Proving owner is in violation of rental rules?

I am on the board of a California HOA with a rental policy. Homeowners must keep their unit as their primary residence, and cannot rent out their unit for more 12 months in any five-year period. There is an owner, who has been fined numerous times for violation of the CC&Rs on many different counts, who appears to have bought a new home in a neighboring town and has been renting out his unit for several years. The owner claims that these people are "roommates" (about which our CC&Rs say nothing). How can we prove that the owner is not living in the unit? The renters appear to forward mail to him, although no one has seen him in years. Our management company and their attorney have not been helpful.

Beyond the fact that the owner is extremely difficult and a drain on HOA resources, this is an issue because there is a long waiting list to buy in our community. By allowing this person to rent while living elsewhere in violation of the CC&Rs, he is depriving others of the chance to buy.

By the way, I should add we don't want to amend the CC&Rs to forbid people from renting rooms--we have several single people who live in large units and rent rooms, and they cause no trouble for anyone.

Thanks for any advice.

LOL, thats a great one. You can basically make as many CCR's as you want, people will always find a way around them. Its human nature.

The postal service often gets mail from organizations which need to know what the disposition of mail for specific people is. Carriers complete the form by indicating whether the person's mail is delivered to that address, forwarded, not known or "other". You might try getting the info through your local post office. The carriers know who lives there and who not not (usually).

Gautam, You stated "By the way, I should add we don't want to amend the CC&Rs to forbid people from renting rooms--we have several single people who live in large units and rent rooms, and they cause no trouble for anyone."

If the owner claims their unit as a primary residence and claims to have "roommates" and other owners are being allowed to rent out rooms I think you may not prevail in Court.