Guest parking

Two rulebooks, not one

Guest parking sits at the intersection of two separate systems. Your association's Declaration, Bylaws, and Rules and Regulations form the first layer: the board's power to write a guest parking rule is delegated by the Declaration, not invented from scratch, so a rule needs to trace back to that authority.

The second layer sits outside the association entirely. Your city or county's own parking and zoning ordinances apply on top of whatever the HOA's documents say, and they do not ask the HOA's permission. A municipal ordinance can restrict overnight street parking, require a permit, or ban curb parking outright, regardless of what your community's rules allow. Check your local code, not just your CC&Rs.

What a guest parking rule can cover

There is no general number, of spaces, of days, or of permits, that applies to every community. Some associations designate specific visitor spots and leave the rest to residents. Others run a hangtag or registration system so security or a towing vendor can tell a guest's car from an unauthorized one. Others simply defer to whatever the municipal parking code already allows on the street.

Whether your community caps visitor stays at a set number of days, requires guests to register a license plate, or reserves specific spaces by unit is a decision your board made, or has not made yet, not a rule imposed from outside. If your Rules and Regulations are silent on guest parking, that silence is itself a policy worth revisiting.

Before you tow a guest's car

Towing enforces the rule, but towing is its own body of law, separate from anything in your governing documents. States differ sharply on what a property owner must do before a non-consent tow.

Utah requires specific, conspicuous signage at every entrance to the property, in a defined size, color, and format, before a vehicle can be towed without the driver's consent, according to the Utah Department of Transportation. California instead emphasizes notice after the fact: the towing company, and separately the property owner authorizing the tow, generally must notify local police within a short window, on the order of thirty to sixty minutes, once the vehicle is removed, per the San Francisco Police Department.

These are two real, contrasting examples, not a national standard. Confirm your own state's private-property towing statute, including signage and notice requirements, before authorizing a tow, and loop in the association's counsel if you are unsure. For the enforcement process itself, see Towing.