HOA violation delivery

It should be send via USPS, certified return receipt requested. You want proof of delivery, and email doesn't give you that.

We would send certified mail to the HOA address and a "courtesy" mail to the owner's non-HOA address if there was one. The court is going to look at the address on that letter to show proof it was delivered. Showing it was delivered to the HOA address holds a bit more weight to the record keeping. Delivering to the owner's other address is more of a courtesy notice to be aware of the certified notice.

Need to show the court that notices were officially sent to the HOA address to prove proof of delivery whether or not owner lives there. It is the member's address after all. It's what makes them a member. Never open a letter that has been returned to sender. This offers additional proof to the court that notices were un-opened or un-signed.

We had to do this when we foreclosed on a house. Showed delivery was made and refused/un-signed. They tried to fight it in court but Judge took as proof notification was given. They were on the hook for not accepting it.

Ann, neither Melissa nor I know your governing documents or your state's statutes. In CA, for instance, the Assn. must send the letter to the address specified by the Owner on a form Owners must reauthorize every year. In CA, the Owner may specify two addresses. It's not required that either one be their Assn. address.

It may be different in Wisc.

I agree

A certified letter is delivered to the house. If no one is there to sign for it, then it goes back to the Post Office to pick up. So I don't see how that is being "aggressive". It's how certified letters are delivered. Plus they offer LEGAL PROOF of delivery. Just regular mail doesn't nor does an email.

Here is a true story FYI. An owner was foreclosed on by the HOA for non-payment. Did not pay dues for over a year. They tried to fight it. Claimed in court that it was illegal for the HOA to have foreclosed as they NEVER received notification. The HOA did not send them to their OTHER home. The HOA had served official certified letters to the HOA's home address. Keep in mind the HOA is foreclosing on the HOA property of which the MEMBER owns. So they are legally obligated to address the HOA's property directly. An owner should be responsible for that property whether or not they live there.

The HOA won. The owner was foreclosed on. Their argument held no water. The HOA had proof of unresponsive correspondence to the HOA address. Plus part of the foreclosure process is required to give PUBLIC notification of intent of foreclosure. It has to be published in a PUBLIC resource. This is usually done in the LEGALS section of a local newspaper for like 3 months prior to public foreclosure auction. Which basically means sending other notifications are "courtesy" since it is announced PUBLICLY.

I've done a foreclosure. Know the process. I will always give legal certified letters to the direct HOA property. That is the legal property address the HOA is addressing. Whether or not the owner responds is all on them. It's their responsibility.

The OP doesn't say what the violations are for, just that they need to send violation notices. There is a big difference between serving notice for a foreclosure lawsuit versus telling a homeowner that their grass is too long and needs to be mowed.

A foreclosure lawsuit should be done properly and by certified mail.

A notice that there is clover growing in ones grass or their grass is too long does not need a certified letter in my opinion.

We do the same. Notice of hearing always by Certified mail.

It's amazing how many owner's we have that have rentals and our MC only has the rental address. Even in the tax/deed records it shows the absentee owner as the renter's address.

Hate it when we send a violation to an owner for a renter and it ends up in the renter's mailbox. As an on property board member, renter's have retaliated against me.

We are self managed. This is not a tenant. The owners live at the unit. Since this is just a curtesy letter asking them to correct, I would hate to send certified. It it reaches the point of having to send an actual violation notice we would send certified. Our Docs don't say how we have to notify. Wisconsin statutes only deal with an actual violation notice not a curtesy letter requesting correction before a notice.

We have talked to both owners about the violations with no solution.

1. One owner is parking a riding lawn mower on common area grass. He doesn't like the way our landscaper cuts the lawn so cuts his own. It probably doesn't fit in his garage, but that's his problem.
Our docs say no vehicles , trailers or the like shall be stored, parked or placed on the common elements.

2. One owner is a hoarder. They are parking their car in the garage on top of waste cardboard. We are worried it will start a fire. We've offered to help her clean up the garage, but she doesn't respond. Our docs state The unreasonable or unsightly accumulation of waste, liter, excess or unused building materials or trash is prohibited.” they also state It is prohibited to throw garbage or trash outside the disposal receptacle.

as for the hoarder we have no way to force her to let us into the unit or garage. We've contacted the fire department and they wont get involved. Because hoarding is considered a disability we know we have to be very careful in how we handle this. We've had neighbors offer to help her clean up and they are just ignored. We're hoping that with this letter she will get the message that she has to do something. We had issues with her deck and a broken park bench in her yard last year and once we sent the letters she responsded and got rid of the bench and painted her deck.
We have never had to fine anyone in 20 years for infractions, so hopefully this will take care of the problem.

As for the lawn mower, he is an ex president of the association who resigned by leaving all the associations items at the end of his driveway including the checkbook.
He is doing this to spite us. He likes nothing better than causing problems.

As a manager in California, I follow California Civil Code §5855, which in part reads, the board shall notify the member in writing, by either personal delivery or individual delivery pursuant to Section 4040, at least 10 days prior to the meeting.

Therefore, there would be no legal reason to have to send a courtesy letter, hearing notice or decision of hearing via certified, return receipt requested, as it is just a waste of time and money. In addition, there are no guarantee that the USPS will follow up and get signatures especially when dealing with cluster mailboxes.

I have no idea what you're disagreeing with. I am just following guidelines in my state.

Hi,

Regular mail should be sufficient since this is a rare and first-time event. Just ensure the HOA has a record of the letters as well.

Email could also work, as long as the recipients will see and respond to the email.