Confidentiality for Complaints

Every now and then, our homeowners complain about relatively minor issues that are covered in our HOA covenants, e.g. trash cans left out for days, vehicles parked (stored) in driveways for days, weeds in neighbor's yard, etc. When the complainant calls our property manager about these, she insists that she has to tell the "complainee" the name of the complainant. Our property manager drives through our community once a week and notes these kinds of violations (if she sees them) and sends a letter to the homeowner urging them to correct the situation. I can't find anything in our covenents, By-Laws or other governing documents that requires the complainant's name to be shared. So.........how do other HOAs handle these "minor" violations? By "minor" I don't mean to downplay them, but to contrast them with property line disputes, architectural violations, encroachments, etc. which usually result in written complaints and require legal work/arbitration to address.

What's minor to you could be considered major to someone else, so a good day of thumb (to me, anyway) is to consider how many people are impacted. If you get a lot of complaints on the same homeowner, that could be something the needs to take up. Especially if there's a safety issue, like someone's dog nearly biting passersby and not being leashed when outside. Overflowing trash can also be an issue because it's ugly and can create a health hazard (rats and such love this stuff).

Regarding confidentiality, it shouldn't take much for a board member or two (preferred) to swing by the offender and see if you can see what the complainant is talking about. For examp!e if a hard has lots of weeds, you can take a photo (time and date stamoed) and then the board becomes the complainant. That said, the board should get the complainant 's name and phone because if things escalate, that person may need to be a witness. That's another good way to determine if someone simply wants the board to do their dirty work. We do have due process in this country, after all, and unless you can come up with a compelling reason you want to remain anonymous, you need to be willing to go to that person and handle the matter.

Some property manager's have a service where they do periodic walk or drive -throughs to find problems, so you could consider that. The board can specify what issues the company should look for so they don't waste time on nonsense. Homeowners should also be told what issues will warrant the board's attention and it will not get involved in individual neighbor -neighbor disputes. The CCRs can be enforced by one homeowner against another, so if they can't or refuse to resolve issues like grown people, let them duke it out in small claims court.

In my community, minor violations are first handled with a "friendly reminder" letter from the PM, which usually sorts things out. We also don't react to a complaint without some sort of reasonable evidence (photos, complaints from multiple persons, observation by the PM or a board member). At that point the violator probably doesn't really need to know who complained since the evidence speaks for itself, and there aren't any fines or other consequences yet - and it can worsen what might already be a unfriendly situation between some neighbors. Totally a judgement call.

It's only for more serious or repeat violations, or if there isn't any supporting evidence (eg. noise complaints), that we expect the person who complained to be willing to go on record. If the accused requests a hearing, then I believe he or she is entitled to know who filed the complaint. If the dispute ends up in court, and the board can't produce witnesses or evidence. then it's just hearsay and the judge will rule in favor of the accused homeowner.

There is always a potential issue if something ends up in court, and that's attorney-client privilege. If we're dealing with a dispute that we believe may escalate, we give our attorney a heads-up - he can tell us what we must disclose and what may remain confidential. We then disclose only what is required, in writing, and nothing more. Loose lips can lose court cases.

Some homeowners have a problem with going on record - they expect the board to do the dirty work and leave them out of it. But it's amazing how many complaints evaporate when the complainer isn't allowed to be anonymous. Some also believe that the board should act as a police force. I had one owner furious with me when I told him that I hadn't seen what he was talking about, and that he needed to provide supporting evidence or put his complaint in writing with his name attached - otherwise we wouldn't do anything until the evidence was produced. He stomped off in a snit, and nothing ever came of the complaint.