Enforcement of Restrictions

Kathy,

Does your Associations governing documents have an enforcement provision? If not, this should be the first thing to do.

Expecting that you do have an enforcement policy in place, I would start with the following:

1. A newsletter with the following articles:

What governing documents have restrictions, etc. and if people don't have them to contact the board for a copy (or point to a website that has them published).

An overview and summary of your enforcement policy.

The fact that the Board is required to enforce the covenants, identifying the section of the covenants that specify this.

That the Board will conduct an inspection of the property to identify violations on mm/dd/yyyy (say 4-6 months in the future).

2. A follow-up newsletter about 1 month before the inspections reminding people of it happening.

3. Perform the inspection and notify owners.

I based this on my Associations policy where our Architectural committee has the initial enforcement policy (the board is for appeals). The committee makes yearly inspections (usually in the spring) and will investigate anything reported or seen but do not actively look for violations outside of the inspection time frame. We actually take digital photos of the violations and include them in the letter so the homeowner can see specifically what is being discussed in the letter.

Our Policy is:

Informal warning (oral or written)
Written Warning
Formal Warning/notice of hearing (certified mail)
Hearing before the committee
Hearing before the Board (if needed or if appealed)