how to enforce pet weight limit

HI. First let me say, I love animals. I am not against animals.
However.. our condominiums have pet weight restrictions outlined in our rules and regulations.
This was a decision made many years ago based on the desires of the community.
Many potential buyers with small children appreciated that there were not big dogs .

My question is..., In the past year, we have several condominiums that have been newly rented out.( our property was destroyed by harvey, and many longtime owners sold or moved. The condo's have now been renovated and owners are anxious to rent out their units. This has resulted in many many dogs that are way way over the weight limit.
It's become especially noticeable this past two months.

However. there are at least 2 owners who have lived here many years who have dogs that are over the weight limits also.
apparently, no complaints were every made and so no enforcement was ever pursued.

Now the board is getting complaints about the big dogs. and many tenants are not cleaning up after the dogs.

I believe the board can start enforcing the rules, as long as we send out notice that we are going to start enforcing these rules.

I obviously would feel terrible about having an elderly gentleman who has had his dog for 12 years that he has to get rid of his dog./(this is one of the two owners that had a bigger dog, but noone every complained, thus the board was never notified and never took action).. but now we have owners who have rented out their units to tenants who either lied about their dogs size to the owner. Or the new owners..and or tenants were not familiar with the rule. ( needless to say,. the past year has been a nightmare, we had to remove the board because of gross mismanagment and waste of all of our reserves and absolutely no oversight of what was going on)
my question is, now that the new board is getting many complaints about the big dogs.. also.. there are now almost 15 dogs that are almost the double the weight limit or more.
Can the new board send out notification to all owners,, that, based on our exisiting ccr's. and the numerous complaints from other owners,, we are going to actively start enforcing the pet limit restrictions... ,, can we allow exceptions to the enforcement... without it seeming biased to the new owners/tenants who we feel should not get an exemption. they were given copies of our ccr's when the purchased.etc.

anyone have any good ideas??

doing away with the weight limit is not an option.. Many owners have small children and there was an incident a couple of years ago that many still remember..
A dog(at the top limit of what our wieght restrictions are) was on a leash and yanked away from their owner,, the dog ran across the courtyard and attacked another owners new puppy and the puppy ended up dieing.. many owners still remember and are adamantly against these new big dogs.

Melissa,

Given the question, and the purported presence of specific rules against large dogs, the point is not which dogs bite, but the weight of the dog.

Anyone who has had their dog for 12 years has set a standard - if the COA did not enforce their dog limits for 12 years, and they have been many large dogs over the years - probably too late to enforce.

You would be fighting a losing battle on dog weight. Why? lets say you enforce dog weight, then you get an tenant or owner that's blind and uses a German Shepard or Golden Retriever as a guide dog. You then enforce the ban on this tenant and it's lights out for the HOA YOU'RE DONE.. Carefully review your governing documents and stick to behavior enforcement i.e. noise, nuisance and poo complaints. Noise and nuisance you can get the help of your local animal control.

Smaller dogs have a higher chance to bite someone than a large breed dog.

Here's what I think has the best chance of passing legal muster and solving the bulk of the problems at the same time:

-- Grandfather in any owner or renter who has had the over-size dog more than five (more? less?) years. But also send the owner a formal letter saying they may not acquire any other dog over the size limit. Require appropriate vaccinations.

-- Require all tenants and new owners to provide a copy of the dog's annual physical exam along with proof of required vaccinations, like Rabies. If you do not require such vaccinations, start doing so.

-- Recognize that some who are disabled have over-sized service dogs that must be allowed under the Fair Housing Act, as long as other reasonable rules are followed. Establish a policy for this disability accommodation, using guides on the net or the HOA's attorney.

You have mentioned both CCR’s and Rules & Regulations. What exactly do your CCR’s say?

If it’s in your CCR’s, you can grandfather in the dogs that are already there. If it’s only in your Rules & Regulations it may not be enforceable. It’s not in our State. Members would have to vote to add it to the CCR’s.

To not be selective, you would have to weight all the dogs and have weight ins periodically. You would need a fine schedule for violations. Depending on the size of your HOA, this could be monstrous to enforce.

A dog attack as described is best handled by the police or animal control. They have more authority and consequences under those circumstances than an HOA.
Probably best to have your attorney review.

My point exactly. Go on Amazon and you too can make Cujo an emotional support animal for just $29.99 plus shipping and handling

Let me preface this with the fact that I don't agree with trying to restrict dogs by weight. I've seen quite a few small dogs who were more vicious, annoying (volume and temperament), and destructive than some other larger dogs I've seen. IMO, your rule would fail to screen out some dogs that you really don't want in your HOA.

But . . . If you're going to have this sort of rule, you will need to continually track and monitor compliance to it . . . a tedious and painful task.

IMO, you will need to grandfather all existing dogs. A rule can't be ignored by owners and the Board for so long and then start from anywhere other than accepting what currently exists and trying to prevent future occurrences. Who is to say that the family pet which has only been in the HOA for a few months must be returned to the breeder/shelter/pet store, but a dog that has been there 2, 5, 10 years is allowed to stay?

You'd need to document all existing dogs however you see fit. Failure of an owner to provide needed documentation will result in them being in violation of the "new" dog rules and whatever actions will result. Any new resident/pets would have to comply with whatever the "new" rule is (making it known to them that pets do currently exist which do not comply with the rule but have been grandfathered).

Any dog-related issue, other than a dog exceeding your weight limit, should be handled by local authorities or animal control and is not HOA Board responsibility.