Covenants that restrict renters

By restrict do you mean totally deny any renting or do you mean that you want to have guidelines like rejecting someone who has a felony or the number of unrelated people allowed to rent one unit?

Or, do you mean establish a minimum number of days for rentals? Or that a new owner must occupy the residence for xx months before renting it out? Or that the owner is restricted for how many times the residence can be rented out in one year? Or????

In the original documents, our restrictions were that no house could be rented for less than 6 months at a time, only the entire house could be rented (probably meaning you cant rent your garage to someone for example), no renting of rooms and the business of renting houses was prohibited. The last rule, we took to mean that no one owner of multiple houses could rent more than 1 house. Later, we amended by adding a provision to have an application and approval process, which included a fee and criminal background check. The rule says misdemeanors are ok but not felonies.

We have had discussions about forbidding renting during the first or second year of ownership but the homeowners were very divided and a vote did not take place.

I would like to have guidelines.

I like the ideas about rejecting someone who has a felony; unrelated people allowed to rent one unit; establishing a minimum number of days for rentals; etc.

We are trying to revise our covenants. We thought that this task would be easier if we had your input.

Thank you.

Steve

There has been much discussion on limiting renters. The laws on doing so can vary widely from state to state. Many associations that tried it went about it wrong and illegally by using Rules and Regulations.

Just changing/adding covenants does not mean it would be legal either.

I suggest if an issue, then you ask for local legal advice.

From the get go, our covenants prohibit any rental within the first year after purchasing. We know we have several that bought and a family member alone (not the owner) moved in immediately. In two cases adult child and their spouse of the owner and in one case, the father of the owner. We do not count these as rentals. We also ignore the possible violation as they are no trouble and all dues are paid on time.

As someone who has rental property in a HOA, there is not much my HOA can do to restrict that. Make a restriction? okay but how do you enforce it? That fine may be a tax deduction for me. there are tenant laws that the owner has to obey and the HOA does too. Proper notification to evict is 2 10 day notices and then a 2 week for the police to evict if needed. Is the HOA going to put that detail in their enforcement notices to evict?

The best option is for the owners to have the caveat that the renter follow the HOA rules or be evicted. Otherwise it is just a legal battle for much of nothing in the ned.

As I read this Allison's Association has covered all the bases. Could you give us a contact so we could read the wording? This is becoming big concern due to the market and so many empty homes.

Our HOA has passed rules for rental units. All I can say is that they look nice on paper. The problem is that any HOA "restriction" is only as good if it is enforceable. If the HOA doesn't know about an "issue" then they can't exactly enforce it. And when it comes to rentals, it is difficult to do.

No renting to convicted felons? Great. What if the renter's convict brother comes to live with the family? It's not like the HOA is going to have a clue let alone the owner. To that end, you can have owners who are convicts or who are engaging in highly illegal activity. I know of at least one owner who is currently serving time and will come back when released. What if someone is convicted after their lease is signed? And further, how would the HOA deal with a lease which is between the owner and the renter? It's a legal contract between those 2 parties, not between the renter and the HOA.

Restricting the number of rentals? Allowable but the reality is that in this state, some owners can't sell and their only option is to rent out their home. Renting is also very common and to be honest, the majority of renters on my street have been very nice. Also bear in mind that there are going to be those who lost their homes during the economic downturn and are now renting, even though that was not their plan in life. There are also now an increasing number of people who got burned or scared after the economic downturn and they essentially do not want to carry the risk of home ownership. Renting is kind of a hot commodity in some parts of the US.

If you want to protect your community from investors (ie companies that buy massive quantities and then rent them), you might be able to place some stipulations. Our community does have a limit per individual or entity in place for that. I have also heard of communities not allowing homes to be rented for X amount of time from the time of purchase (homes have to be owner occupied for a year or more). I have also heard of communities not allowing sublets, boarding, or subdivision of a single family home for the purpose of renting.

Whatever you decide, make sure it will truly be in the best interests of the owners, is enforceable, and is reasonable.