restrictions on rentals....

Jim,

What document contains that restriction?

It sounds like there was a move in the past to ban all rentals and this was a compromise to get it to pass. However, I agree with your property manager that if the issue was challenged, you would lose in court.

Thanks Kerry and Tim...for your response.

The rental restriction is in our

At least it's in the correct document.

I'm with Kerry, it may be worth a legal opinion prior to enforcement.
Until the need to enforce happens, save your money.

That is a fairly explicit clause and I cannot imagine a court striking it down for vagueness. The only issue I foresee is that someone might seek to challenge occupancy by a grandchild or other distant family member or the occupancy by a trustee or officer if the unit is purchased in the name of a trust or a corporation. The best way to avoid that conflict is to not act like jerks.

To me, a rental exists when an owner accepts money from a stranger; occupancy by family members, in-laws, trustees, or officers is not truly a rental as there is some permanent relationship between the owner and occupant that existed prior to the occupancy and will likely continue to exist afterward. The relationship between a landlord and tenant is fleeting, beginning and ending with the terms of the rental agreement.

By purchasing a unit in your condo, each owner accepted the terms and limitations imposed by the recorded declaration. Each owner has surrendered his right to rent to strangers, if such a right exists at all. Is there some explicit statement in Texas law that would grant owners an absolute right to rent out their properties even when they have agreed not to do so?

You should get an attorney’s opinion, although I think your property manager has a point – it could be used to discriminate against certain groups of people. And do you really want to go to various houses asking if the occupants are related to the homeowner? How will you prove they are or aren’t related?

It may be better for your board to consider other rules, perhaps requiring new owners to live in the house for 2 years before they can rent or set a maximum percentage of houses that can be rented at a time. From what I’ve seen, that will be very difficult to enforce and you’ll probably need some sort of hardship provision because even with a percentage, someone may have no choice but to rent, especially if they have to move away from the area. If tenant behavior has been a problem, tighten up your rules enforcement and make sure it’s being applied to owner occupants as well as renters – that may be all you need to reduce or prevent any problems.

Finally, don't forget you'll likely need homeowner approval to put these rules in your CCRs, so it may be helpful to poll the owners to see what their concerns are - that can help determine what's really needed

People disagree with me on this but will tell you what I was told about rental restrictions... The HOA can not enforce rental restrictions because the HOA does NOT own the property. This was told to me by a lawyer when my HOA members wanted us to put in rental restrictions. Mortgage companies can put on rental restrictions. Which many HOA's do adopt as theirs. Which is like a 2 - 5 year period of time a home can not be rented out by the owner. It depends on the type of loan package.

California is one of the few states that now has laws about rental restrictions. It's pretty new and implemented around 2012. Florida may have some laws in regards to time periods one must own a property before making it rental. However, that falls more under consumer laws. They had issues with bad contractors slapping condos cheaply together and selling them quickly. The new owners would run into serious structural issues or other serious repairs. This was happening in many HOA's or Condo environments. However, it fell out of their powers. Now Florida has some consumer protection laws for such situations once reported to the authorities.

My sister lives in an HOA community where NO RENTALS are allowed for any reason. That rule was part of the ccr from day one of the development. A few owners don't like it but it has kept property values consistently high even after the housing crash.
My HOA is currently looking at restricting rentals to a percentage of overall units (60 units total)

If the HOA members are not gripping about the rental restriction then this board member may have an agenda. And it doesn't sound like a good one.

Don't forget LLCs - lots of homeowners set those up to protect their personal assets if things go sour with investment properties or whatever business they get into.

You'll probably still need some sort of process to monitor who's living in the house, which can be tricky, so make sure you have a really good rules enforcement policy. Some investor owners prefer HOAs who do little or nothing on enforcement so they can rent to any idiot who will wreck the community while they collect rent checks. On the other hand, when you make it clear owner-occupants AND landlord-owners (and their tenants) will be held accountable for rules violations, that may keep out some of the riff raff because fines, lawsuits and all that stuff can eat into one's rental income...

And resist the temptation to keep assessments "low" - they have to be enough to run the community properly and fund reserves according to the reserves study. Some investor owners aren't crazy about too high fees (whatever that means) because once again, it eats into profits (better to buy property in a non-HOA community and keep most of the money for yourself...)

Enforce HOA rules.
Keep monthly assessment high.

More good advice. Thank you!