Academy/Common Rules & Restrictions
Storage
Garages, sheds, patios, and yard storage: what your board can and cannot restrict.
What you can store in your garage, on your patio, or in your yard is set almost entirely by your own CC&Rs and rules, not by federal or general state law. The one exception: if something you store creates a hazard that could draw in a trespassing child, common-law liability can attach regardless of what your governing documents say.
No federal or general state rule fills this gap
Boats in the driveway, propane tanks in the garage, a second refrigerator, holiday storage bins stacked on the patio: none of it is covered by anything like the OTARD antenna rule or the Flag Act. There is no federal storage statute, and no general state rule was found either. This is entirely Declaration and Rules and Regulations territory.
That means the answer to "can I store this here" is not a legal question first, it is a document question. Check the Declaration for any use restriction, then the Rules for anything more specific, such as screening requirements or keeping garage doors closed. Do not assume a "reasonable person" standard exists in the law to fall back on if the documents are silent.
The one exposure that exists regardless of your rules
There is a real liability risk here that has nothing to do with what your covenants say. Attractive nuisance is a common-law doctrine: a landowner can be liable for injury to a trespassing child caused by a hazardous condition on the property, if the owner knew or should have known children were likely to wander in, the hazard posed a serious risk a child would not recognize, and fixing it would have been easy compared to the danger.
An unsecured ladder, pool chemicals, or old play equipment stacked against a fence facing a walkway is exactly the kind of thing this doctrine is built for. It applies whether or not the association has a storage rule on the books, so it is a reason to secure hazardous stored items on your own property, not just a reason to have tidy paperwork.
Where the board's authority to write a storage rule comes from
A board's power to restrict storage is not free-standing. It is delegated by the Declaration, exercised through the Bylaws, and made specific in the Rules and Regulations, in that order. If a resident challenges a new storage rule, the question is not whether it sounds reasonable, it is whether the Declaration actually gave the board that authority.
In at least one state, courts have held that a general "the board may adopt reasonable rules" or "the board may amend as needed" clause cannot be stretched to create a brand-new restriction category that owners had no notice of when they bought in. Before rolling out a first-time storage ban, check your own state's law and your Declaration's actual amendment and rulemaking language, not just whether the change feels reasonable.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
A resident stacks pool chemicals and a ladder against the fence facing a public walkway where kids often cut through. The CC&Rs say nothing about storage there. What still applies?
Your board wants its first-ever rule banning motorcycles from garages, relying only on a general clause letting the board "adopt reasonable rules." What caution has at least one state's courts raised?
A homeowner argues, "you can't just make up a storage rule." Where does the board's authority to adopt one actually trace back to?
- Attractive nuisance doctrine (Wex), Cornell Legal Information Institute
- Kalway v. Calabria Ranch HOA, LLC, 506 P.3d 18 (Ariz. 2022), Justia (Arizona Supreme Court)
Common Rules & Restrictions
Before you enforce or write a storage rule, check what your Declaration and Rules and Regulations actually say, then see how the same authority question plays out for garage use.
Whether a storage restriction requires only a Rules and Regulations vote or a full CC&R amendment, and how far a board's general rulemaking power can reach without giving owners new notice, vary by state and by your own governing documents.