we all own 1/87 of the community property....

[CNG MOTORS]

Re: need help fighting my HOA !!

A better solution may be a FMQ2 with a remote panel. The remote panel only has a 12"x12" footprint.

[flmgrip]

Re: need help fighting my HOA !!

it's a townhouse... don't even "own" the walls. have no private yard for the FMQ2

[echamberlain]

Re: need help fighting my HOA !!

Your best bet is to educate your neighbors and get them to support you.

Once you get the approval for the vent line, you can fight for the solar. The HOA most likely can't prevent you from installing solar in California.

Here's more information on the California Solar Rights Act.

[advocate]

Re: need help fighting my HOA !!

Do you already have an existing vent anywhere in your garage? The Phill does not need a vent in a particular location -- you can run a hose from the top of the phill to any vent you might already have installed. Your best bet would be to install the vent low to the ground, where it really cannot be seen.

Are you sure you even need your HOA's permission? Most improvements require permission only if they can be seen from the street. Your situation may be different since you are in a condo rather than a house, however.

If you do need your HOA's permission, I'd get permission to install a garage vent low to the ground, without telling them that you are getting it for the Phill. While they may deny it, I'm sure they're afraid the thing is going to blow up, or something like that...

southern california, regulated by HOA.

i live in a townhouse (3 units per building, about 87 total units in HOA right now)

i want to install a 5x5 inch vent coming out of my garage in a very hidden area. the vent is the same vent than elsewhere used in the same building and color and stucco of course will match.

the visual impact and overall community look will be zero. you won't see the vent unless someone points it out. so there is no harm done to the overall apperance...

the vent is for a fueling station (phill) for my NGV car. natural gas cars are the cleanest cars availible, with lower emissions than the prius. so i am doing something good for the enviroment !! i'm not insalling a dish or running cable or doing something else that's just for my personal benefit, i am reducing my carbon footprint !!

the HOA has denied my first request !!

i am planing to get approval by all individual ownersby going around and explaing what i am doing and that there will be no visula impact and tha i will carry any liablity for any damage that might occur directly caused by the vent (such as leaks, cracks etc...

please help !! how can i make my HOA approve this little vent ?

it's a shame, i am trying to go "green" and i am beeing shut down. further more they turned down my application for a solar system. stupid on their side since there is the california sloar right act that allows me to install a solar system. even in community properties (AB1892 and cicil code 714)

any inputs ??

thanks !

[advocate]

Re: need help fighting my HOA !!

One more thing: You might offer your HOA board members a choice:


1. They approve your request to install a dryer vent.

or

2. You exercise your right to (a) install a solar system on the roof and (b) install a aerial television antenna on the roof without their permission. As you correctly noted, the former is permitted by state law. The latter is permitted by federal law. You can put as big a TV antenna on your roof as is necessary to pick up signals, and there is nothing your HOA can do about it.

You might also consider becoming a licensed ham radio operator. The FCC has preempted all state and HOA rules about ham antennas as well. This would permit you to put up a 65 foot tower with ham antenna on top, without your HOA's approval.

Again, I'd offer it to them as an alternative to the dryer vent...

Do you already have an existing vent anywhere in your garage? The Phill does not need a vent in a particular location -- you can run a hose from the top of the phill to any vent you might already have installed. Your best bet would be to install the vent low to the ground, where it really cannot be seen.

Are you sure you even need your HOA's permission? Most improvements require permission only if they can be seen from the street. Your situation may be different since you are in a condo rather than a house, however.

If you do need your HOA's permission, I'd get permission to install a garage vent low to the ground, without telling them that you are getting it for the Phill. While they may deny it, I'm sure they're afraid the thing is going to blow up, or something like that...

[flmgrip]

Re: need help fighting my HOA !!

well... the vent i'm asking for permission to install... is allready installed... so is the phill... so yes i do havea vent, but the city revoked my permit (after giving it originially) after i installed phill because i don't have HOA approval

it's a mess...

why am i even asking my HOA for permission ? because with the solar install the city will inspect the solar system, parts of it in the garage, where the now "unpermitted" phill is. so i have to get approval and the HOA knows that the vent is for the phill and i have submitted an s-load of supportive material about saftey etc... EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE NO RIGHT TO SAY WHAT I DO ON THE INSIDE.

the have quite some control over the outside but i am convienced i will have all or most owners on my side....

it does help me that they denied the solar installed, because they f...ed up. they MUST allow me to install solar or they can be fined. cal solar right act.

it's a mess and certain events went down the wrong way including the city giving apermit to install and then revoking it.... asking the city how they can do that and what happend... "oh it fell thru the cracks... now remove all your gas piping...."

[flmgrip]

Re: need help fighting my HOA !!

with all the trouble i'm going thru i should have just gotten an extra tank and therefore only needing to fill up once or twice a week, instead of every other day...

costs would have been the same or maybe even cheaper and certainly less headache... just no trunk space...

[cngaz]

Re: need help fighting my HOA !!

Pull the vent, patch the hole and put it out the rear of the roof or someplace quite not so obvious.

[flmgrip]

Re: need help fighting my HOA !!

the problem is that the city permit office, whoe gave me a permit to install the phill "revoked" my permit... don't ask me how that is possible. they letme install it, now they are telling me i have to uninstall the phill... these people are crazy

the vent is in a place that's not obvious at all.

the problem is the city wants me to uninstall the unit
the HOA at this point doesn't want meto put the vent in
i need the offical permit from the city because i am going to install solar and they will know about my "un-permitted" phill

in other words i am f...ed unless the HOA gives me approval...

i don't know why the city permit office needs the approval from the HOA ?

[DannyCNG]

Re: need help fighting my HOA !!

start calling your liberal representatives. politicians have power. they'll tell the city to reinstate the permit and they will. Either that or some soprano folks lol.

In PG county MD pitbulls are banned. A met people looking for their lost dog.
PG county had impounded the animal. Animal control refused to release the dog.

They contacted their congressman and complained, and animal control gave
them their dog back.

So find your local liberals, tell them how you're trying to help with the environment and how the city permitted it then denied it.

Also go to the permit office is, and find out who the boss is. if theboss won't help, find out who his boss is. Keep going and going until you find the boss that will over rule the minor bosses.

Sue the city for ALL of your expenses. the cost of the phil, installation, cost of removal, all work at the most expensive prices. It's not that you want the money, it's that you want the city to reinstate the permit for fear they will have to pay out of their ass.

I would persue all those avenues at once. contact the mayor, your congressmen, the governor, persue legal action.. just filing the case might
be enough to get them to start crapping their pants.

And first write a letter to HOA and to the permit office stating that if the permit isnt' re-instated by so and so date, that a lawsuit for the amount of
costs involved (and state the costs) for both the city and the HOA. Also
include the fact that you will be contacting the governor, mayor, and congressmen regarding the matter. If the idiots are smart, they'll start thinking "this guy is serious, and the {expletive deleted by forum staff} getting us in trouble".

Also try to get some dirt on the HOA. Push that solar angle. Go ahead and sue them and threaten to push actions so that they are fined for the solar,
and tell them you're willing to compramise if they allow your permit for the phill and solar.

I'd do the antenna stuff too.

Take hte offensive! get them to back down.

[Curtis]

Re: need help fighting my HOA !!

The German's invented this tactic during WWII. It was called a Blitzkrieg.

[flmgrip]

Re: need help fighting my HOA !!

work has been crazy, hopefully next week i willhave more time to pursue some and all path suggested... i did mail the mayor (and that letter can be easily modified for congress etc...)

the thread of a law suit might be good too, but unless i'm willing to follow thru and finance it, calling a bluff might be bad...

but i will go to the city hall on mynext day off duringthe week and will start making stink and work my way up the food chain...