How to deal with this violation

I am looking for advice on how to deal with a CC&R violation that was brought to our attention.

We are a 20 units condo complex. One of the owners painted an outside wall of their unit which is their balcony. Our CC&Rs define balconies as exclusive use common areas and all maintenance lies on HOA, not individual owners. I can see that the owner really tried to match the color with what we had before, but it's not the same. Partially because the building was painted over 10 years ago and obviously any new paint would stick out.

How can we deal with it? I see few options:
1. Ignore it given that they tried to match colors
2. Require them to repaint to match exactly the rest of the building. This is theoretically possible, but can't really be done.
2a. When they are not able to match the color exactly start issuing fines in accordance with our fine schedule.

There are few additional factors that play a role. This owner is someone who constantly causes problems in the building. She is the first to complain about everything, but wouldn't ever do anything to help. There were multiple violations from them in the past, but all were rectified eventually. To make things even more complicated technically the unit is a rental. People living there are parents of the actual unit owner, but they always act like owners, for obvious reasons.

To top it all off we are now in a process of getting bids to paint our entire building. In the next 3-6 month this point may become moot all together if we go forward with the project.
I am furious and ready to go to war over this because of the past history with this people, but I also realize that I may not be rational.

Hopefully you can see it from a side line and suggest a proper direction

A tendency to be agressive towards this member because of past experiences would be unprofessional.

A decision should be free of emotion and based ONLY on the issues of the case.

Inform him/her of any (possible) violation(s) from the painting and not to repeat. Explain the bldg. will be painted soon and to be prepared for that.

Remind the member as to the future meetings to be kept informed of the upcoming activities regarding his/her bldg.

zhenya

if the board is going to repaint in 3-6 months this would be my advice:

...I would send a letter to this owner explaining to her that what she did was against the rules and that the board could make her rectify it at her expense. However, given the fact that the board will paint in 3-6 months no action will be taken and it will be a learning experience for all. I would further go on to explain that any future violations could result in fines, etc.

Don't ya think the homeowner probably painted the wall because it needed painting. That seems like a good thing. They chose a color that either matched the original unfaded color or was close. Both those things show a positive initiative, doesn't sound like someone trying to make trouble. IN THAT LIGHT, just paint your building in 3-6 months. Who knows, maybe that color will match the HO's and it won't need painting.

JP, your comments are plain rude and not helpful in this discussion. You attached a fellow poster for absolutely no reason.

There is nothing wrong with the original poster's question. Boards are required to enforce governing documents. In fact not enforcing them opens them to trouble. I take that their documents say that no outside wall can be painted. It doesn't say that it can be painted a similar color or anything like that. In this case any board would actually be required to force the owner to comply with CC&Rs.

Only because they are considering repainting the whole building in the next 3-6 months they may choose to let it go. Even in that case I would recommend sending a letter to the owner letting them know that they have violated rules. I would also include language stating that if you don't go forward with the painting project you may still require them to fix it.

I don't consider this being a ridiculous enforcement of rules. To me this is a clear cut case.

At this point based on the OP observations the only thing the HO did was paint an area that is HOA responsibility. The OP didn't say they have a rule for that so what is to enforce?

The OP didn't even say the paint is the wrong color, just that it doesn't match the color of the original paint and that could be because the original paint is faded/worn. When the HOA repaints in a few months are they going to go with the originally painted color, or do you think they are going to go with a color that matches the faded color.

Actually Jeff, the OP didn't say it was a common area, he said it was a balcony which is an "exclusive use common area". I doubt the HOA comes and cleans the balcony for the HO and the HOA expects the HO to do that sort of maintenance. As far as the paint color the OP described the difference more like the original color is faded/worn to explain the variation. The HOA wouldn't be planning on painting it in a few months if it was in good condition.

Take any paint, let it wear a few years. Compare it to the original paint and it will look a different color. Darker colors in particular fade. It could be the identical paint that the HO used but it would look different. If the HOA uses the same original paint to paint over the HO's balcony it might look the same as what the HO did.

We live in a dusty area. If I wash my wall it will look different from the rest.

Thank you all that posted your helpful advice to my question (Richard, Peter, Brad, Tim, DJ, Jeff,Carol)

To clear few things up: our CC&Rs are very explicit in prohibiting owners to paint any external walls. It specifically lists balcony walls as not to be painted.

The issue here was not so much with color, but with the fact that this person decided to ignore rules and proceeded with the work. The only reason I brought up that there is a history of violations, was just to indicate that this was not an isolated incident where a person made an honest mistake.

By the way there was no imeediate need to paint. Yes the paint is older, but it's not peeling, or terrible faded, or anything like that.

Our board met yesterday and we decided to send a letter to the owner about this violation, but not to proceed with any penalties. We'll revisit the issue if the painting project doesn't move forward.