Who's Responisble to Report Violations?

Started by TonyM • 13 replies • 1815 views

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TonyM (Washington)
Posts: 3

Posted:

I volunteered to be on my community's Rules Enforcement committee. Our community is run by a property management company and a board that consists of three. My question is, when violations occur in our community, where is my role in this? Our PM never explained what the Rules Enforcement committee's job really is.

Is the intrepration I have correct:

Violations are first processed by:
1. PM
2. Board
3. Committees

So if the PM and Board are letting ignorning the violations, is it my responsibility to make sure they follow through or report them myself? The PM is really supposed to do it - so I am unsure.

Any advice would be helpful. I will also plan on contacting the PM next week, but thought, I could get some hindsight from here.

RobertR1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 5,164

Posted:

If you are on a committee, you propably have past copies of minutes or actions by the Committee. See if you can get a sense of what they did and how did it turn out. If you don't like what you read go to Board for guidence. In any event, know what the rules are, who are the violators, what kind of infractions are usually involved and is there any penalties written down. Of course, consult with other members on committee or have been on committee. One thing for sure, it's a tough job and the more you know about the regime documents, the better you will be. If it is a big enforcement problem and you have no enforcement experience you may want to take a class or two at local tech college if available. Classes on law enforcement, human relations, social interactions, where ever you lack skills. I suspect most, like myself are just not good at the job but we persist and learn by trial and error. Also, best to develop a very thick skin and a deaf ear and a quiet voice. I have developed the first points but fail the last.

HaroldS1 (Arizona)
Posts: 314

Posted:

Tony - your board should have a written job description for each committee, or at the very least should have informed you of what your committee duties are. Since you report to the board, I would expect them to tell you what they want done - not the PM. Your job could entail everything regarding violations, or could just be a coordinator. You need some direction. Harold

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

The PM is a hired sub-contractor to the HOA. The board is responsible for enforcing violations. They may have committees that are the ones who report or keep up with the violations and report them to the board. The board will most likely notify the PM and request they send out a letter of violation. The PM's job isn't to enforce it but to do what the board tells them to do in regards of paperwork.
I would read up on several posts on fines on this website. Each HOA and state is different on allowing fines and enforcement. It's too long and well-covered subject to keep posting here.

Former HOA President

RogerB (Colorado)
Posts: 5,067

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By MelissaP1 on 04/22/2007 6:12 PM
The PM is a hired sub-contractor to the HOA. The board is responsible for enforcing violations. They may have committees that are the ones who report or keep up with the violations and report them to the board. The board will most likely notify the PM and request they send out a letter of violation. The PM's job isn't to enforce it but to do what the board tells them to do in regards of paperwork.
I would read up on several posts on fines on this website. Each HOA and state is different on allowing fines and enforcement. It's too long and well-covered subject to keep posting here.

Melissa, based on my knowledge the Management Company is an AGENT, not a sub-contractor nor a contractor. Also, in Management Agreements of which I am aware the Board authorizes the managing agent to enforce the violations to restirctions. Covenant enforcement is one of the primary jobs of the managing agent. Perhaps your HOA operates differently. If so, perhaps more care and clarification would provide more accuate information. Meanwhile, I believe your posts are meant to help others and are appreciated.

BradP (Kansas)
Posts: 2,640

Posted:

Melissa is part right, in the grand scheme of things if you look at an organizational flow chart the board is responsible for enforcement. However, as Roger said that is what a lot of boards hire an MC for, to handle enforcement and other issues. At that point it is the contractual obligation of the MC to handle, however, the board does have oversight but if they are smart will let a good MC do the job they were hired to do.

RogerB (Colorado)
Posts: 5,067

Posted:

Brad Melissa is correct that the Bord is responsible for enforcing violations. But she is not correct where she stated "The PM's job isn't to enforce it but to do what the board tells them to do in regards of paperwork." Like I said the PM is not a contractor they are an Agent acting on behalf of the association through their Board based on their Management Agreement. The reason for correcting Melissa's statement is because many homeowner's and Board members do not understand the difference.

BradP (Kansas)
Posts: 2,640

Posted:

Roger:

That is good clarification for those who aren't aware, and I agree with that. It would make zero sense to hire a PM if they were just told what to do and didn't do anything on their own.

JM2 (Oregon)
Posts: 439

Posted:

Hi Tony:

Harold has some good advice, as does Roger. The Board may have a contract that does not call for the manager to visit on-site (that might be unusual) but relies on the enforcement committee to look for violations and then report them. The best thing to do in that situation would be to have the Board clarify the committee's role with respect to both the Board and the manager.

When an HOA engages a MC, the MC is the agent of the Board to carry out its business. In these situations, it is particularly important for the Board to set policy (by resolution) and then the MC simply follows the HOA's policy in handling the HOA's business. Think of the MC as the "CEO" of the corporation, carrying out the polices set by the BOD of the corporation. The CEO is responsible for day-to-day operation of the corporation within the policies set by the Board.

Tony, it can be very helpful to the PM if there is a committee like yours, since the PM is usually not there 24/7/365 whereas the owners are there every day. If a PM visits every two weeks and is juggling a portfolio of HOA's, there may be things happening in the interim that will go unnoticed unless brought to the PM's attention - for instance, a delivery of building materials may occur shortly after a PM's visit and be taken to the back yard of a Lot where the PM will never notice that there is an unapproved addition to the home being constructed. I do not yet know of an HOA or a MC willing to purchase a helicopter for checking back yards for compliance....

J. Patrick Moore, CMCA

TonyM (Washington)
Posts: 3

Posted:

The contract with the PM states doing drive bys 1-3x a month, depending on the season. We are a new HOA, so no one really knows the responsibilities of the committees. I would prefer not having to turn in my neighbors and let the PM do their job. The PM is really, in my opinion, not really guiding the Board, it appears from my standpoint, the PM makes more money by not advising the Board and doing what they want, thereby, setting a precedence on violations. I will contact my Board and ask, but I'm positive they don't know as either.

Newbie here, so thanks for the candid advice.

BradP (Kansas)
Posts: 2,640

Posted:

Tony:

Your board needs to make sure the PM is doing what is in their contract. If the PM thinks they can get away with not performing their duties then they will. Your board needs to be strong.

PatrickH (California)
Posts: 204

Posted:

Hi Tony,

Anyone in the HOA can, and should, report a rule violation to the Board or property manager. I volunteered for my Board six years and probably 95% of the violations we received during that time were reported by the owners. The overwhelming majority had to do with problems at night when everyone was home; barking dogs, loud parties, construction work, parking issues, things like that.

We had a "Coutesy Request for Compliance" letter that the manager would send out first. One reason we did that is you can never be sure if the complaint is valid. Someone would write in about their next door neighbor's dog "barking every night from 10 PM to 1 AM." Unless a Board member went out there with a tape recorder for a few nights, we'd have no idea whether that was true, especially if none of the other neighbors complained. The courtesy letter was a great first step.

If we received more complaints about the same problem, especially if they came from more than one owner, our manager would send a letter requesting the person attend the next Board meeting to discuss the situation.

Only once in my six years on the Board did we have to go the third step and fine an owner, he was storing junk in his backyard that was attracting rats.

You need to strike a good balance between notifying owners of possible violations and giving them the oppurtunity to correct them and using whatever fining process you have to get the attention of chronic violators.

JM2 (Oregon)
Posts: 439

Posted:

Hi Tony:

One thing your board may want to do (if it wasn't done during developer control) is to pass a Compliance & Enforcement Resolution. It would need to be tailored to your documents and state law, probably best if you investigate any relevant state law, then your commmittee (if given the OK from the Board) could draft a resolution, and then the board could run it by the Association's lawyer for any necessary review.

An alternative that might save some volunteer energy would be to have the board check on whether the MC could draft one (the company I used to work for had a boilerplate compliance resolution that we adapted for our communities).

If you'd like to look at one, go to:
http://www.fhhoa.com/web/files/governingdocs/PolicyResolution3.pdf

That's the one I work from every day (I'm the "compliance coordinator" for Forest Heights, a paid position in a master-planned development).

J. Patrick Moore, CMCA

RobertR1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 5,164

Posted:

JM2,
How about telling me more about a "resolution"? What is it legally, is it part of CC&R"s, how do you pass one, that kind of stuff. I have heard it mentioned but it certainly is not mentioned in our doccuments. Specifics:
SC Condo. We have Heirarchy of State Act, non profit corporation, Master deed, by laws, and rules of conduct. We also have no committees for rules of conduct, ARC, compliance and the committees we do have are ineffectual because of no leadership. Ressort area, 60 plus% rental and lots of stuff done consciously knowing the Law, Rules, CC&R's clearly are being violated.

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