K.H. from Palm Beach County, Florida writes:
Dear Mister Condo,
Hello, I am a renter and the HOA here started enforcing their guest pass policy by booting cars with an outside company. We are allowed only 14 passes for the whole year, and they require a pass starting at 6:00 pm. This feels so unfair! I work late and at least once a week I have one friend who will come hangout late, but never stay the night. It is never planned, just if we feel like it when we get off work. I had asked extensively what I am to do when the office is closed to request a guest pass so my friends car won’t get booted or ticketed (they only allow requests between 9am-4pm) I was told to contact security, I had been doing that for about 6 months and this morning received an email telling me I am not allowed to do that anymore, that I need to request between 9am-4pm. Now if I had unlimited passes I would just do that several days a week to be safe, but they are strict on 14 passes a year. Should they have an “after hours” system? I agree with getting guess passes, but it just does not work having to plan ahead on all cases of having someone over late. Thank you!
Mister Condo replies:
K.H., I feel your pain. However, as a renter in this community, you have almost no sway over what the Board will or will not allow with regards to this policy. Further, unless a majority of unit owners are inconvenienced by this policy, I don’t see any reason for the Board to create an additional expense by having an “after hours” system. The only real solution I see here is for you to have a little bit of forethought on who and when your guests will be. Basically, you would be limited to 14 times per year when you could reasonable expect to invite guests to come over. You should discuss the issue with your landlord as well. Your landlord is the owner of record for your unit and is really the only potential advocate you have with the HOA. My guess is he or she won’t be too interested in helping you as it isn’t part of your rental agreement. If this HOA provision is too difficult for you to live with your only real option may be to move into a different rental property that has a more lenient guest policy. All the best!