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Violation Notices

Started by RonaldW • 38 replies • 4194 views

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RonaldW (South Carolina)
Posts: 901
Posted:
How do your boards handle violation notices? A phone call? A visit? A letter? Are the letters signed by an individual or do they just come from "the BOD or ACC"?

Are "warnings" given, and if so, how many before fines or other legal action? How much time between warnings?

If violations are continual (say the homeowner has a history of parking a boat in the driveway every year for the past four years and he has received warnings each of these years), do you just dispense with the warning and move to the fine or legal action?
Ron
SC
PaulM (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 1,347
Posted:
RonW: seems from this post your community is still having difficulty with violations. You have previously posted that you are unable to levy fines for any violations, but I'm curious what other communities in your area do with residents who are in violation.

Most often, violation letters come from the Property Manager. You have shared previously that you don't have a PM and the attorney sends the letter/s. Your SC Horizontal Property Act states you can bring a civil action against a unit owner when in violation. Is this what you are currently doing to curtail violations?
RonaldW (South Carolina)
Posts: 901
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By PaulM on 06/16/2007 6:33 AM
RonW: seems from this post your community is still having difficulty with violations. You have previously posted that you are unable to levy fines for any violations, but I'm curious what other communities in your area do with residents who are in violation.

Most often, violation letters come from the Property Manager. You have shared previously that you don't have a PM and the attorney sends the letter/s. Your SC Horizontal Property Act states you can bring a civil action against a unit owner when in violation. Is this what you are currently doing to curtail violations?

For years, we had an ACC that was active and pursued violations with warning letters and then letters from our attorney (the violator was charged the cost of these letters). A few cases went to court and we won. The violator paid all legal fees and court costs. They were perhaps too persistent and they got a bad reputation. Eventually, a situation came about where they lost a court case, there was community resentment, and they all resigned as a group. A person volunteered to be the ACC with the idea of "just letting people live". I don't have to tell you how that went. After I was elected to the board, I asked him to report the ACC activities to the board t each meeting. He didn't. He recently quit and we found out that he pretty much was ignoring violations for the past few months. Without any volunteers to be on the ACC and with a requirement that we actually have one, we appointed ourselves to the ACC. There is nothing in our documents preventing this.

We have about ten homeowners out of 134 who often violate the same covenants (boat or trailer in the driveway and overnight parking on the streets being the most common). We also have at this time one homeowner who began repainting his house trim from yellow to white but never finished and three who have let their homes fall into noticable disrepair.

Our association documents do not require warning letters but these have been sent in the past. I'm just trying to get an idea how other associations are doing this and finding a fair but effective way to enforce the covenants.
Ron
SC
PaulM (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 1,347
Posted:
Ron, since your community is somewhat unique in that your documents do not allow you to levy fines, how can you possibly enforce?
Your best resource might be to network with like-communities in SC who are also under the Horizontal Property Act to see how they effectively gain compliance using state law vs. their governing docs. Don't know what else you can do since your docs have no 'teeth'.

As a side note, how do the 90% of homeowners who are in compliance feel about the 10% (13 owners) who are not? Do they voice their discontent? You will have to accept human nature and realize there will always be a percentage of the group who will not 'adhere'. Without fines, IMO, you are doing well.
RonaldW (South Carolina)
Posts: 901
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By PaulM on 06/16/2007 7:13 AM
Ron, since your community is somewhat unique in that your documents do not allow you to levy fines, how can you possibly enforce?
Your best resource might be to network with like-communities in SC who are also under the Horizontal Property Act to see how they effectively gain compliance using state law vs. their governing docs. Don't know what else you can do since your docs have no 'teeth'.

As a side note, how do the 90% of homeowners who are in compliance feel about the 10% (13 owners) who are not? Do they voice their discontent? You will have to accept human nature and realize there will always be a percentage of the group who will not 'adhere'. Without fines, IMO, you are doing well.

Paul, my reading of the Horizontal Property Act leads me to believe that it only applies to condominiums, not HOAs. Perhaps I need to read it again. I don't think we're really unique, the adjacent associations have very simmilar CC&Rs.

In the past, violators who didn't repond to letters from the ACC received letters from our attorney demanding that they comply and threatening court action. The violators were required to pay the attorney fee for writing the letter.

As for the 10%, my feeling is that there are 10% who are causing the problems, 10% who bother to participate or at least inform us of violations that we might not see, and 80% who figure that someone else will take care of it.
Ron
SC
DJ1 (Ontario)
Posts: 798
Posted:
Hey if you can't fine but you can recover the costs of the lawyer writing the letter, then the solution seems obvious...if the goal is really to achieve compliance.

Have the lawyer write alot more letters!

Doesn't cost you and violators will get tired of having to pay for the lawyers letters eventually and instead start complying.

Course one of two things will happen, the majority will notice the improvement (few violations) or, the minority will try to rise up and overthrow the current BOD...which won't be successful if the majority don't support it!

By the way Ron, is your life insurance policy up to date? Those tulip thieves didn't leave a pile of dog poo on your doorstep or anything did they.
RonaldW (South Carolina)
Posts: 901
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By DJ1 on 06/16/2007 11:10 AM
Hey if you can't fine but you can recover the costs of the lawyer writing the letter, then the solution seems obvious...if the goal is really to achieve compliance.

Have the lawyer write alot more letters!

Doesn't cost you and violators will get tired of having to pay for the lawyers letters eventually and instead start complying.

Course one of two things will happen, the majority will notice the improvement (few violations) or, the minority will try to rise up and overthrow the current BOD...which won't be successful if the majority don't support it!

By the way Ron, is your life insurance policy up to date? Those tulip thieves didn't leave a pile of dog poo on your doorstep or anything did they.

Yes, but I'm still trying to get an answer to the original question about warnings.
Ron
SC
MichelleL (Florida)
Posts: 16
Posted:
Our Board sends a warning letter given 7 business days for correction or to formulate and send the Complaint Committee a plan of action with a time frame.
This is sent first class mail.

If no response is sent, a violation letter quoting what Article is being violated and the Article for enforcement is sent via certified return receipt requested mail. A copy is also sent via first class mail. This letter has a time frame that the violation must be corrected.

If the date of correction passes with no action, the Complaint Committee sends the violation to the Fine Committee. The Fine Committee must legally give the homeowner 14 days prior written notice of a possible fine by a letter that includes the meeting time and date and schedule of fines by certified return receipt requested mail.

If you have no rules, regulations, policy or procedure in place other than your vaguely written documents, I suggest that the Board adopt at your next Board Meeting a policy that clearly states what will be done for violations such as the above.

Good Luck!!
Jadedone4 (Virginia)
Posts: 495
Posted:
I agree with last post, and that is similar to what my HOA does, with the following exception.

1. Warning letter via USPS first class.
2. Second warning letter USPS.
3. Letter from Attorney sent USPS certified.

Since we have a MC, I do not believe that it is "cost effective" to send out letters twice as USPS "certified" and a cost that the HOA has to pay upfront - before recovering those "administrative" costs from the owner. With this method the first two letters cost less than a dollar in postage. Once the owner has (obviously) ignored the first two letters, the costs of the certified letter is (IMHO) better spent, because it is then a recoverable expense.

Now I would also hope that there is a "hierarchy" for violations and actions taken. In other words if you have a newsletter, website, or even mail out coupons/bills for assessments, you can often use the same envelope to send out "gentle reminders" to owners about possible violations. This way AlL owners are reminded of what their responsibilities are to the community. We all sometimes forget to cut the grass, trim shrubs, stain the deck/fence, remove snow, etc.

Warnings should ALSO be about educating the membership.
RonaldW (South Carolina)
Posts: 901
Posted:
OK, now we're getting back on track.

There are different types of violations:

Construction or painting without approval, house needing repairs, etc. These should have a time frame expected for compliance.

Boat or trailer not screened or in garage, overnight parking on streets, etc. Need to stop immediatley and not be repeated.

Trash or debris out for collection on wrong day, etc. The violation will be gone by the time they get a warning but they need to be warned not to repeat the violation.

Here's a question - say policy (and there is no "official" policy) is two warning letters, then a letter from the attorney. Say a homeowner gets two warning letters for a boat parked overnight in the driveway in 2004, two in 2005, two in 2006 and is now in violation again. Is he "entitled" to two more warning letters or do we have the attorney send him a letter without another warning from us?

BTW: It's hard to "forget" that you brought a boat home and didn't put it away. I own a boat and I put it away as soon as I get home with it.
Ron
SC
Jadedone4 (Virginia)
Posts: 495
Posted:
Not sure that anyone here could answer the last post, without knowing what/how exactly your governing documents treat infractions.

Are witnessed/reported infractions/violations deemed to be "events" ? Meaning if the owner puts his boat in drive way on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday - but the governing documents stated 72hour notice.

Does the governing documents specify one, two, three infractions of the same violation, within a set period of time (30 dsys) starts the escalation to attorney letter...?

We can offer opinions, but the "teeth" and interpretation of your governing documents must be the source of your enforcement actions.

I am going to assume that the infraction/violation is this boat in the driveway, and that your governing documents specify this is not allowed, etc. What actions from either the MC (if your community uses one), the ARC committee, or the board have been taken to respond to this owner's actions?
JM2 (Oregon)
Posts: 439
Posted:
Hi Ron"

Here are some suggestions, take any of them that you find helpful...

1) Ask your lawyer to help the HOA draft a compliance policy (the HOA I work for has one, www.fhhoa.com > Documents tab > Governing Docs > Policy Resolution #3. This will give you a procedure to follow.

2) If you feel like being friendly (as it sounds that you might need to be after losing a court case) then contact the offending owner (in person, by phone, email with receive or read receipt, fax, etc.) and then follow up with a written letter, either referring to the conversation/contact, or sumarizing it, along with the requirement to correct the violation (and if you've done #1 it should specify timeilines). Talk to your lawyer, it may be worthwhile or necessary to offer the opportunity for a hearing before the Board or hearing committee at this point.

3) If the violation is not corrected and no hearing is requested, then send a second letter (first class and certified) giving them a short period to respond and/or correct the violation, or you will refer the matter to the attorney for legal action.

4) If the still not corrected, refer to the attorney.

In the meantime, if you have a newsletter, let people know via an article therein, that you will be enforcing the covenants as of a given date (best about 21 or 30 days) and let them have time to correct violations and/or apply for ACC written permission / approval of work done. If no newsletter, then once you get all the ducks lined up for the compliance process, send everybody a general letter.

Best of luck!

J. Patrick Moore, CMCA (Oregon)
RonaldW (South Carolina)
Posts: 901
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By Jadedone4 on 06/16/2007 7:12 PM
Not sure that anyone here could answer the last post, without knowing what/how exactly your governing documents treat infractions.

Are witnessed/reported infractions/violations deemed to be "events" ? Meaning if the owner puts his boat in drive way on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday - but the governing documents stated 72hour notice.

Does the governing documents specify one, two, three infractions of the same violation, within a set period of time (30 dsys) starts the escalation to attorney letter...?

We can offer opinions, but the "teeth" and interpretation of your governing documents must be the source of your enforcement actions.

I am going to assume that the infraction/violation is this boat in the driveway, and that your governing documents specify this is not allowed, etc. What actions from either the MC (if your community uses one), the ARC committee, or the board have been taken to respond to this owner's actions?

The governing documents make no mention of warnings, only that the Association or any aggrieved Lot owner may take "action at law". I interpret this to mean we could send a letter from our attorney for any violation without prior warnings but we haven't done this in the past and I don't think it would be a good policy. On the other hand, for someone who routinely violates the same covenants, counting on warning letters instead of action, I'm thinking he/she may need to see that we are serious. Paying a $60.00 attorney fee might be the needed wake up call.

" I am going to assume that the infraction/violation is this boat in the driveway, and that your governing documents specify this is not allowed, etc."

The governing documents prohibit storing a boat overnight on any lot except within enclosed garages or to the rear of the lot, screened from the street and neighboring lots as approved by the ACC (not an exact quote). I interpret this to mean that each "overnight" storage is a violation. Now this doesn't mean that someone gets a letter for one violation, but if it's several nights in a row or every Saturday night, or every year, I believe this warrants a warning letter and follow up action if it continues. Overnight parking on the streets is another problem we are having. Same thing, once, no big deal, but continual, it has to be stopped. What happens is that when neighbors see continual violations, they seem to think it's OK for them to do it also.

I sent a letter recently concerning overnight parking on the streets and I received an e-mail response promising to correct the situation but asking that we stop others from doing the same. She seemed to think the ACC was picking on her. I assured her we are trying to enforce the covenants fairly and asked for her help in identifying violations. I can't really drive around the neighborhood all night.
Ron
SC
RonaldW (South Carolina)
Posts: 901
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By JM2 on 06/16/2007 8:53 PM
Hi Ron"

Here are some suggestions, take any of them that you find helpful...

1) Ask your lawyer to help the HOA draft a compliance policy (the HOA I work for has one, www.fhhoa.com > Documents tab > Governing Docs > Policy Resolution #3. This will give you a procedure to follow.

2) If you feel like being friendly (as it sounds that you might need to be after losing a court case) then contact the offending owner (in person, by phone, email with receive or read receipt, fax, etc.) and then follow up with a written letter, either referring to the conversation/contact, or sumarizing it, along with the requirement to correct the violation (and if you've done #1 it should specify timeilines). Talk to your lawyer, it may be worthwhile or necessary to offer the opportunity for a hearing before the Board or hearing committee at this point.

3) If the violation is not corrected and no hearing is requested, then send a second letter (first class and certified) giving them a short period to respond and/or correct the violation, or you will refer the matter to the attorney for legal action.

4) If the still not corrected, refer to the attorney.

In the meantime, if you have a newsletter, let people know via an article therein, that you will be enforcing the covenants as of a given date (best about 21 or 30 days) and let them have time to correct violations and/or apply for ACC written permission / approval of work done. If no newsletter, then once you get all the ducks lined up for the compliance process, send everybody a general letter.

Best of luck!

J. Patrick Moore, CMCA (Oregon)

Patrick, A quick reading of the link you gave seems to imply that violations must be reported by the violator’s neighbor and that the neighbor must try to negotiate with the violator before reporting the violation to the association. Perhaps I didn't read enough.

In a way, this is part of our problem. On some of our cull de sacs, the neighbors have given each other "permission" to ignore the covenants by parking their boats in the driveway overnight or parking vehicles in the streets overnight. Well, when other homeowners see this, they feel they have the right to do so also and that if we enforce the covenants against them, we should enforce them against everyone. I agree on this point.

After the big blow up (about two years ago) the new ACC person tried the personal calls and visits or notes left on the cars. For repeat violators, it was only a minor annoyance, the violations continued. And since he didn't keep records, in effect, they were never notified. He's a very nice person and very outgoing, but unfortunately, many people equate "nice" with "weak".

And we do have a newsletter and enforcement (or compliance) is mentioned (in a nice way) in each issue. I hesitate to say we will begin enforcement in XX days because that would look like an admission that we haven't been enforcing. We have, it's just been spotty.

Thanks for the suggestions and the link. I’ll study it.
Ron
SC
PaulM (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 1,347
Posted:
Ron--re: your governing documents...
It would be helpful to know if on the Declaration's first page there is reference by the developer '..made pursuant to the provisions of ...SC Horizontal Property Act....? or some reference made to a SC law?
Whatever document is noted, this would be what your governing documents fall under.

You state you cannot fine, but you have gone ahead to create rules and regulations without any backup once the rule is violated. Do your bylaws specifically state that you are not allowed to fine? or has the Board decided they do not want to set up fines? You state that 'adjacent associations have very similar CC&Rs--perhaps so, but what have they established with regard to RULES/FINES for them to gain compliance from residents?

You state that in the past when violators didn't respond to letters from ACC, then the attorney demanded their compliance or threatened court action. Has your assn. ever actually taken a violator to court?

You can continually ask the forum to assist, but without detail of your assn. bylaws, we really are at a loss.

RonaldW (South Carolina)
Posts: 901
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By PaulM on 06/17/2007 5:52 AM
Ron--re: your governing documents...
It would be helpful to know if on the Declaration's first page there is reference by the developer '..made pursuant to the provisions of ...SC Horizontal Property Act....? or some reference made to a SC law?
Whatever document is noted, this would be what your governing documents fall under.

You state you cannot fine, but you have gone ahead to create rules and regulations without any backup once the rule is violated. Do your bylaws specifically state that you are not allowed to fine? or has the Board decided they do not want to set up fines? You state that 'adjacent associations have very similar CC&Rs--perhaps so, but what have they established with regard to RULES/FINES for them to gain compliance from residents?

You state that in the past when violators didn't respond to letters from ACC, then the attorney demanded their compliance or threatened court action. Has your assn. ever actually taken a violator to court?

You can continually ask the forum to assist, but without detail of your assn. bylaws, we really are at a loss.


The documents are dated February 21, 1989, which I believe pre-dates the SC Horizontal Property Act. They are recorded in the county court.

We have not made any rules, they are contained in the Declaration of Restrictions and Easements, bearing the same date and also legally recorded.

There is no provision for fines in any documents, only the option to "take action at law" that I mentioned earlier. Actually, "shall have the right to enforce, by proceeding at law orat equity, all restrictions, conditions, ................".

The association has taken violators to court, won, and collected the legal fees from the violator. Most cases didn't go this far and the violator had to pay the attorney's fees and mailing costs.

I'm just trying to get a feel on how other associations "warn" violators before they take action. It's clear to me what action we can take once we have decided to. It's not the best system but it's not something we can change so we must make the best of it.
Ron
SC
MicheleD (Kentucky)
Posts: 4,491
Posted:
Ron:

On a few other threads on this board I have recounted our HOA's experience with addressing violations, given that we cannot assess fines either.

The board instituted a policy as follows:

1) Complaint reported (we do not police, however, as residents we CAN log a formal complaint if we Do happen to notice a violation.)

2) Board verifies complaint. (We either confirm ourselves or verify with a neighbor other than the one reporting the complaint.)

3) Board issues a WRITTEN notice of violation as a REMINDER to the resident of the CC&R covering the infraction. We have a friendly tone to this first letter and even state, "Many times we find that homeowners are not aware that they are in violation and when notified, remedy the situation immediately. However, if action is not taken ....)

4) We then verify if compliance has occurred. If the offense repeats, even if it repeats from year to year, we consider the next noticed infraction as a repeat of the first violation. For example, we have a boater who parks over the weekends once the weather gets nice. Invariably someone will call us. We send him a ltter and the boat disappears. NEXT SPRING he starts all over again, I suppose thinking we'll just forget about it. This happened 2 years in a row. The THIRD YEAR, he received a letter from the attorney. We did NOT start the timer all over again.

5) If the infraction is not remedied, we forward the information to our attorney who sends a warning of impending litigation. Sometimes, for repeat offenders, he includes a draft copy of the lawsuit that will be filed.

We have no choice but to go for litigation if we do not receive compliance. We have be lucky in that we've only had to actually go to trial on two occasions, and each of those we won.

The key is to BE CONSISTENT. Sometimes, a new board president will want to do the first warning in person. EVEN SO, the board will always follow up with a written letter confirming the face-to-face discussion. Otherwise, if you DO end up having some day to go to trial over it or another situation like it you can show consistency in enforcement and therefore no selective enforcement.

It will also be important to keep some sort of database so that you can readily see who are repeated offenders.

Hope this helps. Good luck to you.

MicheleD (Kentucky)
Posts: 4,491
Posted:
By the way, the board letters are always from the Board of Directors as a whole. We DO put the current president's name and phone number on there if the resident has any questions or concerns about the notice.

The residents who call back or send in an email response GENERALLY are fairly apologetic, but almost ALWAYS bring up the fact that OTHER residents are getting away with X, Y or Z too and why don't we don anything about that?

In which case we tell them that it is the policy of the board that we do not police the neighborhood, there are too many homes and only 5 of us, and these are volunteer positions.

However, our duty as board members requires that we must respond to any complaints. So if the resident who is saying why don't you go after X, Y, and Z then would like to report a formal complaint, we let her know that we would need her to provide us with the exact address of the infraction and then once confirmed we would definitely contact the X, Y and Z residents to remind them of the CC&Rs just as we did her.

We also make sure they know that all complaints are anonymous and any record of the complaint only contains the date, time, and format the date was received, NEVER the name of the person registering the complaint.

Here is an example of our first letter. It is sort of Plug & Play, where we can customize the infraction and drop in the particular CC&R the infraction addresses. Almost the entirety of the rest of the letter is the same on every letter.

=================================

Dear Ms. ********:

We have been notified regarding excessive dog barking at the above address in *************. In February of this year we sent you a letter addressing the issue of dogs as regulated in the *********** Deed Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions. As a reminder, dogs may not be kept for kenneling or breeding purposes, nor are dog enclosures, commonly referred to as dog runs, allowed on lots in ***********.

In addition, excessive barking is covered under the ******* Deed Restriction concerning nuisances, as set out below:

Article II – Use Restrictions. Section 2. Nuisances. No noxious or offensive . . . activity shall be conducted on any lot, nor shall anything be done which may be or become an annoyance or nuisance to the neighborhood.

As of this date we have received numerous complaints, including complaints from several neighbors not within the boundaries of ************* regarding excessive, intrusive, and nuisance barking originating from your lot in ***********.

We respectfully request that you address this issue immediately upon receipt of this notification.

We all agreed to abide by the deed covenants associated with ************* when we purchased our homes. Our duty, as the board of directors, is to notify residents when a problem exists. Often we find that a resident may not be aware that a violation has occurred and, once notified, the resident will correct the situation without further notification.

However, if corrective action is not taken voluntarily to cease the intrusive and excessive dog barking at your residence, the board must then begin legal action to enforce the rules and covenants. As we would prefer not to expend association dues to resolve this matter, your cooperation would be greatly appreciated. Please contact ********** if you have any questions or concerns.

Best Regards,

********* Board of Directors
RonaldW (South Carolina)
Posts: 901
Posted:
MicheleD,

Thanks for your response. Our HOA has been all over the place on enforcement and of course that's a problem. And there was favoritism. My plan is to have consistient enforcement of the covenants fairly applied to all homeowners.

I'm glad to see that you don't let a violator get two warning letters each year and then start over the next year. That is my plan also.

Ron
SC
JeffreyB (Florida)
Posts: 11
Posted:
Dear RonaldW,
I have had a similar issue with a boat parked in a driveway. We weren't effective with our violation letters and we couldn't fine. We didn't want to go to court. But I did notice two things. First, when the boat was attached to the truck and parked in the driveway the front of the the truck crossed the line of the sidewalk in front of the house. Second, when the truck and boat were parked in the street they also blocked the city easement and the sidewalk in front of the house. And while these are both very minor things which happen in every community every day, we were able with a few nice and calm residents to go down to City Hall and speak with a Sherrif. Well guess what? The City sent out an officer to "tag" which is a warning the truck and trailer on the street, and then in his own driveway!! Well the owner decided he was just going to detach his boat and park the truck next to it in his driveway to avoid a fine which is legal. But after a few months he got tired of the hook-up and detach work and also was blocking the use of his garage. So eventually, he put his boat in storage, problem solved!! Moral of story. Two ways to skin cat. (Just kidding cat lovers!). Be persistent, don't give up, wear them out. Forget about legal action where only the lawyers win. Keep sending the letters.
RonaldW (South Carolina)
Posts: 901
Posted:
I have been known to use the law when appropriate. In fact, it is my fist choice in many cases. Rather than have a homeowner angry with the HOA, let them be angry with the law, that's what we pay taxes for. Also, the big guy with a uniform and gun often commands more respect than a leter from the HOA.
Ron
SC
RonaldW (South Carolina)
Posts: 901
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By JeffreyB on 06/18/2007 9:34 AM
Dear RonaldW,
I have had a similar issue with a boat parked in a driveway............

In our community, boats can be parked in the side or rear lot as long as they are "screened" from view of neighboring lots and streets as approved by the ACC" or are in enclosed garages. I have one of these myself. Most of our boat problems are with boat owners who have a perfectly legal place to put their boat but are too lazy to put it away when they get home from a boat trip. Or they figure they will be using it again in a day or two.

BTW: Our city has an ordinance prohibiting parking a trailer on the street unless it's attached to the tow vehicle. Great, except for one thing. The state of SC does not require license plates on trailers so the police cannot ticket the violator, they don't know who owns the trailer.
Ron
SC
MicheleD (Kentucky)
Posts: 4,491
Posted:
quote: Be persistent, don't give up, wear them out. Forget about legal action where only the lawyers win. Keep sending the letters.

Well, of course, to each his own.

But it sounds like nothing was "won" at all. After several months he got tired of what exactly? That is the entire boating season here in Kentucky.

No, we find that when we get a stubborn resident, the firm approach, including beginning legal action, allows the HOA to win. Sure we pay the attorney, but have only had to do that for litigation twice. And because word gets around that we consistently enforce and don't simply send toothless letter after toothless letter to violators, we get excellent compliance.

When someone wants to test the bounds, they find out after only 3 notices (2 from us 1 from the attorney) that it is NOT going to be worth it to them to just keep throwing away our letters.

The "forget legal action...." would be good advice if you had to do that on each and every violation that ever occurs. The beauty of that policy, however, is that you don't! Trust me. Word gets around. People start responding VERY quickly once a court case it won.

BrianM3 (California)
Posts: 2
Posted:
Our Board follows the procedure you mentioned pretty close. However we have run up against a road block
and would like any input. The management co. will only send the warning letters to the address on the
title. In the case of a rental or perhaps a relative they do not receive the letter. How can we get the
Management Co. to use or obtain the real owners address?
RogerB (Colorado)
Posts: 5,067
Posted:
Brian, it is the responsibility of the homeowner to up date address changes. It often is not done so we watch for the return address on assessment payments and update our records accordingly.
GloriaM (North Carolina)
Posts: 829
Posted:
Ronald:

SC does allow for fines and hearing to be held. Please see the following from SC Planned Community Act: (see #1, #12 & #17). I see no reason why your board could not impose fines and hold hearings in accordance with SC Planned Community Act.

Article 5

Management of Planned Community
Section 27-30-510. A lot owners' association must be incorporated no later than the date the first lot in the planned community is conveyed. The membership of the association at all times shall consist exclusively of all the lot owners or, following termination of the planned community, of all persons entitled to distributions of proceeds under Section 27-30-340. Every association created after the effective date of this chapter must be organized as a nonprofit corporation.

Section 27-30-520. Subject to the provisions of the articles of incorporation or the declaration and the declarant's rights therein, the association may:

(1) Adopt and amend bylaws and rules and regulations;

(2) Adopt and amend budgets for revenues, expenditures, and reserves and collect assessments for common expenses from lot owners;

(3) Hire and discharge managing agents and other employees, agents, and independent contractors;

(4) Institute, defend, or intervene in litigation or administrative proceedings on matters affecting the planned community;

(5) Make contracts and incur liabilities;

(6) Regulate the use, maintenance, repair, replacement, and modification of common elements;

(7) Cause additional improvements to be made as a part of the common elements;

(8) Acquire, hold, encumber, and convey in its own name any right, title, or interest to real or personal property, provided that common elements may be conveyed or subjected to a security interest only pursuant to Section 27-30-630;

(9) Grant easements, leases, licenses, and concessions through or over the common elements;

(10) Impose and receive any payments, fees, or charges for the use, rental, or operation of the common elements other than the limited common elements and for services provided to lot owners;

(11) Impose reasonable charges for late payment of assessments and, after notice and an opportunity to be heard, suspend privileges or services provided by the association, except rights of access to lots, during any period that assessments or other amounts due and owing to the association remain unpaid for a period of thirty days or longer;

(12) After notice and an opportunity to be heard, impose reasonable fines or suspend privileges or services provided by the association, except rights of access to lots, for reasonable periods for violations of the declaration, bylaws, and rules and regulations of the association;

(13) Impose reasonable charges in connection with the preparation and recordation of documents including, without limitation, amendments to the declaration or statements of unpaid assessments;

(14) Provide for the indemnification of and maintain liability insurance for its officers, executive board, directors, employees, and agents;

(15) Assign its right to future income, including the right to receive common expense assessments;

(16) Exercise all other powers that may be exercised in this State by legal entities of the same type as the association; and

(17) Exercise any other powers necessary and proper for the governance and operation of the association
RonaldW (South Carolina)
Posts: 901
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By BrianM3 on 06/19/2007 10:51 AM
Our Board follows the procedure you mentioned pretty close. However we have run up against a road block
and would like any input. The management co. will only send the warning letters to the address on the
title. In the case of a rental or perhaps a relative they do not receive the letter. How can we get the
Management Co. to use or obtain the real owners address?

It is the responsibility of the "real owner" to abide by the CC&Rs. If the property is rented, it is the responsibility of the owner to see that the tenants abide by the CC&Rs. Any penalties are imposed by the HOA against the owner, not the tenants. The HOA has no official relationship with the tenants.
Ron
SC
RonaldW (South Carolina)
Posts: 901
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By GloriaM on 06/19/2007 12:59 PM
Ronald:

SC does allow for fines and hearing to be held. Please see the following from SC Planned Community Act: (see #1, #12 & #17). I see no reason why your board could not impose fines and hold hearings in accordance with SC Planned Community Act.

Article 5

Management of Planned Community
Section 27-30-510. A lot owners' association must be incorporated no later than the date the first lot in the planned community is conveyed. The membership of the association at all times shall consist exclusively of all the lot owners or, following termination of the planned community, of all persons entitled to distributions of proceeds under Section 27-30-340. Every association created after the effective date of this chapter must be organized as a nonprofit corporation.

Section 27-30-520. Subject to the provisions of the articles of incorporation or the declaration and the declarant's rights therein, the association may:

(1) Adopt and amend bylaws and rules and regulations;

(2) Adopt and amend budgets for revenues, expenditures, and reserves and collect assessments for common expenses from lot owners;

(3) Hire and discharge managing agents and other employees, agents, and independent contractors;

(4) Institute, defend, or intervene in litigation or administrative proceedings on matters affecting the planned community;

(5) Make contracts and incur liabilities;

(6) Regulate the use, maintenance, repair, replacement, and modification of common elements;

(7) Cause additional improvements to be made as a part of the common elements;

(8) Acquire, hold, encumber, and convey in its own name any right, title, or interest to real or personal property, provided that common elements may be conveyed or subjected to a security interest only pursuant to Section 27-30-630;

(9) Grant easements, leases, licenses, and concessions through or over the common elements;

(10) Impose and receive any payments, fees, or charges for the use, rental, or operation of the common elements other than the limited common elements and for services provided to lot owners;

(11) Impose reasonable charges for late payment of assessments and, after notice and an opportunity to be heard, suspend privileges or services provided by the association, except rights of access to lots, during any period that assessments or other amounts due and owing to the association remain unpaid for a period of thirty days or longer;

(12) After notice and an opportunity to be heard, impose reasonable fines or suspend privileges or services provided by the association, except rights of access to lots, for reasonable periods for violations of the declaration, bylaws, and rules and regulations of the association;

(13) Impose reasonable charges in connection with the preparation and recordation of documents including, without limitation, amendments to the declaration or statements of unpaid assessments;

(14) Provide for the indemnification of and maintain liability insurance for its officers, executive board, directors, employees, and agents;

(15) Assign its right to future income, including the right to receive common expense assessments;

(16) Exercise all other powers that may be exercised in this State by legal entities of the same type as the association; and

(17) Exercise any other powers necessary and proper for the governance and operation of the association

I will check into that, but I'm not sure the act would superceede our founding documents. I've been talking with our attorney about enforcement, fines and such and she did not mention it. She is supposed to be an HOA specialist.
Ron
SC
GloriaM (North Carolina)
Posts: 829
Posted:
Ron:

The SC Planned Community Act would take precedence over your doc's. Remember that Federal law 1st, State law 2nd, local ordinances, then your documents. I would proceed in accordance with SC Planned Community Act.
PaulM (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 1,347
Posted:
Gloria: as a matter of information, when did the SC Planned Community Act go into effect? I do not see it referenced on CAI's website.
GloriaM (North Carolina)
Posts: 829
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By PaulM on 06/20/2007 1:10 PM
Gloria: as a matter of information, when did the SC Planned Community Act go into effect? I do not see it referenced on CAI's website.

1976 and it was amended 2003-2004 Bill 4594 Adding Chapter 30
PaulM (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 1,347
Posted:
Gloria, thank you for the info. It is great to know that SC indeed does have a legal provision for fining, and it should make RonSC kick up his heels with glee!!!
GloriaM (North Carolina)
Posts: 829
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By PaulM on 06/20/2007 1:10 PM
Gloria: as a matter of information, when did the SC Planned Community Act go into effect? I do not see it referenced on CAI's website.

1976 Amended 2003-2004 Bill 4594 adding Chapter 30
RonaldW (South Carolina)
Posts: 901
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By PaulM on 06/20/2007 2:23 PM
Gloria, thank you for the info. It is great to know that SC indeed does have a legal provision for fining, and it should make RonSC kick up his heels with glee!!!

A quick scan indicates that the HOA would have to ammend it's documents in order to be covered. I will study it in detail when I can. It seems strange that our attorney didn't mention ths.

As for kicking up my heels with glee, I don't want to fine anyone and I don't want to send them letters. I just want them to respect the documents they agreed to when they purchased their properties and to respect their neighbors.
Ron
SC
PaulM (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 1,347
Posted:
RonSC: I hope you did not take offense to my statement that this knowledge of the State regulation allowing fines should make you kick up your heels... I only mean that we all know how frustrated you have been over your community's residents who consistently violate the CC&Rs/rules & regs.

Hope this new knowledge will pave the way for you and the Board to proceed in the best possible manner. Good Luck!

CarolC15 (Texas)
Posts: 4
Posted:
I have a question about when notices are not delivered, but are still logged in the HOA office.

Background:
Unbeknownst to me, in June my mother listed me as a resident though I was completing a graduate program. Residents are required to park in the driveway, and display the subdivision tag. I've been parking on the street for over a year with no problems. I initially parked there because there are three cars, a two car garage (that's full), and essentially a two car driveway. My mother parks in the garage, but occasionally comes home after myself and my step-father. So instead of playing musical cars, I park on the street until she returns. Also, my grandmother has health issues and when my mother leaves to check on her, it's easier to park on the street.

Issue:
I received a notice for parking on the street June 3, and June 5. I was parked in the driveway June 4. I continued parking in the driveway, but received a notice from the HOA citing excessive violations for not having a tag, and on the next violation there would be a $50 fine. In this letter were copies of NINE different violation notices that were never delivered. When I went to the HOA the "officers" said they couldn't trespass onto homeowner property to deliver the notices. By their admission, no other delivery media had been attempted at all. They sat and racked up the notices.

Question:
If a notice (which is designed to alert the recipient of the need for corrective action)is not delivered, how then can the resident be held legally responsible for the excessive accumulation of notices that were never given to the resident?
LarryB13 (Arizona)
Posts: 4,099
Posted:
Carol,

Welcome to the forum. The thread you posted to is eight years old. May I suggest starting a new thread for your post?
CarolC15 (Texas)
Posts: 4
Posted:
Ok. Thanks.

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