Condominium association response process and responsibilities in relation to potential rule violation

Sorry the dog bit you and sorry that the neighbor is so unhelpful. The first step before you pursue any other remedy is to familiarize yourself with your association's bylaws and/or policy resolutions to determine whether you have a complaint the Board can address. That alone should answer most of your questions. If the Association doesn't have policies or by-laws in place regarding pets (which seems somewhat unlikely I'll admit), then the answers to your questions are no, no, no, it doesn't matter, no, no, maybe, and maybe. Alternately, you can show up at Board meetings and advocate a change, although this will not happen fast. If the Association does have policies or by-laws in place regarding this type of incident, then the answers to your questions are largely in there.

I can tell you, as a Board member, complaints that cite specific passages in the governing docs get addressed quickly, and complaints that don't cite actual rules typically get ignored or get an unhelpful boilerplate response.

Some of your questions should be addressed by the property manager – did you speak to him or her? If so, what was the response?

You can also discuss this with the board and they can decide if they want to step in because right now this sounds to me like a dispute between neighbors. Generally, condo and HOA boards would do well to stay out of those, unless the dispute involves damage or misuse of the common area. I realize you were bitten while the dog was in the hallway and this might have been a different story if the dog wasn’t leashed, but unless he’s done this before to other people, this may not be something they can address.

You may want to ask your neighbors if they’ve had issues with this dog – perhaps those people could attend the next board meeting with you and tell their stories – that could compel the board to get involved. Until then, you may want to go after this guy in small claims court and see what happens.

This is an animal control issue and a civil case. Dogs are treated as property in the eyes of the law. So you would need to sue the owner for damages of your medical treatments. The HOA common area is just where the incident happened. Animal control needs contacted as they have to make the proper recording of this dog's history. It will help your case if there is a history of this dog being considered vicious.

The HOA can't do much but report to the animal control or police.

So who is the lucky one to do that? Volunteers anyone for removing a dog from a home? Anyone? Anyone? Oh that's right. Let's call animal control or the police...

Helle Againe,

First let me thank everybody who has repiede, I greatly appreciate all your valuable feedback. :-)

To further clarify, I did specify in my written letter to the association the specific pet rules I believe are being violated. Here are the ones I cited including my reasons (R as to why I believe they are being violated:

Pet Rule #1: “No animals or reptiles of any kind shall be raised, bred or kept in any unit or on the common elements, except that small, dogs, cats or other household pets, not to exceed one per unit without the prior approval of the Board of Directors, may be kept in a unit, subject to compliance with the Bylaws and these Regulations.”
R: Dog is clearly not a small and his aggressive behavior towards me and my family is not orderly.

Pet Rule #2: “A pet may be maintained in a unit so long as it is not a nuisance. Actions which will constitute a nuisance include but are not limited to abnormal or unreasonable crying, barking, scratching or unhygenic offensiveness. “
R: Dog's aggressive behavior including barking and charging towards us is a nuisance. I also consider the bite I sustained in the shared stairway including the need to visit an Emergency Room, receiving a tetanus shot and being prescribed antibiotics a nuisance. In addition, the need for me and my wife to continuously check our unit door peephole, windows or having to slowly open the stairway door every time we want to enter or exit our unit is also a nuisance.

Pet Rule #3: All pets must be registered and innoculated as required by law and registered with the Association office.
R: I do not know if the dog was registered with the Association prior to the bite incident. If he was, what was the registration process and how are pets verified to meet the condominium pet regulations including size?

For additional clarity here are the remaining pet rules:
4- Pet owners are fully responsible for personal injuries and/or property damage caused by their pets.
5- Except in designated pet exercise areas, pets must be leashed or carried; leashes may not exceed six feet in length.
6- Owners of pets walked upon the common elements must promptly clean up their pet's droppings in all areas outside the authorized pet exercise areas.

I obtained these regulations from the 'Rules and Regulations' section of my association's “The Book of Resolutions” document.
---
Here is some background information in the document I found relevant pertaining to the rules and regulations:
- The Owners Association acting through its Board of Directors, has adopted the following Rules and Regulations ('Regulations'). These Regulations may be amended from time no time by resolution of the Board of Directors.
- The Association reserves the right to alter, amend, modify, repeal or revoke these Regulations and any consent l or approval given hereunder at any time by resolution of the Association or the Board of Directors.

-------
Here is additional relevant information from the overall ‘Book of Resolutions’ document.
CLASSIFICATION OF RESOLUTIONS
The resolutions of the Board shall be classified as follows
A. "Policy Resolutions" means resolutions adopted by the Board which specifically relate to the long-term governance of the Association, including without limitation actions affecting the property rights, obligations and equity of both the Association and the individual Owners.
B. 'Administrative Resolutions" means those resolutions adopted by the Board which deal with the internal operation and structure of the Association including, without limitation, resolutions adopted with respect to contracts, financial procedures and committee terms of reference.
c. "Special Resolutions" means (1) resolutions adopted by the Board or the Covenants Committee with respect to questions of compliance by an owner or Resident with the provisions of the Condominium Act, the Condominium Instruments or the Book of Resolutions: and (2) resolutions adopted by the Covenants Committee in the course of issuing an interpretation of the
Condominium Instruments, pursuant to Section xx of the Bylaws .
D. "General Resolutions" means those resolutions adopted by the Board with respect to specific expenditures, single task actions, and other matters which have no continuing, far-reaching or precedent setting implications .

-CONFLICTS:
If there is a conflict between the provisions contained in the Book of Resolutions and those in the Condominium Act, the Declaration or the Bylaws, then the provisions of each shall control in the following order: the Condominium Act, the Declaration, and the Bylaws.
- SEVERABILITY
The invalidity of any portion of the Book of Resolutions shall not impair or affect in any manner the validity, enforceability or effect of the balance of the Book of Resolutions.
- APPLICABILITY
Any reference made herein with respect to actions taken by the Association shall include the Managing Agent where the Association has delegated its authority to take such action to the Managing Agent.
- COMPLIANCE
All Owners, their tenants, employees, guests, licensees and invitees shall comply with the provisions of the Book of Resolutions.
- ENFORCEMENT
The Association, Declarant, any successor Declarant, any Owner or Tenant shall have the right to enforce, by any proceeding set forth herein or at law or in equity, all provisions of this Book of Resolutions and the Condominium Instruments. Failure by the Association, Declarant, a successor Declarant, any Owner or Tenant to enforce any of the provisions of this Book of Resolutions shall in no event be deemed a waiver of the right to do so thereafter. A waiver of such rights shall be effective only pursuant to a written instrument signed by the party to be charged with such waiver. Such instrument shall operate as a waiver of only those provisions which are expressly waived therein.
--
I again apologize for this bombardment of information. Thanks again for all your responses.

Sorry for the typos above. I would also like to add that a police dog bite report was initiated by the hospital and filed with animal control. However according to what they verbally told me (the redacted copy I received of the report does not does not indicate their conclusions), that since the severity of the bite was minor and since the dog was on a leash it was not considered a criminal violation. The purpose of my complaint is not to seek some type of compensation from the neighbor for my injury. What I am seeking is the prevention of what occurred to me to occur again, including a possibly worse incident.This also is a nuisance to my day to day living at the condominium because of continuously having to be 'on the lookout' everytime I enter or exit my unit.

Re: rule #1, the lack of a definition of "small" makes that part of the rule impossible to enforce. Some people would consider it less than twenty pounds, some would consider it less than eighty, and so on.

I understand the pet rules, but once again, this may be seen as more of a dispute between neighbors and the HOA can't get involved unless more people have complained. That said, I would agree a strongly worded letter from the board would be nice. Even better some sort of blur in the community newsletter or on the website reminding everyone of the rules

Still, there's no guarantee this won't happen again, but have you seen this dog since the incident? If so, is the neighbor doing better in keeping it under control, perhaps putting a muzzle on him when he takes it out or staying inside the doorway of his home until you leave the area? You might want to give him a little time to see if that's effective, but if not or he doesn't seem to care, you may just need to go after him in small claims court.

Homeowners can enforce community rules against each other and maybe what they guy needs is a beatdown of sorts in the wallet to straighten up and fly right (you can ask for your expenses to be reimbursed since it doesn't sound like you needed medical attention). In the meantime, keep notifying the property manager (and perhaps animal control) every time this dog is unleased or otherwise causing trouble - a paper trail can help in case this does end up in court

I did a quick search on the web and there are Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) registered dog attack deterrent sprays you might also try. Some of them have a range of up to 15 feet and when sprayed in the dog's eyes, it'll sting (the stuff is usually made with pepper). The effects aren't long lasting and gives you time to get out of the area. If nothing else, the dog may remember that the next time he sees you - and stay away from you on his own.

Thanks again for all your comments!

Some responses and follow-up comments.

My encounter with the dog was exactly as I was going down the stairs to exit the hallway and at the same time the owner was entering via the only door that we have to enter/exit the building. The door that leads to the outside does not have windows so I cannot see who or what is behind it coming in and vice versa. As I was opening the door the neighbor was coming in and the dog immediately advances toward me while I immediately retreated back up the stairs but not enough to avoid being bitten. Unless I had x-ray vision I could not have seen the dog and owner coming towards the entrance door. I can see someone arguing that I should not have immediately fled but as I said before this is a large and aggressive dog. The leash limit in this case would not be as significant as the ability of the dog owner to enter the hallway with caution and have the ability to immediately pull back the dog if he’s advancing forward. The dog owner should be able to control the animal to avoid it becoming a threat to others regardless of how another person reacts including someone like my young child!

I understand the point about not including all potential applicable rules, but I definitely believe rules #1 and 2 are being violated in my situation. I understand that the Association may be reluctant to intercede unless others complain (or if some else gets bitten!). However I am the only one who has to share the same entry/exit path to my unit with my neighbor and dog so the risk level I and my family have is higher than for the majority of the other condo residents. This is a garden-style condo, where there is no other entrance exit to both our units unless you count eh balconies ;-)
My main concern is the dog's aggressive behavior combined with what I see as a limited ability of the owner to control the dog.

I did state in my written letter that I believe the dog being removed would be the safest action. However, I would be open to other possible safety options, and I have considered this more in the past few days. One of the options I am thinking is having the dog assessed by a dog or animal behavior specialist (which I saw online) that can determine dog behavior issues and if they can be modified by training, as well as assess how the owner handles the dog. However, I do believe a neutral and objective third party is needed to mediate this but I do not know who. I was hoping the Association but at this time they have not yet responded to my last letter. I agree it would be nice if the Association send a notification to the neighbor but more importantly I would prefer they contact me and the neighbor for a brief chat to go over the safety concerns and go from there.

One of the responses above from Augustin indicates that according to the rules, I can "undertake enforcement of the governing documents". This is confusing to me since if I can the lead enforcement what’s the role of the board? Not to mention the time and resources I would need to spend to address this issue on my own.

Furthermore, if the delay from the board to intervene is due to the complexity or implications of the enforcement the rules, then why have rules pertaining to the pets to begin with?

At this point, I am considering mediation options but it seems like I will have to take the lead with a professional mediator or lawyer which is very frustrating but it seems like it is the only way to have the safety issues addressed.

It doesn't sound like your board can or will do much regarding this.

Your proposal to have a behaviorist assess the dog is an interesting one, but who's going to pay? Licensed behaviorists here charge over $1,000. You think the owner will pay? An owner who has no incentive to do so even if they're wrong? And what kind of conclusion are you hoping from an animal behaviorist? They generally work with dogs to get them to change behaviors. I don't know of any owner who would agree to having a behaviorist label their dog dangerous or not.

Also, the police report says it was a minor incident and doesn't consider it a "criminal violation."
It sounds like you're limited in what you can legally do at this point.

I do though think your problem can be easily solved with a muzzle. Asking the owner to use a muzzle when the dog leaves the apartment, and comes back in is reasonable. Considering what happened, the owners may very well agree.

Since it appears no one else has been bitten or nearly bitten by this animal, you have no choice but to address this on your own. As I said earlier, homeowners can enforce the CCRs against each other, which is what I believe is Augustine’s point. HOA boards have a lot on their plate and sometimes they must choose what type of violation they’re going to focus on – unfortunately for you, this isn’t it (yet).

Sometimes people expect the board to do what they should be doing themselves – there’s nothing wrong with talking to the neighbor about this issue and trying to come to a resolution. If you didn’t live in an HOA community and this happened, you’d have to spend your time and resources to resolve it anyway, so it’s a matter of determining what might work. If a letter didn’t work try something else.

Yes, you can go to an attorney and pursue legal action, but I don’t think you’re there yet. I also think you may have trouble showing this dog is dangerous – sure he bit you, but without documentation or witnesses showing they’ve also been attacked and bitten, you may not have any grounds to argue that the dog should be removed from the building.
So let’s see – you mentioned you have a child – has he/she or your spouse mentioned having any conflicts with this dog? If so, bring that to the board’s attention as well, as it could bolster your chance of at least getting them to send a letter to the owner.

How big is this dog – large to some people is a Great Dane, others a French bulldog and still others your garden variety mutt – could it be you’re afraid of any size dog on some level? Regardless of size, dogs are pack animals and can react if they sense something is fearful (like prey) – you may not think you should have immediately fled when seeing it, but instinct is instinct. Have you tried contacting animal control or local humane society for suggestions on what to do when coming across an aggressive dog? Try that and share that information with your family if necessary.
You also mentioned mediation, which is a good idea. Do you have a neighbor who knows both of you and who isn’t afraid of the dog? Perhaps he or she would be willing to mediate between you two, especially since I think you’re still intimated by the dog. I understand why - I wouldn’t want another confrontation that may end with a series of rabies shots or worse as opposed to a minor bite.

Finally, you said the door that leads to the outside of the building doesn’t have windows so you can’t see who or what’s coming in or out. Is there a light in the area – if not, perhaps the Board could have a light installed there (it would be nice for general safety.) That may help when you enter or leave the building and see the dog coming.

John,

Why not draft a proposal to the Board.

Our pet policy specifies: Animals deemed dangerous by any State, County or Municipality must wear a muzzle when on the common area.

Note: we specified that the State, County or City must make the determination because it removes subjectiveness by the Board.

I would also suggest that a muzzle be used as a compromise in your situation because the animal did bite.