Non-HOA families using community area and causing damage

Started by BrittanyP • 7 replies • 591 views

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BrittanyP (Washington)
Posts: 1

Posted:

Hi All -

I live in a new development (single family homes) that has a common area and playground maintained by our HOA. Our development is a separate community that shares a street with another housing subdivision. As a result, kids from the neighborhood not from the HOA are playing in our park. This isn't a big deal, however, the park fence has been broken by kids not part of the HOA.

Our HOA will have to pay to fix the fence. Has anyone had any experience working with other neighborhoods using their common space?

CathyA3 (Ohio)
Posts: 6,299

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By BrittanyP on 09/11/2019 12:54 PM
Hi All -

I live in a new development (single family homes) that has a common area and playground maintained by our HOA. Our development is a separate community that shares a street with another housing subdivision. As a result, kids from the neighborhood not from the HOA are playing in our park. This isn't a big deal, however, the park fence has been broken by kids not part of the HOA.

Our HOA will have to pay to fix the fence. Has anyone had any experience working with other neighborhoods using their common space?

Yeah, it kind of is a big deal. In addition to the maintenance expense, their is liability risk if someone were injured on HOA property. Our association attorney noted that crime rates tend to rise when you have strangers coming into a neighborhood, which can put residents and their property at risk.

At a minimum, there should be No Trespassing signage (our attorney says that courts often rule that people are responsible if they are hurt while trespassing). Depending on how much trouble you're having, you may also want to employ security to evict the trespassers. Your board of directors should be talking about this and coming up with appropriate next steps to protect HOA property and financial well being.

GenoS (Florida)
Posts: 4,276

Posted:

It's up to you to keep them out. Maybe a more robust fence, or some sort of monitoring with cameras to alert someone to the indruders so that the police may be called.

PestY
Posts: 128

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By GenoS on 09/11/2019 3:35 PM
It's up to you to keep them out. Maybe a more robust fence, or some sort of monitoring with cameras to alert someone to the indruders so that the police may be called.

A fence which will NOT be damaged by mere 'climbing' or 'touching'.

KellyM3 (North Carolina)
Posts: 2,239

Posted:

You'll have to purchase more durable fencing (Kids are kids, after all) or enforce trespassing using the police. Those are your options. If non-residents are causing damage, the community isn't being rude or callous by protecting against damage.

LetA (Nevada)
Posts: 2,679

Posted:

Are you a gated community? yes or no, you need to hire a security guard to trespass unwanted persons off the property. I live in a gated 300 ish community and in the beginning we had residents from an abutting apartment complex climb a block wall, trapse through owners backyards then climb the iron fence to the pool. The same apartment peeps are always trespassing onto our property to trespass onto an abutting HOA because they have a basketball court. That HOA installed fence extensions that go 15 feet high and the jerks still scale the iron gate.

First I would get a legal opinion from your HOA attorney to limit or eliminate liability from trespassers. You are never going to eliminate being sued but if you take steps to put up signage warning trespassers, it WILL slow them down.

Second it will slow them down, but install fence or block wall extensions, it will slow them down, but you can never stop a determined person from trespassing on your property.

Lastly be prepared and actually prosecute offenders, being complacent and saying oh well will only lead to more incidents and my flip liability back on you.

MarkM19 (Texas)
Posts: 1,459

Posted:

Brittany,
I have a couple of questions.

1) Is the other subdivision and HOA also?
2) Do they not have a Park of their own?

Sharing a common street should have been a Red Flag when you purchased. You need to be real careful when you start making statements about other peoples kids who may not belong. You will be called names that you can only imagine. Signage will keep a few out but only the few that don't really want to play at that park. Liability will always be part of an HOA and should be a part of your overall insurance plan. If the other subdivision has an HOA I would setup a meeting and discuss the problem and possible solutions. They can also contribute to fence repairs when they happen. If not you are screwed and just need to understand that this problem will not go away.

As someone who has been called many things over the years. I would just advise you be real careful trying to decide who should be in that park and who should not be.

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

High walls, barbed wired, armed guards. End of problem.

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