Thor Jr.,
As a new condo owner it's important to read and digest the condo by laws and also attend some condo board meetings, to find out what you can and cannot do. Attending board meetings will give you an idea of what kinds of issues are arising and how the board is dealing with them. Some of my neighbors have gotten permission to put small gardens in the ground. I have in past years grown tomatoes, and herbs like basil and parsley on my deck. I got permission to run a water pipe to my deck and install a spigot so I can water the plants. In the past few years I stopped growing tomatoes because I live in a wooded area and developed a nemesis, a kamikaze, dive bombing Cardinal which would use its beak to to knock the tomatoes off the vines and then eat them. I initially thwarted him with a bird net over the plants, but this proved to be too laborious, and I gave up.
I have a landscaped area for plants in the front of my condo and every year I plant annuals like Blue Salvia and Verbena and Lantana, all sun plants because the area gets a lot of sun. I also have perennials like hasta, and rhododendron. There is a family of deer that lives in the woods behind my condo and my neighbor feeds them chopped apples and other things to the point where they eat out of her hand, and this is cute, but the down side is that the deer are attracted to my area and have eaten my hasta and this year a potted Coleus on my front stoop, which they had never before before eaten. This really annoyed me. I can't send my neighbor the bill, but I probably should.
Another issue is parking and guest parking. We get a garage, the space in front of the garage, and a guest space adjacent to the space in front of the garage. I read the by laws and it's very clear we have that guest space available for parking. Last summer, I noticed an old model Honda Accord in my guest space. My deer-feeding neighbor approached me and asked whose car it was because it had also been parked in her guest space. I told her I had no idea. A few days later my neighbor knocked on my door and told me the identity of the parking spot thief. It was another, new neighbor a few units down. I then went down and knocked on her door. It was an older woman of about 60 I never met before. I told her she was parked in my spot and she had to move her car. She then claimed one of the board members told her she could park her extra cars wherever she wanted, so long as it was not blocking my garage. I told her she really needed to read the by laws because we get the garage and the space next to the space in front of the garage as a space for our guests. I also told her that her car had been there for a week without being moved, and that before my neighbor told me it was hers, I had assumed it was an abandoned vehicle and was going to call the police because I did not want some car abandoned in a possible criminal enterprise in front of my condo. This statement greatly upset her for some reason. She then told me she would look at the bylaws and take it up with the Condo Association, but she moved the car after our conversation. I have not seen that car in my spot again. There have been other parking issues and disputes involving other neighbors.
We also had an issue one year with fire pits. They are not allowed on the common grounds. One year some kids thought it would be a good idea to start a fire pit in the common areas as part of a party they were having in one of the units. I later learned my neighbor two units down let his nephew use the unit while he was out of town for the weekend. The kid proceeded to plan a party, started the fire pit and other neighbors called the cops. That being said, I was thinking of asking the condo board for permission to do a fire pit in the area between my deck and the woods. They will probably say no, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.
From attending board meetings I would say the main issues that come up are building repair and maintenance, parking, dogs, noise complaints, common grounds usage, and landscaping and tree cutting issues. There was also a funny issue one year when a neighbor’s teenage kid, who had been skinny dipping in the pool one night with his girlfriend, then was caught red handed by a board member having sex with the girlfriend in the clubhouse men’s room shower. The kid thought it was cheaper than a hotel since both he and the GF lived with their parents.
As a new condo owner it's important to read and digest the condo by laws and also attend some condo board meetings, to find out what you can and cannot do. Attending board meetings will give you an idea of what kinds of issues are arising and how the board is dealing with them. Some of my neighbors have gotten permission to put small gardens in the ground. I have in past years grown tomatoes, and herbs like basil and parsley on my deck. I got permission to run a water pipe to my deck and install a spigot so I can water the plants. In the past few years I stopped growing tomatoes because I live in a wooded area and developed a nemesis, a kamikaze, dive bombing Cardinal which would use its beak to to knock the tomatoes off the vines and then eat them. I initially thwarted him with a bird net over the plants, but this proved to be too laborious, and I gave up.
I have a landscaped area for plants in the front of my condo and every year I plant annuals like Blue Salvia and Verbena and Lantana, all sun plants because the area gets a lot of sun. I also have perennials like hasta, and rhododendron. There is a family of deer that lives in the woods behind my condo and my neighbor feeds them chopped apples and other things to the point where they eat out of her hand, and this is cute, but the down side is that the deer are attracted to my area and have eaten my hasta and this year a potted Coleus on my front stoop, which they had never before before eaten. This really annoyed me. I can't send my neighbor the bill, but I probably should.
Another issue is parking and guest parking. We get a garage, the space in front of the garage, and a guest space adjacent to the space in front of the garage. I read the by laws and it's very clear we have that guest space available for parking. Last summer, I noticed an old model Honda Accord in my guest space. My deer-feeding neighbor approached me and asked whose car it was because it had also been parked in her guest space. I told her I had no idea. A few days later my neighbor knocked on my door and told me the identity of the parking spot thief. It was another, new neighbor a few units down. I then went down and knocked on her door. It was an older woman of about 60 I never met before. I told her she was parked in my spot and she had to move her car. She then claimed one of the board members told her she could park her extra cars wherever she wanted, so long as it was not blocking my garage. I told her she really needed to read the by laws because we get the garage and the space next to the space in front of the garage as a space for our guests. I also told her that her car had been there for a week without being moved, and that before my neighbor told me it was hers, I had assumed it was an abandoned vehicle and was going to call the police because I did not want some car abandoned in a possible criminal enterprise in front of my condo. This statement greatly upset her for some reason. She then told me she would look at the bylaws and take it up with the Condo Association, but she moved the car after our conversation. I have not seen that car in my spot again. There have been other parking issues and disputes involving other neighbors.
We also had an issue one year with fire pits. They are not allowed on the common grounds. One year some kids thought it would be a good idea to start a fire pit in the common areas as part of a party they were having in one of the units. I later learned my neighbor two units down let his nephew use the unit while he was out of town for the weekend. The kid proceeded to plan a party, started the fire pit and other neighbors called the cops. That being said, I was thinking of asking the condo board for permission to do a fire pit in the area between my deck and the woods. They will probably say no, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.
From attending board meetings I would say the main issues that come up are building repair and maintenance, parking, dogs, noise complaints, common grounds usage, and landscaping and tree cutting issues. There was also a funny issue one year when a neighbor’s teenage kid, who had been skinny dipping in the pool one night with his girlfriend, then was caught red handed by a board member having sex with the girlfriend in the clubhouse men’s room shower. The kid thought it was cheaper than a hotel since both he and the GF lived with their parents.
