HOA board hearing for noise violations

Started by WillC1 • 14 replies • 7819 views

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WillC1 (California)
Posts: 1

Posted:

I rent a small condo.

I received an excessive noise complaint from the neighbor below me in January because I had some friends over and we were playing music too loud. The security company for my complex responded and I turned down the music upon request. I then received violation letter #1 in the mail.

In February, I received letter #2 for another (alleged) noise violation. I was never notified by the security or anybody of excessive noise until I received the letter.

Fast forward to now. I just received letter #3 stating that I had once again been in violation of the noise policy and will have to appear (with the owner) before the board to do damage control/punishment/whatever.

Keep in mind that I work long hours mon-fri and cherish my sleep. I work in a very stressful job and take sleeping pills because of anxiety and trouble sleeping. The HOA Policy states that between the hours of 10PM - 7AM you must be quiet. It also states that there must be TWO owners noticing the excessive noise to issue a formal complaint. I have asked every owner around me and they all have no complaints (except the lady below me)

This lady is probably about 55-60 years old and hears every little noise coming from every which direction. Needless to say I talked to her and she claims she hears music and feels vibrations on her ceiling every once in awhile. She never came to my door or left a note about any specific time.

So now that I have to go to this hearing with my landlord, what can I expect? What should I say? I feel like I can't play any sort of music or any movies in my condo without getting a complaint from the lady below... Does there not have to be any more proof other than hearsay for this claim to be valid in the hearing? I just don't see where the proof lies (other than the first violation)

Exerps from my HOA rules:

Any complaint that is an alleged violation of VILLAGES OF THE GALLERIA HOMEOWNERS
ASSOCIATION Governing Documents will be processed according to the procedure outlined
herein.
1. Discussing the issues and concerns which are bothering you with the offending neighbor(s) is
the first step in this process.
2. If you find you have difficulty dealing with your neighbor over a problem, which is in
violation of the Rules and Regulations, contact your Management Company.
3. In the event two or more Members of the Association or Board of Directors file a Rules and
Violation Report the Board will take the following steps:
A. Send a violation letter stating the alleged violation and date needed to cure such
violation.
B. Send a second letter with a notice of hearing date to the Owner if violation is not
cured.
C. A hearing is set not less than ten (10) days from date of written notice for the
hearing.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,044

Posted:

Will,

The hearing itself is technically between the member (your landlord) and the Association. This may be why you haven't received any other notices.

You should read your lease and see what, if any, consequences it has for violating Association rules.

As far as the hearing is concerned, you should certainly attend (otherwise there will only be one side of the story heard). Stick with the facts and requirements in the CC&Rs. Have the member request that the complainants be at the meeting. If only one shows up, then simply point out that the CC&Rs require two.

It is also possible that the second complainant is the Associations security guards (at least in the 1st instance).

What is likely happening is that you got on the downstairs neighbors radar with the first party and any noise is now a complaint. Depending on how the building is constructed, simply walking from the living room to the kitchen may produce too much noise for a downstairs neighbor.

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

Tim gives excellent advice. You do need to read your lease and discuss this with your landlord. Really the HOA can NOT go after you but your landlord. The HOA can not enforce it's rules onto the renter. They are not a member of the HOA. Depending on your relationship with the landlord you may want to help them fight or be prepared to leave.

I've found that most landlords when creating leases fail to put in the caveats about following the HOA rules. If that is not in there, then it can not necessarily be grounds of termination of the lease. Your landlord may have a noise complaint note in the lease, but this isn't going to the landlord directly.

You need to take a look at the "tenants rights" in your state just to protect yourself. Normally a HOA person would never tell you this as most HOA members are against rental property/renters. I've myself had really bad tenants in my HOA home and HOA. However, I also don't believe someone should be tossed out of their home if they are not guilty of anything. Be prepared in case there is not a lease renewal or they want to terminate your lease. This situation should not happen in this case as most likely will be tossed out. It's just bad construction that downstairs neighbors have to live with...

Former HOA President

KevinK7 (Florida)
Posts: 1,343

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By TimB4 on 08/02/2013 3:46 AM
Will,

It is also possible that the second complainant is the Associations security guards (at least in the 1st instance).

Considering the rules state that "members" must file the complaint, a security officer, unless a member, would not be able to issue a formal noise complaint against the owner.

As a suggestion to the tenant in an attempt to help with his hearing I would suggest visiting his neighbors and ask them politely to sign a petition of sorts stating that they had not made any complaints against them so if the board attempts pursue a punishment then their claims could be shot down. It may also help the owner out a bit - I'm sure they don't want to go to a condo hearing.

MikeR15 (Massachusetts)
Posts: 389

Posted:

In my HOA the president wrote in the newsletter of the "violations" occuring with a neighboring business.

He wanted to spend HOA money to sue.

I finally went down to town hall and found a letter from the building inspector saying that after inspection of the neighboring business...

NO VIOLATIONS were found.

HOA board members lie all the time. They cheat on the ballots, rig meetings and probably steal money or services

from the HOA. This is routine across the country. Just pick up any newspaper.

I would NEVER pay anything other than my dues to these dispicable morons.

LoriL1 (Florida)
Posts: 78

Posted:

Mike,

Not all HOA Board members lie! Not all of them cheat and they are not all despicable morons. Give it a rest! There are dirty cops, dirty politicians, etc. etc, and you can probably find someone dirty in every walk of life, but it doesn't mean everyone is. Some of us understand the meaning of fiduciary responsibility and work to uphold it.

MikeR15 (Massachusetts)
Posts: 389

Posted:

HOA boards need to be limited in their power.

Everyone would benefit.

It really is as simple as that.

Eventually this will happen, but until then these unqualified amatuer volunteers will rise to their

level of incompetence....all the bloody time...

The only thing preventing this (stripping BODs of their power) from happening now is a lobby of service providers to HOAs

and Condos (Community Association Institute)

The amount of unchecked power of these HOA boards is directly proportional to these bottom feeding service provider's incomes.

BOD members are really just dupes for this industry, as they (the lawyers, prop. managers) are the ones making the money...

which in every case comes directly from homeowners wallets and even the equity in their homes.

JM10 (California)
Posts: 503

Posted:

Hi, I used to live downstairs from someone who wasn't particularly noisy, but it was the manner in which she had her stereo system placed. You couldn't hear the music from outside, but inside my apartment it sounded like the noise was coming from my walls.

Before we could resolve the problem, she had to move (termite fumigation damaged the roof and we noticed after the first rain).

So it may not be the actual volume of your music, but how you have things placed and the building itself.

I would check to see how your immediate neighbors feel (and how their neighbors below them hear them).

It would also help if the noise violations noted the time. We were threatened with a violation notice, but the board backed down when I asked for the time. As my husband goes to bed early and I go to bed late, the complaint was obviously unfounded because it was against our dogs.

Since it is really more a matter for your landlord instead of you, a lot will depend upon your landlord and how fair and assertively the landlord handles this problem.

AceV (California)
Posts: 1

Posted:

Our humble opinion, you're a renter in an owners building. You have no rights.
KEEP THE NOISE DOWN!
If you cherish your sleep as you put it, SO DO OTHERS.

Live by the golden rule: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.

RichardP13 (California)
Posts: 3,868

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By AceV on 12/28/2017 7:07 PM
Our humble opinion, you're a renter in an owners building. You have no rights.
KEEP THE NOISE DOWN!
If you cherish your sleep as you put it, SO DO OTHERS.

Live by the golden rule: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.

I thought it was "Do until others before they do unto you."

BenA2 (Texas)
Posts: 1,273

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By MikeR15 on 08/02/2013 1:06 PM
In my HOA the president wrote in the newsletter of the "violations" occuring with a neighboring business.

He wanted to spend HOA money to sue.

I finally went down to town hall and found a letter from the building inspector saying that after inspection of the neighboring business...

NO VIOLATIONS were found.

HOA board members lie all the time. They cheat on the ballots, rig meetings and probably steal money or services

from the HOA. This is routine across the country. Just pick up any newspaper.

I would NEVER pay anything other than my dues to these dispicable morons.

Stories of bad board members are not uncommon but there are probably hundreds of thousands of HOAs in the country. Most you never hear about because they are just doing their job the way they are supposed to.

Judging all based on the actions of some members of a group is bigotry, plain and simple.

RichardP13 (California)
Posts: 3,868

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By BenA2 on 12/28/2017 7:51 PM
Posted By MikeR15 on 08/02/2013 1:06 PM
In my HOA the president wrote in the newsletter of the "violations" occuring with a neighboring business.

He wanted to spend HOA money to sue.

I finally went down to town hall and found a letter from the building inspector saying that after inspection of the neighboring business...

NO VIOLATIONS were found.

HOA board members lie all the time. They cheat on the ballots, rig meetings and probably steal money or services

from the HOA. This is routine across the country. Just pick up any newspaper.

I would NEVER pay anything other than my dues to these dispicable morons.

I'm curious, what experience do you have with HOA's?

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

I'm curious about why this really old thread is being reactivated. Seems like someone should start a new one.

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Some of us remember Mike from MA.............LOL

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,044

Posted:

Old thread reactivated.

Mike is no longer with the forum and was very opinionated prior to losing his legal action for the third time.

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