House sitter under 55 in a 55+ community

I live in a 55+ community. It appears that certain people have found a loophole around the residency requirements of the community. None of our documents reflect "house sitters". These individuals (age mid 40s) have been jumping around the community for over three years now and it appears that they have more or less become residents. The snowbird owner allows 5 or 6 month house sitting and once that is over, the younger couple rents a place for here in the community for 3 months or more or until the owner says they can move back in as house sitters because they are heading home. The owner is the Aunt of one of the renters.
Last month at our regular Board meeting, the meeting started 5 minutes earlier than it should have and this renting issue was a done deal by the time the actual meeting should have started. The motion was passed with a "one time exemption" without the community's knowledge. Our rules and regs specifically state that at least one member of the renting persons must be 55+. A petition was circulated for a special meeting to address this issue. There were enough petitioner signatures so the meeting did occur - the Board President had the HOA attorney there. The attorney instructed the Board not to answer any questions and told the Board that he was representing the Board. Hmmmm. BTW, the mother of one of the renters is 1st Vice President on the Board and the Aunt is her sister-in-law. In addition, the 1st VP is very tight with 5 of the other Board members. Did I mention the two renters have criminal records?
The petitioners are trying to 1) follow the rules and regs of the HOA, and 2) maintain the 55+ community as just that; a 55+ community. The under age renting issue only came to the spotlight this year because one community member was at the Board meeting when this occurred and was dumbfounded. The news spread like wildfire through the community.
My question is, what recourse does the community have to prevent this from happening again in 5 or 6 months? Are our hands tied? Originally the two lived with their mother (the 1st VP) for a while. Once the release from prison requirements were met (i.e. living with a parent for so many days) the Aunt spoke up and offered her home to them to house sit. The members of the community were passive. We were told this was a temporary situation just until the renters could get on their feet. Three years later they are still not on their feet and now are living in our community as renters.

The other option is more long term, and depends on there being a sizable contingent of other owners who feel the way you. That option is to run for the board next election and have other like minded owners do the same. Campaign before the meeting, line up votes from people who are ready for a change of leadership, and make sure those people come to the meeting and vote.

Once you have a board in place that actually wants this to stop, then you can act to do so.

Emmy,

As you are likely aware, and others have pointed out, the Housing for Older Persons Act (HOPA), addresses occupancy and allows for temporary vacancies. If you are concerned about losing HOPA status, as others have said, you may have 20% of the homes/units occupied by persons under 55.

If the issue is that there is a problem with the individuals, regardless of their age, then that issue should be handled through other avenues (like fining the owners for violations of the governing documents, etc.).

Thank you folks for your thoughts. I agree that this may take time to get resolved. I can only speak for myself when I say that I don't mind the "young ones", but what I do mind is how rules can be bent to satisfy self interest. With regard to the 80/20 split, it seems to be open to interpretation. This Boards' actions do not appear to be in the Community's best interests. I would be curious to see how the BOD would reply to another "young couple" whose background check was less than stellar. I cannot help but feel that if it had not been "this" particular young couple, the issue would have never come up because the vote would have been a resounding NO. Thank you for your insight.

Well, I provided a link in my earlier posting to HUD's implementation of the act. I thought the document was very clear on the 80/20 split and temporary residency. If you haven't already done so, you may want to take a look at that document (by clicking on the words "Housing for Older Persons Act" in my earlier posting).

Even if you do replace the Board, the question will become "on what basis could the Board prevent house sitters?"

The BOD should MYOB and merely perform its' required maintenance tasks.

? Is your BOD's dress code brown shirts and ties ?



Hopefully behind their wall and out of sight of said pesky youngsters.
(who think: goodbye, good luck, good riddance)

Walls also keep folk INSIDE !

Yes EMMY. There are no dangerous people over 55. All the bad people are under 55.

You are most welcome.

ps. I appreciate someone who recognizes well intentioned sarcasm a la Johnathan Swift