Non Compliance Letter Issued

Hello,

I am new to this board and new to an HOA Community. My wife and I received a very threatening letter recently from our HOA and Property Management stating that our front-yard landscape was damaged and that I am to appear before the HOA later this month. Upon further investigation of this potential non-compliance issue, I read our HOA Rules and Regulations and CCR surrounding the landscaping issue and it is written within the CCR under Article X, page 105, Item number 6, Repair and Maintenance by Owner – its states under Detached Condominium Units – “Except as specified in Exhibit ‘F” (landscape maintenance area) as the maintenance obligation of the corporation”; therefore, it is in my own interpretation of this letter against my property and home is unjust and legally unfounded. (Citation page 5 of 7 – The corporation maintains all landscaping and irrigation systems located in the front yard’s areas of the Detached Condominium Units depicted on Exhibit “F” attached hereto and in the Corporation Property and any potted plants placed on the Corporation Property by the Corporation”.

There is no other area within our 198 page CCR that talks about front-yard landscape except what I have recited above. Why would the HOA Community send us such a threatening letter which stated they would force us to pay for landscape damage and assess it against us when it fact all landscape is to be covered through the Corporation. Nor myself or my family have caused any damage to this area and all landscaping is done by our landscape vendor and I do not own any landscape tools to even take care of this area.

Do I have any legal recourse based upon the citation above since NO Homeowner that I have spoken to has ever performed any landscape within the Common Areas of their property, including myself - the only people who take care of it is the landscapers.

Thank you.

I am not going to sue my HOA community, but I want them to understand that I have no legal responsibility to the landscape as mentioned in the CCR - it is the Corporations Responsibility; therefore this letter should not have been sent to me.

I assume you've never done ANYTHING with the landscaping, so before you run off to an attorney (which is what you should if you want legal advice), go to the hearing and see what they have to say and then give your side and go on from there.

Hopefully, it's squashed at that point and you get an apology from the board and/or property manager for sending it by accident. As upsetting as the language in the letter probably is, there is still a possibility it was generated automatically and if not, mistakes can and do happen. If you're still ticked off, it's up to a judge to decide if you have legal recourse, who will also decide if your interpretation is on target or not.

> I assume you've never done ANYTHING with the landscaping,

Yes this is the key question.

(Unless your association is one of the crazy ones) the objective of compliance letters is to obtain compliance. Not to insult, harass, or fine. Go to the meeting and state your case. There will be time to take umbrage later if it is warranted.

At some future time, after this is settled, it might be time to comment about the tone or perceived tone of compliance letters.

When I send a non-compliance letter out, I would include both the exact citation from either the Rules and Regulations and/or CCRs and picture(s) of the violation.

Prior to being called to a hearing, you should have been given the opportunity to correct. The association MUST have a process that is in writing and is distributed to each of the Members on an annual basis.

Kevin,

Is the mulch missing or been moved (i.e. showing bare spots)?

You specified that you took the letter from the HOA as threatening and responded with a scathing email of your own. Unfortunately, the tone of any conversation may have been set as a result of these actions. Otherwise I would have advised to take the high road as the whole thing may be a misunderstanding.

I have a member of our Board who is one on of the nicest persons I know. However, when he writes a letter it tends to read with an adversarial tone. This may have been the case with your letter.

If pictures were not included, I would have advised you to ask them to show you the specific problem as you don't see the issue they described in their letter. Unfortunately, as I wrote earlier, you have already sent your response and it may be difficult to take the path I suggest toward a resolution.