Right to enter property

We had a similar situation in our Association. The hired contractor took it upon herself to enter the enclosed rear yards of members to perform an inspection. Several complained. This prompted the Association to seek a legal opinion. Our attorney stated that all inspections should be done from common area only. Failure to do so could result in trespassing charges by the owner.

If you are the owner - send a certified letter to the registered agent of the Association, copy to all board members, specifying that nobody from the Association is to enter the property without invitation. To do so otherwise will result in trespassing charges to the police. Better yet, have your attorney write the letter.

If you are a member of the Board, utilize what you can to make your inspections. Nothing prevents one from looking through or over the fence to perform inspections (expecting that the outside of the fence is common area).

Our HOA you can enter the property. That is because the HOA owns that land. You own the house and the lot the house sits on. Not every HOA is set up that way. Ours is done that way because our only responsibility is to provide lawncare. How else we going to do it unless we allow lawncare to enter the yards?

If not defined as common area, the management company or the board or any of their assigns cannot enter private property without permission of the owner of that property. There are some exceptions. In many states this would be trespassing. For covenant, governing docs, Rules & Regulations and Community standards compliance the association doing the inspection can only cite what they see from common area. That is my understanding as far as Florida is concerned.

Being Florida, if she did not leave after being told to leave, the HO might have 'stand your ground' and fired to kill.

HOAs are on shaky, if not potentially lethal, ground by intrusions onto private property w/o explicit permission.

Melissa,

The lawn care company HAS the HO's permission.

The BOD may not have said permission.

Get out the drones. I expect violators will complain about them.

A trespass in Texas does not automatically allow a homeowner to use deadly force to prevent the trespass. There must be a good faith belief that the use of deadly force is necessary to prevent an imminent threat of harm or death, and when someone is unlawfully or forcefully entering your home, vehicle or place of business, or to prevent the imminent commission of arson, burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, theft during the nighttime.

In other words, a management company rep entering a backyard does not rise to the level that would allow a homeowner to use deadly force to prevent the trespass - there has to be a good faith belief that the trespass by the rep could represent an imminent threat of harm or death.

LOL ... pretty much similar in my state. We can open carry and if have permit can conceal carry.

Potentially unless the HOA needs access to an HOA "easement" located in a private back yard (such as irrigation easement) to fix an issue it is that person's property. I am sure in my last HOA that a few had crappy back yards, but as long as it per the CCR's could not be seen from the street because hidden behind a 6' privacy fence ... pretty much what you want to do behind your privacy fence is your personal business on your personal property.

In my neighborhood, entering other peoples property will result in looking down the barrel of a firearm. Probably not in death/injury unless you are there with ill intent and continue it.

Even if your documents say that you have the authority to enter upon the property of a co-owner to correct a violation, there is no way in hell that I would do so, or ask anyone else to do so, without first having obtained a court order/injunction/ruling that expressly gave permission to do so. That's simply idiotic.