Having an HOA comes in handy at times

Life with rules can help when you have difficult neighbors.

Q: The house at the end of my street routinely has a dozen or more cars jammed into the front yard at all hours. A friend of mine said it’s probably an illegal gambling operation. We don’t live in an area with a homeowner’s association. What should we do?

A: Most questions from readers speak to the hassles of living within a community association, but your question highlights how an HOA can be a good thing. Living with association rules means that your neighbors have to abide by those same rules or risk feeling the HOA’s wrath.

Because there’s no HOA in your case, you’ll need to look to your local community ordinances to see if your neighbors are acting illegally. If your neighbors aren’t breaking the law and the cars aren’t causing you harm, consider not doing anything and letting your neighbors use their property as they see fit.

If you believe there is something illegal going on, or if the traffic coming and going at all hours is causing you problems, speak with your local police department. Call the non-emergency number and make a report.

If the police aren’t able to help, or it’s determined that despite the traffic there is no funny business going on, contact your town’s code enforcement department. But keep in mind: While you can remain anonymous when reporting a crime, calls to code enforcement generally are made public.