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Accidentally violated HOA rule: how to make amends?

Started by PaulJ6 • 15 replies • 734 views

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PaulJ6
Posts: 990
Posted:
Now that I love my new HOA, I want to be a model owner.

My new building has a roof deck with patio furniture, with a great view. It's nice and empty (since my neighborhood cleared out due to Covid-19).

I invited a couple who I'm friends with, and their children, to come over and hang on the roof deck this past weekend. We all went onto the roof deck and got settled in.

Soon, a very nice building employee came over, took me aside, and said, "I'm so sorry, but due to Covid-19, nonresidents can't be on the roof deck. Only you can use it."

I apologized to him and to my friends and we immediately got up and left and went elsewhere in the neighborhood. It was fine. We had a nice evening.

Two other staff members in the building apologized to me (both the person at the reception desk who must have originally noticed the visitors on the roof deck, perhaps through a security camera), but I told them that I owed them an apology, as I broke a rule and didn't mean to inconvenience them. They kept being apologetic but the issue was my fault, which I told them. (I didn't see any signs saying "no guests", but I should have checked.)

I assume that this will be reported to the board as "owners are breaking coronavirus rules", but I did as instructed and left immediately when asked, and I apologized to the staff.

Anything else to do here?

Thanks.
SheliaH (Indiana)
Posts: 6,964
Posted:
Not right now. You were notified of the rule, you apologized and immediately left, so there's nothing else to do. You're a new homeowner and weren't aware of the rule, and now that you knks, go and sin no more.

It might have another story if someone sent off on either side and caused a commotion. You didn't and neither did they - if only all HOA drama could be prevented like this!

If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it. Marcus Aurelius
TimM11
Posts: 354
Posted:
You don't have anything to make amends for at this point. You and your guests stopped what you were doing (which is all you were required to do) and apologized (not required, but polite). Nothing was damaged and nobody was harmed.
DeidreB (Virginia)
Posts: 113
Posted:
PaulJ6, I agree with the others. Nothing else required to make amends. I would suggest drafting a short memorandum for record to self, email it to yourself for electronic record, while the details are still in your head. Simply a "just in case" on the off chance they did report you to the board or there is some sort of follow up or even if someone else violates the rule and behaves poorly and there is a mistaken identity where you are falsely accused. I see little risk for you but that's something you could do to protect yourself.
MarshallT (New York)
Posts: 414
Posted:
You shouldn't have anything to worry about. You were polite and complied with their request. Plus, if the temporary rules aren't clear to members, you can be forgiven for not following them.
MarkW18
Posts: 1,290
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By MarshallT on 07/20/2020 7:05 AM
You shouldn't have anything to worry about. You were polite and complied with their request. Plus, if the temporary rules aren't clear to members, you can be forgiven for not following them.

Prior to responding , one should look to see if the OP is still on the forum. In this case, Paul was bullied out!
TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059
Posted:
What Mark means is that the post count for the original poster is zero.

This typically means that the individual has resigned from the forum.

MarkW18
Posts: 1,290
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By TimB4 on 07/20/2020 8:44 PM
What Mark means is that the post count for the original poster is zero.

This typically means that the individual has resigned from the forum.


No, Tim, I meant what I said. He was bullied by wanna be lawyers or people that think they are smarter than lawyers. Paul actually took the time to become a lawyer!
TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059
Posted:
That may be true (I don't remember that thread, but I know it has happened).

I was trying to provide how to tell someone has resigned from the forum if they didn't have any of that background (post count = 0).
GeorgeS21 (Florida)
Posts: 3,808
Posted:
I don’t think that is how it happened, at all.
AugustinD
Posts: 5,144
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By MarkW18 on 07/20/2020 10:34 PM
Paul actually took the time to become a lawyer!
To me there was a lot of evidence from many threads that he in fact is not an attorney. (It's the internet. I guess we'll never know.)

I keep in mind that in the recent thread where a hoatalk member asked about hiring an attorney for her HOA/condo, he specifically advised not to look for a "HOA lawyer."

CathyA3 (Ohio)
Posts: 6,299
Posted:
Everyone is assuming he left voluntarily. His comments during the most recent "HOA attorney" thread would violate most terms of service. And it wasn't just one comment that he later thought better of, it was a series of them. It took a couple reminders from "non-combatants" to put a stop to it.

I have no idea why he was so rude to Kerry (and the picking and jabbing started before that last thread). I've never seen any posts from Kerry that are less than civil, so who knows what he thought was so offensive. But the proper response to a post that you have an issue with is to call out the post, not to launch into name-calling and ad hominen attacks that can get you kicked off of moderated sites.

Disagreement is not bullying as long as it is confined to a person's comments and expressed civilly. Multiple people disagreeing is not ganging up on someone - it's usually a sign that you need to re-think your position.
GenoS (Florida)
Posts: 4,276
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By CathyA3 on 07/21/2020 8:00 AM
Everyone is assuming he left voluntarily.

There's no evidence that anyone has ever left "involuntarily" from HOATalk. None.
CathyA3 (Ohio)
Posts: 6,299
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By GenoS on 07/21/2020 12:28 PM
Posted By CathyA3 on 07/21/2020 8:00 AM
Everyone is assuming he left voluntarily.

There's no evidence that anyone has ever left "involuntarily" from HOATalk. None.

You're right. But absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. I doubt that the moderators would ever post an announcement that they closed someone's account, so I wouldn't expect anyone else to know about it.
BobD4 (up north)
Posts: 1,002
Posted:
cross reference

topic : “Does your HOA have an HOA Attorney ?”
https://www.hoatalk.com/Forum/tabid/55/forumid/1/tpage/3/view/Topic/postid/287525/Default.aspx

topic “Accidentally violated HOA rule: how to make amends ?”
https://www.hoatalk.com/Forum/tabid/55/forumid/1/postid/287506/view/topic/Default.aspx

I say this with the greatest of respect :

whether or not PaulJ6 NY is an active attorney, retired attorney, butcher, baker , candlestick-maker etc etc personalizing a dialogue risks someone just putting the whole scenario into the rear view mirror.

Watched that happen often enough to turn an active Forum into a mere legal research / “read only”site .

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