Enforcement of rules

Our Condo BOD is very lax in enforcing the rules within our docs and our management company hasn't written more than three letters during the past two years. We are a small community of 22 homes and we all respect each others space; however, we appear to be bending in regards to the rules. I have discussed this with the PM and have been told that we have nothing in our docs which would allow for a fine. In other words, none of our rules are really enforceable, outside of a letter from the Management Company. The rules being broken involve leaving a garage door open, hanging school banners, not providing copies of leases, commercial vehicles parking in front of a unit, failing to pick up after pets, pets off leash and letting a pet inside the pool fence (only at night when the pool is not being used). None of these are life threatining, except for the commercial vehicle parked in front of a unit. Here the street is partially blocked, which could be a problem for emergency vehicles. The simple question is what do you do when your rules are not enforceable? Is it best to just ignore them, or should we eliminate them, or should we become real ###'s and make an issue out of each instance.

Robert, we've been going through this same thing at our condo for years. Previous boards have tried every tactic imaginable; letters; rules committees; fining committee. Nothing seemed to be working....and the members knew there was nothing the board could do to enforce it. Well, this year, this new board is different.

We started at the beginning. The first thing was letting everyone know that it is the DUTY of the board to enforce the rules. We let everyone know that there will now be a three-step process for rule enforcement.

1. Once a violation is reported (in writing ONLY) to the board or the management company, the management company writes a letter to the violator explaining (quoting actually) the rules and the docs and states the violation needs to be corrected.

2. If the violation continues, the management company sends a second letter explaining that the violation must be corrected (by such-and-such a date) and if it's not corrected, it will be turned over to the Association attorney.

3. The matter is turned over to the Assocation attorney. He then sends a pretty stiff letter to the violator and demands compliance of the rules and documents or tells them it will be taken to court.

Every single owner, renter/resident received a copy of how these rules were now going to be handled. Everyone was also informed that they are to deal DIRECTLY and ONLY with the management company and later, with the attorney. They are NOT to contact board members once the process is in place. We explained that the board is not in the position to randomly or selectively enforce the rules, so they have no authority to interfere with the rule enforcement process. This is to ensure that neighbors don't go after neighbors (board members).

We have currently gone through with step #3 with an owner, with THREE major violations and he's received the letter from the attorney. He has two more weeks to comply.

Members were informed that if it gets to court, the violator will pay all legal and attorney's fees. Sometimes the only way to make people act responsibly is to hit them in their pockets. Once the people here see that the board is serious it may make a difference. After all, probably 80 to 90% of the owners DO follow the rules and it's only fair to them that their rights aren't violated when only a few won't adhere to the docs and rules that they agreed to follow.

Following this process allows the board to turn it over to the management company once they direct them to start. That way there is no further discussion at board meetings about the violators and "should" we do this or "should" we do that. The process is already in place.

Hope this helps.

Anna,
A very good post and I am giving applause to your new Board for following the Statutes to the letter and doing it the right way. It works if you follow the guidelines. Best of luck in your continueing enforcement.

Anna, Thank you for your wonderful response. It is obvious that you and your board gave it a lot of thought and recognized that something had to be done. I will show this to my PM tomorrow and hopefully we can get something started. Once again, thanks,

"We have currently gone through with step #3 with an owner, with THREE major violations and he's received the letter from the attorney. He has two more weeks to comply."
Anna - please keep us informed of this outcome. What is expected that the court can do? Can the court assess a fine, if you can't? I'm just curious what you expect to happen from this. Harold

it should have said attorney cost plus a fine, sorry.

Harold,
In Florida, the court cannot assess a fine. If the case should get that far, then the Judge can assess court costs and reimbursement to the winner of the case. But we are required to do State mediation thru an omsbudsman so that the ciurts are not brudeoned down with this trivial stuff. Usually associations go to leining and then becoming part of the foreclosure if it gets that far.