Homeowner Relatives

I have a very difficult homeowner that I have been trying to deal with, since they moved in they have made all sorts of changes to their house without obtaining ARB approval (we have to speak to them afterwards, and get them to submit the form for approval) and we constantly have to tell them the rules which they still choose to ignore. The latest infraction of rules was that they ripped out all the plantings in the front and side flower beds. There is nothing left but dirt. We immediately sent a letter telling them they will be fined $50 for not submitting the ARB request to remove the plantings (this is ARB policy) and they must submit the replacement plan to the ARB committee within the specified time period. They insist they want to replant with sod and have no shrubs or plants. Our documents are very clear about having flower beds with full foliage plantings. Suddenly, the homeowner is not available and they have someone else demanding copies of our documents and other things. She claims she is their daughter. She said the homeowner will not be attending the ARB monthly meeting and she will be attending in their place.

My question... are we obligated to deal with her? I say we are not. There is nothing in our documents that addresses a proxy other than for voting purposes. How would you all handle this situation? Thanks a bunch.

Not sure if your ARB has the power to impose fines - maybe the Board? Check your legal documents closely. In my community, fines can not be imposed without a hearing with the violator being held first. The violator has the right to be represented at the hearing by a person of their choice.

Jim

Also, has the HOA established a committee that follows these guidelines?

I say communicate with the daughter and keep track of all communications.

Yes, ask the owners to sign a document as Tim suggests. Then, let this relative represent them. As others point out, you might get somewhere positive with this person.

As a Board, assuming you're on it Allison, what you want it compliance with your rules. So work towards that end and, as Peter suggests, leave personal feelings at the door to your meeting room.

Well, John46, I was a little taken aback by Alison's use of the word "I." Boards govern HOAs not individuals unless, for some odd reason, a Board places all authority into the hands of one person. But then Allsion shifts to "we."

It, too, occurred to me that the owners do not understand Allison's demands. English learners? Elderly?

Ok the general consensus is that I should deal with her, even if I don't have to. I think that seems reasonable and I wont get into trouble that way. Thanks for your help.

Allison

I reread my post and realized my comments about screwing with dear old Mom sounded harsh. Sorry, it was meant as tongue in cheek humor.

Thanks for the clarification GlenL. It seems as though most of the responses were about the fact that I used the word "I" instead of "we" although I only asked if the relative should be given a chance to speak for the homeowners who have not followed any rules, pretend they don't know the rules and now won't deal with the issue at all except to ask their 'daughter' to deal with it, and she is being demanding and rude. The homeowners have lived here for a year now and have installed privacy landscaping in their back yard, a fence in their back yard, done a few other things I can't think of and now removed all the landscaping in the front of their house all done without ARB approval. All purchase applications contain a paragraph stating that the purchaser has read the rules/regs and understand their responsibilities as homeowners.

I used the word "I" because I am the one posting in this very informative forum. I know the rules and did not feel it was necessary to post all the steps we have gone through to get compliance from the homeowners. I only wanted to know if you all would deal with the relative instead of the homeowner.

WE have a monthly ARB meeting. No one ever shows up unless we specifically ask them to, to further discuss an ARB request. Yes its properly posted and in fact it was decided that we should have monthly meetings at the annual meeting last year by the homeowners that attended. Its been also put in every newsletter and is posted on our bulletin board with all the dates. So I sent the homeowner an email and reminded her that we are having our monthly meeting and to please attend with a copy of her landscapers replacement design (which she indicated was being worked on but has delayed and delayed). The daughter responded to the email and said the homeowners would NOT be attending, that she would be attending in their place and that we are being difficult. The meeting is in a board member's house (we do not have a clubhouse) so its a little disconcerting to have a stranger who is obviously arriving packed for bear, at the meeting.

Peter, It does sound like Allison's committee has taken the right steps and hasn't ben ignoring the violations.

Allison, are alleged violators just supposed to attend ARB meetings on their own? Or does the comittee have a procedure to invite them to attend to discuss the alleged violations?

We have monthly ARB meetings, the dates were set for the first Monday of every month, at the annual meeting last year. The meeting notice and agenda have been posted on the association bulletin board at the front entrance and has been in every newsletter. Additionally, we make it a special point to ask folks who have pending ARB requests that need further discussion, to attend the next ARB meeting and we remind them of the date and time.

We have been reluctant to secure another facility for our meetings because of the 10 meetings we had so far this year, only 2 people attended. Our annual meeting is held at our management company's offices on the other side of town.

We have done all we can to get these homeowners to follow our rules. At some point, we have to start the fining process particularly for this incident because all the other homeowners are complaining about the way the property looks. The holidays are upon us now, the snow birds are coming back, folks are starting to purchase houses in South Florida again and we want our development to look its best. We are not being unreasonable here. Our rules and written policy say ARB forms must be submitted prior to any work being done on the outside of the house, and our documents say there must be flowerbeds with full foliage plants and shrubs and there is even a diagram with suggested plants, in our governing documents. We cannot even get these homeowners to attend the ARB meeting.

Since the meeting is tomorrow and I did not want a scene, I sent the homeowners and the daughter an email stating that we will require a notarized letter from the homeowner stating that they are giving permission for the daughter to attend the ARB meeting in their place. This should cover us legally if they later claim they were not given the chance to attend any meetings or engage in discussion. We will have to be very explicit with the meeting minutes as well.

This smells of passive aggression, and over zealousy.

A notorized letter?

Aren't you looking to have aleged ARB violations corrected? or is this JUST to get approval?

Now, someone is willing to come and present themselves on behalf of her parents and you want to make it more difficult.

Just have your meeting and move on.

Gee whiz, how has this negatively impacted your community anyways?

There really is not anything to discuss, but for some reason, they will not move forward with anything unless they meet with us first. We are very liberal with the design of flowerbeds, pretty much any design will work except to eliminate it and replace it with sod. There are weeds and grass starting to grow in the flowerbed already so any further stalling will create further problems. We have never had to deal with someone other than the homeowner so this is new for us and although we have been extremely nice and patient with them for the past year that they have lived here, the daughter is the one who has taken this hard stance.

Glad to hear it went smoothly.