Condo Association Management Blog

Do you ever read your condo documents? Have you ever read your management company agreement. Both of these guide all your do/don'ts. Stop asking others to make decisions for you or sell your unit and get out

Directors should not be asked to act as policemen. Rules should be enforced, however, and it is up to the management company to do so, provided that your DOCs and Rules & Regulations cover the items that you are complaining about. 
 
It may be a matter of money. You may need seven day security, but it sounds like you don't.  
 
There are always people who don't play by the rules. But, there are others who are overly punctilious about enforcement. Try to stay in the middle.  
 
If you are going to enforce by fining, be sure that the owners are informed that although the Association has not fined in the past, and though the Association has not enforced certain rules, that as of a certain date the association will be enforcing and fining for infractions.  
 
You must inform the owners, even though the rules are already on the books, that you will begin enforcing and fining as of a certain date.

chuck. why not ask the writer to read the management agreement 
 
his monthly dues are paid to them. 
 
boards and management has a fiduciary duty to work with owners to offer safety and comfortable living. 
 
the state should set up a task force to monitor the boards and  
 
management decisions.

I agree with all that Chuck McEvoy says, as difficult as his words may be to hear. Your Association's governing documents should clearly spell out responsibilities.  
 
While the Board can abolish rules that it makes to support the enforcement, etc of the governing documents, it cannot abolish the Association's governing documents, so you need to know what is written where and who has what authority. 
 
The Board typically delegates certain powers and responsibilities to the manager, who is an employes of the Association and answers to the Board. When the manager is not doing his job, the Board needs to do its job and manage the manager.  
 
On a personal note -- I have not had use of my garage in 6 months because ingress and egress to my garage is blocked by cars belonging to one of the other owners (who runs a business out of their home in violation of our governing documents) and their customers. I finally filed a law suit against the Association, but it has not yet been resolved by the courts, so I may have nowhere to park for another six months.  
 
Good luck!

What a novel idea -- asking an assn member to read the gov docs -- or better yet, expect the BOD to carry out their resp!!! I'm sure your gov docs state that enforcement is the resp. of the BOD. However, the gov docs most likely also give them the right to pass on this job to another party, i.e. the mgmt co. If it's in the mgmt co's contract that they are to enforce the docs and they aren't doing it then the board can get rid of them for breach of contract. The BOD should adopt a fine schedule (that is if your gov docs allow for fines for violations), send it to all the members and require that the mgmt co use it. There should be no verbal confrontations; all violations should be sent in writing specifying a period of time to cure. If not cured within that time frame then a fine is levied. Some gov docs and/or state law require that the violator have the opportunity to be heard by the board b/4 a fine is levied. The board and mgr should be familiar with HOA state laws also. 
 
I agree with everything Dead Eye Dick says except his very first sentence. It IS the BOD's job to enforce the covenants and rules. What do you think they are there for -- just to look pretty??? <G> Not all HOAs employ a mgmt co to do the "dirty" work.

Enforcement of the rules is a problem in a lot of condos. We have a management company but it doesn't do on site enforcement of parking and other such infractions because it is not paid to do so. Fortunately for us we have a small complex and a very active president who does enforce rules. It's still a big job and if our president were to leave we'd be up the creek without a paddle. Nobody else wants to do on site enforcement and contracting it out would require raising in our already substantial HOA fees. We impose fines but that is another issue. It doesn't always work. 
 
.....

Sounds like you have a weak BOD and Management company. The BOD should instruct the Mgmt company on how to enforce the rules. A qualified management company should be able to instruct the BOD on the laws and methods of enforcing the violaters into compliance. In other words the property manager should be knowledgable in Roberts Rules of Order (to conduct the board meetings properly) and current laws governing the board's power to enforce rules. 
 
Parking infractions are a great example. Our board had to tow several cars before the residents got the message that they must park properly. The board instructed the property manager to send warning letters, 1st fine letters and hefty fine letters each week until the car was towed for non-compliance. The board cannot be selective on how they enforce the rules, it must be the same for every resident. If your board is not doing this then get involved immediately and find out why. Remember, the rules are established to provide a nice living atmosphere plus maintain the value of your investment in the condo. 
 
When I shopped for a condo I made sure there were no stupid parking situations. I would have considered any condo community on an economic decline if rules were not enforced.

We have a small association and thankfully, most residents comply with the rules & regs. However we have a situation with dogs and can't seem to get some folks to clean up after their dogs. After several discussions and a change in the rules/regs at our last unit owners' annual meeting... we decided to create a committee of people who happen to be dog owners and have them start to deal with this. So far, that is working well because it isn't just the 5 of us on the Board who look like policemen. Now if we could just find a way to deal with foreclosures -- liens don't seem to work in our area. (Missouri)

My comment is intended for "Chuck McEvoy". 
 
Reading your words in your comment to this resident are very ugly. You sound typical of the type of OLD PEOPLE that are on most ALL_BOARDS. 
 
Get yourself a life than to take your anger out on person requesting information. Some Doc's don't show or have been updated with all information. I do feel associations need to do away with "OutDated" Doc's. They need to create a better flow of the information for owners and provide this on a DVD/CD with search capabilities. 
 
 
 

I'm curious to know how other condos enforce parking rules. We have a problem with residents who have more than two cars parking in guest parking. They know they are not supposed to do this. Sone don't even put a car in thei garage. There is a place outside the gates to park but some simply won't do this. To enforce the rules someone woukd have to go around every evening with a list of residents' license numbers to check out which cars are parked in guest parking. This is a burden on our small board. We don't want to have cars towed without a warning, which is another burden. It's also been very difficult get a towing company to come in to tow cars. So the residents take advantage. Our worst offenders are tenants. Many are students from a local university and they have four or five cars. If anyone has a solution to this problem that doesn't require someone to go out every night checking license numbers on cars, I'd like to hear it.  
 

I am the president of my condo assoc, and I am the one who enforces the rules. In our contract with the management company they are suppose to walk the property twice a month. I agree that the trustees should not be doing it, but then they have a responsibility to insure the rules are being followed. Our by-laws state there should be committees made up of homeowners who inspect the property, but good luck in getting anyone to volunteer. It has taken me 3 years to get the management company to actually do their job, and I have to stay on top of them. The Board likes our property manager and tend not to hold her responsible. So without volunteers, it has ended up I am the variance, architect, and grounds committee. Your Board is not fulfilling their fiduciary responsibility by not enforcing the rules, and in some states, can be sued both as a board and individually. Your claim is the value of your property is dependent upon the association being properly maintained. If you have an unwilling Board, then you might have to follow suit. Another avenue, but a very difficult one, is to pass a petition to remove the board. In our case it takes a vote of 2/3 majority. What you should include is a petition with people for a new Board. If and when you get the majority, move fast. With the police if you want, walk into your management office and have the property manager removed, and change the locks. Next, if you have a lawyer on retainer, make sure he does not represent any of the old Board. You can do this by firing of a letter stating a new Board is in place and he is not to have contact with any of the old Board. It may pay to have another condo lawyer standing by. What some old Boards will do is have the lawyer contest the overthrow in court, which can be very costly for the association. This is a hostile takeover , so be prepared. It can and has happened. Remember, your association is a corp. and you are a shareholder. Before I get a lot of hate mail, remember this, It is your home you are fighting for. A bad or ineffective board is worse than you realize. Lots of condo associations have failed due to bad boards. We have associations where homeowners are suddenly being hit with $10,000 assessments because of bad management. When I got on this Board, I was new to this, but it did not take me long to realize the old management company had been raping us, and the board just followed whatever they said. It was not out of malice, but mostly out of ignorance and not fulfilling the basics. I ended up the only survivor of a revolt of our residents. 
 
 
 

Mark, 
 
 
 
You said: "Your Board is not fulfilling their fiduciary responsibility by not enforcing the rules, and in some states, can be sued both as a board and individually." 
 
There is a famous case in AZ where a member sued the BOD for not enforcing the CCRs and won the case. The ruling was based on the fact that the CCRs said the board had a "duty" to enforce. Some CCRs do not state the board has a duty to enforce and even go so far as to state that if they do not enforce after being petitioned to by a member or a certain % of members that those members may enforce. Bottom line: it all depends upon the wording in the CCRs as to whether or not the BOD can be successfully sued for not enforcing the CCRs.