Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

local laws and CC&Rs

I lie in

sun City, Lincoln CA. The roads and the sidewalks to the edge of the homeowners property is owned by the city of Lincoln. The private propety, while privately owned, comes under the CC&Rs that govern the homeowners, There are no developers on the board..

The city of Lincoln says you may leave a vehicle on the street,( on their land) for up to 72 hrs but the CC&Rs say they can ticket you and fine you after 48 hours. That seems to wrong, after all the vehicle may belong to someone is not a homeowner which means they are entitled to more protection than the law than the homeowner. as the CC&Rs say its only 48 hour for their memners.

I realize that we may signed a document to this effect, it way to hard to read, but I was also under the impression that you cannot sign away you rights way in any contract,

Any clarification would be appreciated.


Asked on 8/23/07, 4:43 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

Re: local laws and CC&Rs

I think the city ordinance and the HOA rule can and do coexist, somewhat like a state tax law requiring you to pay 5% of your income can coexist with a federal law requiring 20%.

The city ordinance is probably written using restrictive rather than permissive language, i.e. it says "parking more than 72 hours is forbidden," and not "parking up to 72 hours is permitted." Even if it were permissive in nature, I think the HOA rule would still prevail, since that rule exists to protect a different interest, although you would have a better argument.

As to the contract. It is a general rule of contract law that you are presumed to have read what you sign. There are exceptions for the fine print in everyday contracts like car rentals and software licenses, but a challenge to an HOA contract based on "I didn't read it" or "I didn't understand it" is unlikely to get much sympathy from a judge or jury.

With some limitations, you can "sign away" your rights in a contract, but only in a relative rather than an absolute sense. For example, granddad gets little Joe to sign a contract saying if he doesn't smoke or drink booze until he is 21, then granddad will give him Blackacre. Can Joe, now 19, drink a beer? Sure. But he will lose his rights to the farm. Also, if the cops catch him, he might be arrested.

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Answered on 8/23/07, 1:12 pm


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