Board members tattling on issues

Has anyone had experience with bringing a neighbors violation of bylaws to a board member for their assistance, only to have the board member tattle to the neighbor on who “turned them in”? Shouldn’t these complaints be kept anonymous as to keep peace in the neighborhood? How do other communities handle these situations? Thankyou

Completely agree with ND. Especially that the complainer should have been told to follow official policy about violations. AND, of course the director keeping the complainer's name confidential.

Are you the one who complained, or? In other words, what is your role here? Please note, too, that it's approvable a rule that was violated or perhaps a CC&R, but most likely not a Bylaw.

My rule was that you had to come to the meeting or if you chose to send a letter, it was read out loud to everyone in attendance. Either way, you had to present a resolution or agree for the board to do so. Plus we did not refer to people by names but by lot #'s.

It should also be noted that that board is the one that is responsible for enforcing violations as they see fit or are able. Someone may bring them a complaint but they decide if it is worthy of pursuing. If you have open meetings then most likely names may not be withheld on either side. If you run your HOA with transparency, then it's not like can keep it a secret from other people in attendance.

My BOD accepts all complaints even if anonymous. A member of the BOD will check the complaint out.
If valid we notify our MC to send out a violation notice. The violation goes out via the MC so the original
complainer's name never gets used.

Violations in CA also may be handled in executive session and that's how e do it. After all, the alleged violator has due process in Ca and may want to defend or explain their actions. Their privacy is protected.

Because the violation is confirmed by management, the HOA, as in JohnC's HOA, is the entity that's complaining and the original person is not involved.

If the complainer had to accuse someone of a violation in an open meeting, I'm pretty sure no one at my HOA would ever point out a violation for fear of retaliation. Imagine being on an elevator with the alleged violator once you've been forced to complain in public?

You said "bylaws," but might you be referring to the CCRs (they usually dictate how the common area is to be used, and usually address things like parking, pets, noise, and other stuff that may prompt neighbors to crap on each other (and sometimes worse). That said, it may depend on the violation. If the neighbor put up something and didn't get prior approval from the board, the other neighbor can complain, and the board (or property manager) could investigate. If they see the violation, then the "complainant" would be the board, and it may not be necessary to bring in whoever reported it.

Personally, I'm not a fan of "anonymous" complaints - as a practical matter, the complainer doesn't always provide details on whatever the person did, which can make it difficult to investigate. Or they're misunderstanding an issue (or don't want to make the effort) and prefer the board to do the dirty work, as opposed to going over to the neighbor's house and discuss the matter. I know that can be dicey these days, but it's still worth a try (you may have to speak to someone else in the household if the person violating the bylaw or CCR is an a-hole.

Besides, there is something called due process in this country and that includes being able to confront one's accusers. If you're worried the a-hole may do something of the criminal kind, perhaps the issue is best forwarded to the non-emergency side of the police department - board members aren't cops. Finally, if the matter escalates to the point legal action is necessary, the complainant neighbor may need to testify as to what he or she saw or heard to strengthen the association's case.

Our approach was we don't take anonymous complaints at all. We don't go to neighbor #2 and say "Mrs. So and So told us that you..." either, but the complainer is told he/she may be asked to provide a statement or testify if things escalate. If our property manager or a board member doesn't see the issue or it's clearly a dispute between neighbors, neighbor 1 is told to go talk to the other one. They can always contact our security officer to talk to the neighbor if he/she has a bad temper.

Individual board members should not be approached with complaints. Only the Board as a whole can handle complaints. The written complaints should be to the board of directors via your property manager if you have one. In your case, pictures of the violation would be very helpful.

In our HOA and maybe in your, Brenda, there's a from to full out to give to our PM with a few questions. The form promises to protect the comparer's privacy. How ARE you supped to make a complaint in your HOA?

It wasnt appropriate for the board member to tell takes out of svhoole, but frankly, you bought this on yourself - why didn't you just go to the neighbor and discuss the matter? You said the neighbor is new - did you not consider that maybe he or she wasn't aware of the rule? If the stuff was out there for 24 hours, it's not like touching have time to go over and tell him (in a nice way). Instead you went from zero to 60 by going straight to the board.

This makes me think you didn't have the courtesy of bugs to cleanup but prefer to have the board be the enforcer. I'd understand if the neighbor ignored you or told you to kick rocks. Now you've gotten off to a bad start with these people - no, the shouting and getting in personal space was appropriate eithet.

Let's start over - how about finding the board member who spilled the tea, as it were and see if he or she would be willing to go to the neighbor with you to sassy this. You apologize for not discussing this with him off her at the start, he or she can apologize for flying off the handlebars the board member can later apologize to you or running his mouth. All of you can Learn from this.

Jeepers, that post was a mess! What I meant to say was:

You could have avoided this By just going over to the neighbor's house and discuss the matter In a nice way. You said they're new, so maybe they didn't know the rules. Instead, you went straight to the board - I could see doing that if the neighbor ignored you and did it again and/or told you where to go and what to do when you got there.

Let's start over and this time bring in the board member who ran his mouth- he's partially responsible for this, so he can help clean it up by negotiating the peace. You apologize for not trying to talk to the neighbor first, he or she apologized for going off and the board member can later apologize younglings his lack of discretion.

Good ideas, Sheila. I agree that the best approach is to directly and gently contact the neighbor.

Kelly raises a interesting point. Perhaps in Brenda's HOA and in others, owners should go to their nearest director to report alleged violations and maybe some HOAs do have individual directors responsible for specific sections of the HOA. I've just never heard of such arrangements. Glad to learn something new.

Y-E-S.

I'm our HOA president. We have a clueless Board member that not only does this, but runs around creating friction between homeowners and the BOD, when a decision is made that he disagrees with. ("The rest of the Board is self-serving, dumb, out to get members, etc) Subsequently, the meetings turn into b*tch sessions/attack the BOD sessions. It's beyond frustrating.

I spoke to the jerk privately to no avail. Our Bylaws/CCR's have no recourse for a jackass Board member. So, if they seem reasonable try to just have a conversation with them.