Gated community refers to a residential development that has a controlled access. In the United States, there are various kinds of these communities that vary not only in size but also in facilities that they provide. These communities range from small and compact communities to large and expanding ones. They not only provide residential properties but other facilities related to recreation, entertainment, dining, retails and so on. Below are answers to few of the more common legal questions about gated community rules: The management has towed away my car just because I parked it in a reserved handicapped spot. By mistake, I might have dropped my placard while I got out of my car. Without even informing me, they took my vehicle and caused me some unnecessary stress and charges. Is this behaviour justified? I live in a medium sized gated community in Cincinnati and I am a handicapped. Usually, it should not be how a management of a community should treat its tenant. In this case, the management could have tried to notify you before towing your car away. This is a very minimum expectation from the management. Moreover, there must be a record of your license plate in their system, if there is a spot already reserved for you as a handicapped. In a situation like this, the management should ignore the towing costs in order to compensate for their unwarranted behavior. I live in a gated community in California that consists of properties that are privately owned by people. Can these owners be protected by trespassing laws? Usually, if a community has a property that is privately owned, then the authorities or the management of that community definitely has the right to decide who should be allowed in and who should not be permitted to visit or come inside the property premises. A privately owned property generally refers to a property that is commonly owned and managed by the HOA as well as private roads. These communities usually work in the following ways. Unless and until, the individual land owners have given their rights to controlling trespassing on their private property or lands in the HOA by-laws, they do have the right to decide who would be permitted to come into their private property. However, if they have given that authority to HOA, then it is the HOA who has the right to prevent trespassing of specific people on the common property that is under the HOA jurisdiction. Our gated community is managed by the Homeowner’s Association (HOA), where it has assigned one parking spot to each resident. However, if any of the residents wants to park their second vehicle in the spot that has not been assigned by a HOA, can HOA have a say in that? The Homeowner’s Association can certainly lay down the rules and regulations regarding the use of unassigned parking spots by residents. Normally, the HOA establishes specific guidelines and their limitations on how these spaces should be utilized. However, these guidelines are generally for a short period of time. In this case, you may want to go through the rules and regulations provided by the HOA on the use of parking spots. However, it is always essential for you to abide by the HOA’s decision regarding parking. The services and the facilities that are offered by the gated communities are based on a number of factors. These factors could be geographical location, demographic composition, community structure, and community fees collected. Moreover, in these communities, there could be a master association under which there is a sub association. The master association becomes the principal or the central body that offers these services to the residents. Usually, the associations that are larger in size can offer more facilities than the smaller ones. Security is the top most priority in these communities. Therefore, most of the times, visitors and guests need to receive a special permission to enter the community area and are not allowed to use all the facilities inside the premises. If you need any clarification about your particular situation on the subject, you may wish to ask a real estate lawyer for legal insight based on an expert evaluation of your circumstances.
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