Homeowner will not communicate

I'm the manager of a very small homeowner's association in Washington. We only have 12 homeowners in the association. Last June a residence was sold to an individual who listed the house for sale. H nofified me with a little note he was having trouble selling and would be renting the residence. After observing his renter was running a daycare in conjuction with the Daycare across the street, we discovered he actually had accepted an offer to sell the residence but it wasn't scheduled to close until September 2007 and the purchaser was the owner of the Day Care across the street. An employee of the Daycare was actually the occupant of the residence. We had to finally retain an attorney to send a letter to him, his realtor and the buyers realtor stating the CCR's strictly prohibted business use. We requested in writing that he reimburse the association for legal fees and his realtor left a message indicating the homeowner felt he didn't owe for the legal fees. We have attempted repeatedly by telephone, letters and in person to discuss this issue with the homeowner but he refuses to communicate with us. He also has re-rented the residence and again not communicated that to us. Any suggestions or recommendations?

He knew we were going to hire an attorney and was advised he was part of that decision.

P.S. I sent the homeowner a letter stating the CCR's strictly prohibited business use and requested that he notify his tenant to cease all activity related to the daycare. He informed me he sent a certified letter to the purchaser - who didn't sign for it, someone else did. So I notified him that we were hiring an attorney because they would not cease the activity related to the daycare.

The Daycare across the street is a commercial licensed daycare. In a discussion with the owner of that daycare they indicated they always buy a residence adjacent to their facilities to house their employees.
We told our homeowner we didn't care who purchased the residence but business use was prohibited by our CCR's. Our attorney cited a court case Peckham v. Milroy, 104 Wn.App.887 (2001) regarding daycares. I have just sent another letter asking him to meet with us to discuss the issues of the subdivison. He has never come to any of our meetings regular or special although he has been given written notice and been contacted by telephone by me and the assistant manager requesting he attend.

Karen:

In NC once the Owner is sent a letter to come into complaince and does not, they are called to a Hearing in front of the Executive Board of Directors. Whether they show or not does not negate the board from imposing fines against the Owner. A Notice of their decision is sent to them spelling out the fines according to the board and most importantly the NC Planned Community Act, along with an invoice (if there are fines). After 30-days the fines accrue, they are sent a final notice and then at that time sent to the attorney for a judgement or lien. Most times a resolution is sought at the Hearing and the problem is solved between Owner and the board.

We are going to pursue further legal action if he fails to communicate with us and he has been informed he will be liable for those costs.

Hi Karen:

Here is the procedure I would recommend:
1) Get a warranty deed to make sure who is the legal owner.
2) Send (if you haven't already) a violation notice according to the procedures your HOA has in place.
3) Follow the violation procedures exactly.
4) When the point comes where the attorney should be involved, involve the attorney to sue for enforcement and/or collection of fines, as allowed by your documents and state law. You'll probably want to get an injunction against any daycare activity happening in the home - whatsover. No daycare kids on the Lot, no daycare parking in the driveway, etc.

You may want to involve the HOA lawyer right off the bat, to send the letters, if you think that would be helpful. It might cost the HOA some money, but solve the issue more directly.

Best of luck...

J. Patrick Moore, CMCA

Gloria,

"In NC once the Owner is sent a letter to come into complaince and does not, they are called to a Hearing in front of the Executive Board of Directors."

Is the Hearing held at an open or closed meeting session. Thanks.

Tracy

I work in Real Estate management so I have have experience finding legal deeded owners, etc.... But thanks for the info. I went thru all these steps and the owner still refuses to communicate.
We also filed a complaint with the Department of Early Learning in Washington State, they are the governing agency who oversees licensing of residential property for daycare. I rec'd copies of the determination letters yesterday, interesting that they found the occupant in our residence (who was an employee of the daycare) was in violation of operating without a license but the daycare across the street was not - go figure!