How to Enforce Restrictions

Gregg

The fact that owners agreed to abide by the Covenants is the answer. Some Covenants have tighter restrictions then local laws (overnight parking, trash can storage, fences, etc.) and the fact that the homeowner agreed to them is the answer which allows you to take "action" when they do not abide by them.

Some doc allow for fining for violations, if yours do, then you have some teeth to back up any enforcement efforts.

In the case of my association it was determined many years ago that our docs don't allow for fines for most violations. Since we own the streets, we can enforce parking violations by towing, but for most others compliance is essentially voluntary. Fortunately, most members don't realize that, or they want to do the right thing, so when we send violation letters, most comply. As you mentioned, we could sue to enforce compliance, but there isn't any board support for doing that.

Suing is a bit of a crap shoot anyway. One of my neighbors is a lawyer and while he was waiting for the case he was involved in to come up, an HOA suit about someone painting their house a non-approved color was heard. The judge took a look at the paperwork, made a comment about "another petty HOA suit clogging up the courts", allowed each side about 2 minutes to plead their case, and dismissed the suit.

The catch 22 of HOA's... You want neighbors to conform to the rules but there is no real enforcement. Your HOA should have the right to fine. It just lacks the definition. Which means you need to make a Fining Schedule and publish/distribute to ALL members.

A fining schedule works like this: Leaving a garbage can out on Tuesday... It is a $5 a day fine for each day in violation up to $50. Basically, setting up actual numbers associated with each violation.

Here is the rub... Fines can not be the bases of liens. You can not lien/foreclose for unpaid fines. Lawsuits don't hold much weight either. Your HOA may win it's lawsuit but the person can sell and move without paying. It's more or less the "honor system" when it comes to fines. They do work more like speeding tickets for the HOA.

We never used fines in our HOA to enforce rules. That is because in our HOA we could fix the violation and send the owner the bill if they fail to comply. If they did not pay that bill, we could then place a lien on them for it. Which a lien means they can not sell until it is paid off. We never really did this method but we did let it be known this is how we deal with violations.

Now some HOA's use a little sneaky method. They will apply the fines owed to dues owed. They use the dues collected to apply to fines and NOT the dues owed. That way technically can lien for fines as it's unpaid dues and not fines. That to me is a bit underhanded but some HOA's that is the way they do it.

Keep in mind each state is different. So find out what is legal in your state before proceeding.

Gregg

Typically fellow owners will be in support of "punishment" fines for breaking rules.

Sending out warning letters about parking and towing will get peoples attention, especially when one car gets towed.

If you don't have a clear enforcement policy, then you need to adopt one. This should be first.

Associations can tow, but they must comply with County towing requirements. This typically requires signage of specific language, size, font and posting locations. However, prior to that, you need to adopt a resolution or amend the current documents to allow towing as an enforcement option.