Homeowner complaints

Please be specific about the behaviors. Illegal? Against your governing documents or rules? Something between just two neighbors?

If against your rules, does your HOA have a written policy about fines?? Or warning letters? Or hearings?

Generally, you should not go into executive session to discuss general complaints or violations. For example, discussing being more proactive with violations or discussing why there are so many violations that have not been addressed. If you are discussing enforcement action for a specific owner, then it would probably be appropriate to go into executive session.

Every state has different laws so Indiana may or may not allow this.

We think way too much alike.. and I think that's a good thing! Since these homeowners contacted the Board, should we move forward with discussing this formally at a meeting? I think that's the sentiment other Board members have. If so, open or executive session?

My rule since we had open meetings, is to read any letters openly at a board meeting. The HOA is ALL the membership. It's part of the operation of it. My rule of thumb is if you have an issue, you present a solution. Otherwise, you leave it up to the HOA board to give you one.

So I would keep it open and tell the complainers that is the policy. You have the choice to attend in person to address the issue or if you write a letter, it's to be read out loud at the meeting. Whatever decision made you either hear it first hand or it is written back to you.

These complaints I would point out the facts of the matter. Most HOA's allow oil changes but don't allow abandoned/business of vehicles. The HOA does NOT keep home values. Just the homes being attractive to potential buyers. The builder is required to have that outhouse. So these complainers can get the facts and put them in perspective. The perspective of this is not violations of the HOA nor it's responsibility.

Yes, I'm say no way of enforcing our rules. We have common areas, but our only "amenity" is a run down walking trail that bisects the subdivision.

I believe our attorney once mentioned that since our rules have never been enforced, for nearly 20 years, a homeowner can argue against any potential enforcement in court in my state.

We also have VERY limited resources, since dues were kept low by prior Boards. Thus, taking just a couple homeowners to court would most likely drain our funds.

Melissa, back in the days when she was prez, made up her own meeting procedures, Adam. And AL is different than IN. Your state may have a way to enforce that you don't know about.

Are you sure you can't hire a gardener to clean up nasty yards IF your rules say they MUST be maintained per your covenants? Once you've warned the owner in writing?

I guess you could resort to pubic shaming at open board meetings of violations you're positive about. There are some here who like that approach.

Some HOAs have strict rules about auto maintenance and some don't; obviously Melissa's old HOA didn't. I do not know if "most" allow oil changes.

Rules enforcement – sometimes I wonder which is the bigger headache – that or finances!

I wouldn’t discuss specific homeowner violations in an open board meeting – those should be reserved for executive session after you’ve sent a violation notice. If the person doesn’t fix the problem within a certain time, you can request he/she attend a violation hearing or some such to explain what’s going on. Or you can use that to listen to any appeals the homeowner may request.

In our community, we don’t allow major car repairs either (changing a flat or jumping a dead battery is fine), so if you don’t have a rule on what is or isn’t acceptable, check your documents to ensure the board can set rules and then do it.

That’s how you can address the car repair work, but you’ll need to decide how far you will push if the homeowner tells you to go *&&^% yourself. This is why it’s best to ask homeowners which violations or plain old bad behavior gets on their nerves the most and then draft rules from that – without buy in from the homeowners as to why enforcement is important, you’ll find it very difficult to make a difference.

In fact, you must start there if things escalate to where you wind up in court because your attorney is right – a judge might say nothing’s been enforced in 20 years, why are you starting now? You need to:

1. educate the homeowners on why CCRs are necessary, acknowledge nothings’s been done to date, but starting now, people get ready, a new day is coming
2. Poll the homeowners as to what the problem areas are, then prioritize the biggest ones, as that’s where you’ll start
3. draft and then establish rules where the CCRs are silent -after you send the drafts to the homeowners for their comments), decide how they’ll be enforced
4. send everyone a letter announcing the new policy and when it takes effect. You might consider a 6 month to one year period of leniency, where no formal action will be taken so homeowners have a chance to clean up their act. After that period, start your rule enforcement in earnest and hang on for a wild ride.

As I’ve said in previous posts, there will be pushback, people will scream and threaten you with recalls lawsuits and all that BS, but the board must be resolute. If you can hang on for a few years, make sure you keep everyone in the loop and are fair and consistent, most will see the light and get behind you. If not, at least you tried.

Oh, yeah, some of this will require money, so you may as well tell everyone that fee increases are coming (how else will you maintain what the association’s supposed to maintain?) It’s not about kicking people around, but a matter of ensuring financial stability and ultimately the cleanliness and attractiveness that HOAs are supposed to be doing. If the homeowners won’t clean up after themselves, but want their property values to go up, they’ll have to pay someone to do it for them.

Now about the rest of your issues:

Melissa may be right about the port-a-potty in the construction area. It may not be a good look, but as long as it doesn’t stink, leak or attract vermin, this homeowner will just have to wait until the construction is done – or let the workers use HER restroom when necessary.

Regarding the hoarders who seem to be turning their front porches into the set from Sanford and Son – keeping pianos, refrigerators and that crap out in the open could be a health department issue because it attracts vermin, so check with them to see if a complaint can be made that way.

Not sure what’s going on with this common area path – why is the homeowner mowing it? If it’s the association responsibility, it should be handling the maintenance. If the homeowner is trying to make a path on association property, tell him/her to stop it. That might not help random people walking across the neighbors’ property though – in fact, some people waltz through yards with or without fences. Before you get into this however, ask the complainer if she’s spoken to her neighbor about this – she should try that first while you figure out if the association is responsible for that patch of land – if not, she’ll have to settle this with the neighbor on her own.

The neighbor living between the two rundown properties – that is the primary reason we have CCRs – one of the goals is to ensure that the original look and design of the community is maintained, not to mention help ensure that the entire neighbor looks clean and attractive, because no one wants to live next door or across from a slob. Beyond rule enforcement though, the association can’t guarantee anyone’s house will sell. If there are association rules being violated by the neighbors you may be able to address that part, otherwise, we may have dispute between neighbors and they’ll have to work it out themselves.

UPDATE : These were all discussed at our Board meeting the other night. In essence, if it doesn't violated our governing docs, then we can't do anything about it. If it DOES violate one of ours, then the only recourse the homeowner has is to take the offending party to court and file for an injunction to stop the alleged violation. The HOA's long-term goal is to raise dues each year (legally we can do 110% without homeowner approval) until we have enough in our coffers to begin a violation policy that has teeth (aka, we'll have money to take to court if need be).

This sounds like a very bad idea to me. One case with a couple of appeals can cost tens of thousands of dollars and there is no guarantee you will win any case, no matter how right you think you might be. The board should be very cautious and selective about filing suit. Afterall, it is not the board's money they will be spending.

I hope the board is up front with the membership with the reason they are raising the assessments.

110% !!! Holy Cow! I think we can only do like 5% or something like that.

10%... typo!

And you're right. There are some violations which are more serious in nature than others. Trash littered in a few homeowners front yards is more of a concern than the 98% of homeowners who have weeds in their grass (both CC&R violations). But we do need SOME money to go after the most egregious violations.

When a complaint is registered against a specific person it is common practice to discuss such in private (Executive Session if needed) until a determination is made. No need to hang them in public unless proven/necessary.

Not in my community/state.