Neighbor-Neighbor complaints

How do other associations handle neighbor-neighbor complaints?

We received 0 neighbor-neighbor complaints in the first 18 months I was on the board. Then in the last 6 months, we have received 3.

I'm suspecting that as we have become re-energized as an HOA, homeowners are realizing that we actually do stuff and take care of stuff, so when they have a neighbor-neighbor issue, they are now expecting we'll deal with it instead of them handling themselves.

I'm not wanting to get involved in neighbor-neighbor issues. I'm sort of the philosophy that we should have 2 or more neighbors complain about the problem neighbor before we get involved, so we know it's bothersome to the community and not just one person. The other board is silent on this. I plan to discuss it at our next meeting but am looking for some background to prepare for the meeting.

Max you said it all.

Agree with the others. Unless a covenant or rule is being violated, it is not an HOA issue. If laws are being broken, you can let the owner know to contact local authorities as appropriate, or just leave it as "not an hoa issue".

It depends on what you mean by neighbor to neighbor complaint. If one neighbor makes a complaint that another neighbor is violating the CC&Rs, then I think you have a duty to take take action, at least in so much as you would have taken action otherwise. For example, if piles of garbage are not allowed, you cannot refuse to take action simply because it is only visible to one neighbor or only one neighbor complains.

If the neighbor's action does not violate any CC&Rs then you should stay out of it.

Agree with Douglas & Ben.

Perfect.

I agree.

Most CC&Rs have a "nuisance clause." But our GM would not send a courtesy letter to the alleged violator without confirmation by a staff member here. Nor would she call an alley ged violator to a hearing without confirmation by a 3rd party.

You've got it right. Stay out of personal disputes. The board should only get involved if the issue impacts the association. If you start receiving complaints from more than one owner about someone else, then it would be reasonable for the board to get involved.

I disagree with Bob of OR that "nuisance" should be defined in the CC&Rs or in some sort of muni or state code. There are way too many possibilities to list. Here's one set of neighbors dealt with an undefined nuisance on their own.

In our other condo building 50' away from me I could see that a resident installed a bird feeder on their balcony. Soon, birds appeared. I enjoyed watching them feed and sometimes squabble. We don't see many birds in our downtown setting. But a newish fellow director a floor up and one unit west of the feeder emailed to ask if there is "anything that can be done about these damn birds!"

What? Well, I hadn't noticed that they perched on the balcony rails of about 5 other condos to wait their turn or rest, or? With my binocs, I could see white spots all over the dark green tube steel railings. Facing south, the rails bake in the sun all day long. Oohh.

I advised "Mel" to contact his neighbor, whom he does not know, with a polite note under his door, to suggest that "perhaps you aren't aware of this, but...." Or, I added, maybe the 5, one of whom is another director, of you neighbors could write a sweet joint letter to the feeder resident.

He said they'd give it a try. But, "what if that doesn't work?' he asked. I then cited the nuisance clause and explained the PM could send a courtesy letter to cure the nuisance and if he didn't, we could call him to a hearing. I went away for a couple of weeks and when I returned, the feeder was gone. I keep forgetting to ask the other directors what made that resident remove the feeder.

Exactly as it should be. We had several issues that popped up over the years. Usually the HOA stayed out of it.

One issue we couldn’t ignore was the ones breaking rules or CCRS. Those should dealt with as needed otherwise stay out