Active vs Passive Enforcement

Does your HOA employ an active or passive enforcement philosophy and if so, is it successful?

For example, our landscaping guidelines state "“Trees shall be trimmed to avoid infringing on adjoining properties.”

This refers to people's private backyards. Should violations of this provision be complaint driven by owners or should Board members actively go walking around taking photographs of violations and then sending the owner a letter to trim trees?

So if an owner complains about another owner's trees and a letter is sent to offending owner, should that be a catalyst for the Board to walk around the neighborhood and send a letter to each offending owner? If the Board doesn't, would it be considered selective enforcement?

I say both. Board members should do periodic walk-throughs of their communities. Not necessarily looking for violations, but making sure that the property is being maintained. Our PM also does twice-monthly walk-throughs of our condo community, in part to verify that our contractors are performing well - but she also will note violations and inform the board. Homeowners are more likely to notice violations than someone who is there only occasionally, though, and we tell owners that they are the board's eyes and ears.

I think there is a middle ground between being too lax, which allows the neighborhood to go downhill, and being overly zealous, because people don't like to live in a police state. We aim for the middle, although reasonable people can disagree about exactly where that is. Our attorneys have said that doing daily checks for violations is out of line, so they also agree with a balanced approach.

As others have suggested, be proactive, but don't overdo it. If your board has the time to inspect the neighborhood, then that's great. Inspections could be done on a biweekly or monthly basis.

However, if they only have time to follow up on violations that are reported, that's okay too. Just make sure the violations you know about are addressed. Taking photos of the violation that was reported is a good idea because it ensures you've got evidence if there is an issue with the person who committed the violation.

We are passive but if notified of a violation or a BOD Member notices one, we will take action. In the hypothetical question about tree overhang, I say it is not a BOD issue.