HOA Property Damage

We had HOA property damaged by a visitor in our community. The damage was done by his car. How does the HOA file a claim against the car owner's insurance to have damages repaired? Our management company will not/does not file claims.

Hi Debra. We have had the same thing happen here last month. A visitor's car went up and over one of our landscaped traffic islands and tore out some flowers and left deep tire track ruts across the grass. We had a witness who submitted a written statement about what he saw. We know who did it and who he was visiting. Our board voted last week to send a letter to the respective homeowner saying if it happens again they will be charged for the cost of repairing the landscaping damage. There was never any talk of any sort of insurance claim, probably because the cost to repair it wouldn't be anywhere near our policy deductible.

Our governing docs do permit the HOA to recover the costs of repairs from the homeowner who is responsible for the actions of his tenants, visitors and guests. There wasn't a lot of discussion at the meeting about it other than the motion to send a "next time you will pay" letter. Some of it goes back to last year when an owner's tenant damaged the concrete in the driveway and the board did nothing but send a few blustery letters to the owner before the president finally told him "don't worry about it". I think the board last week thought it would be a "bad look" to make the longtime owner pay for some sod after letting the non-resident owner off the hook last year for his tenant's actions.

The board here is perpetually in "Always Do As Little As Possible" mode and has been that way since I got here.