Lil Red Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 +J.M.J.+ i got slapped with a code enforcement letter, stating that a car that [b]I own[/b] (free and clear) that is parked on [b]MY[/b] private property has to be licensed. i am so pissed off right now. my husband and i have three cars. we have a 'new' van that i had to get because my car kept getting run down (it runs but not well). so we just parked [b]MY[/b] car in [b]MY[/b] driveway on [b]MY[/b] private property, and then i park behind it. so i get a letter from the city stating that we have 10 days to move the vehicle off the property, or we could get fined. when i called them today, i told him three things: 1. Why license a third car when it would just sit there? 2. We don't have money to pay to license a third car. 3. We don't have money to fix it enough to sell it. he said that i could challenge it in court if i wanted to (he would issue me a citation if i wanted to do that), the judge 'could' take my side and dismiss the citation, or the judge could fine me $500. i just don't understand where the city gets off regulating what is on my own private property. the car isn't 'junky', and there's not multiple cars. it just sits there. the code enforcement guy said somebody had to have called and complained about it for them to come out (in a city of 100,000+ people, there are 2 code enforcement people). someone complained about a non-junky car just sitting there?!? i am so mad right now i can't see straight!! on top of everything else, this is just what i get to deal with right now. i'm going to contact a friend who is a lawyer to see what his thoughts are, talk with my hubby tonight, already talked to my dad (who thinks that this is ridiculous). *sigh* please pray for us as we deal with this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christie_M Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Sorry to hear your city is ridiculous. At least you don't have to worry about getting parking tickets because you don't move your cars every 2 hours Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WillT Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 (edited) Move it to your back yard? Maybe if they don't see it from the street they won't fne you. I assume you don't have a garage, because they would have to have a warrant to enter and check for licensed vehicles, would think. Move to Tennesssee, I see plenty of cars on blocks in front yards here. At any rate, for you, I know how frustrating deealing with the government at any level can be. I hope it al gets worked out. Edited February 18, 2009 by WillT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lil Red Posted February 18, 2009 Author Share Posted February 18, 2009 +J.M.J.+ no i don't have a garage, which is what the code enforcement guy told me to do. if i had a garage, a lot of this be solved, you jerk. (not you WillT!) my dad suggested a cover that goes onto your car, and move it more into our backyard, and then nobody can check! might have to do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmotherofpirl Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 [quote name='Lil Red' post='1784538' date='Feb 18 2009, 02:44 PM']+J.M.J.+ i got slapped with a code enforcement letter, stating that a car that [b]I own[/b] (free and clear) that is parked on [b]MY[/b] private property has to be licensed. i am so pissed off right now. my husband and i have three cars. we have a 'new' van that i had to get because my car kept getting run down (it runs but not well). so we just parked [b]MY[/b] car in [b]MY[/b] driveway on [b]MY[/b] private property, and then i park behind it. so i get a letter from the city stating that we have 10 days to move the vehicle off the property, or we could get fined. when i called them today, i told him three things: 1. Why license a third car when it would just sit there? 2. We don't have money to pay to license a third car. 3. We don't have money to fix it enough to sell it. he said that i could challenge it in court if i wanted to (he would issue me a citation if i wanted to do that), the judge 'could' take my side and dismiss the citation, or the judge could fine me $500. i just don't understand where the city gets off regulating what is on my own private property. the car isn't 'junky', and there's not multiple cars. it just sits there. the code enforcement guy said somebody had to have called and complained about it for them to come out (in a city of 100,000+ people, there are 2 code enforcement people). someone complained about a non-junky car just sitting there?!? i am so mad right now i can't see straight!! on top of everything else, this is just what i get to deal with right now. i'm going to contact a friend who is a lawyer to see what his thoughts are, talk with my hubby tonight, already talked to my dad (who thinks that this is ridiculous). *sigh* please pray for us as we deal with this.[/quote] O dearie, I have gone thru this several times, it is SO frustrating.!!! Code enforcement officers can come on your property, but someone had to have sent them. Covering it will not help. Can you get it towed to someone elses house? How much is a license? Do you have tripleA? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IcePrincessKRS Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 That's really lame... I mean, it's in your driveway... not parked haphazardly on the grass, not on the street, etc. Your neighbor (or whoever) that called that in must be a total donkey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lil Red Posted February 18, 2009 Author Share Posted February 18, 2009 +J.M.J.+ [quote name='cmotherofpirl' post='1784558' date='Feb 18 2009, 12:08 PM']O dearie, I have gone thru this several times, it is SO frustrating.!!! Code enforcement officers can come on your property, but someone had to have sent them. Covering it will not help. Can you get it towed to someone elses house? How much is a license? Do you have tripleA?[/quote]the last year i licensed the car it was around $150. don't have tripleA, not sure if we could tow it to someone's place. [quote name='IcePrincessKRS' post='1784561' date='Feb 18 2009, 12:08 PM']That's really lame... I mean, it's in your driveway... not parked haphazardly on the grass, not on the street, etc. Your neighbor (or whoever) that called that in must be a total donkey.[/quote] i agree. i told my husband it was probably the guy that drove by one day (totally randomly) and asked if i would sell it to him and i said no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archaeology cat Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Oh goodness, Red! That smells of elderberries. I'll definitely pray for you. If you do end up just wanting to get rid of it, maybe there's a charity that could take it and fix it up, or there's always Freecycle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missionseeker Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatherineM Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Put it on the lawn and plant flowers in the trunk. Then it is a planter box piece of art. Where I come from everyone has at least one non-working car on the property. We used them at play forts. If you need to get rid of it, park it on the street with the keys in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmotherofpirl Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 What do ya want to bet the guy who turned you in will probably come back and offer to buy it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lil Red Posted February 18, 2009 Author Share Posted February 18, 2009 +J.M.J.+ [quote name='CatherineM' post='1784607' date='Feb 18 2009, 12:41 PM']Put it on the lawn and plant flowers in the trunk. Then it is a planter box piece of art. Where I come from everyone has at least one non-working car on the property. We used them at play forts. If you need to get rid of it, park it on the street with the keys in it.[/quote] the thing is, it's actually quite a nice car. yeah, 10 years old, but other than a few fixin' ups, it's really great. that's why we haven't sold it yet. i was hoping that my hubby could fix it, then he could drive it (it would then be more reliable than his 20 year old car) [quote name='cmotherofpirl' post='1784637' date='Feb 18 2009, 01:03 PM']What do ya want to bet the guy who turned you in will probably come back and offer to buy it. [/quote] probably. punk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StColette Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 [quote name='CatherineM' post='1784607' date='Feb 18 2009, 02:41 PM']Put it on the lawn and plant flowers in the trunk. Then it is a planter box piece of art.[/quote] Sounds like a good idea to me. Tell them it is an expression of art and it's part of your freedom of speech rights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dUSt Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Well, you shouldn't have a car that is just sitting there with expired tags, in my humble opinion. Either update the tags or put it on Craig's list, as-is. Cars must have updated tags in order to be legally driven. If you are not driving the car, then it has basically turned into a yard decoration. I think it's unfair to your neighbors to have to look at such a large yard decoration all the time. I am thankful for the codes in my city, as they make my neighbors mow their yards and keep my property value up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lil Red Posted February 18, 2009 Author Share Posted February 18, 2009 +J.M.J.+ before we bought this house, it was sucking down the property values for the whole neighborhood. just by buying it and improving it, we have increased the property values of the neighborhood. and since it's not in my yard, it's not a 'yard' decoration. and there's plenty of crappy things that my neighbors have in their yards that i have to look out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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