Nasty resident

Started by JeffreyS6 • 5 replies • 753 views

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JeffreyS6 (Florida)
Posts: 2

Posted:

Our condo community has had a belligerent, rule indifferent, arrogant, heavily drinking, profane, dog waste careless resident for about 8 months.

One of our pillars of gentle and compassionate behavior lives above this nasty social travesty. She is now showing her home in an effort to sell it.

Our HOA, headed by an attorney, hasn't done much of anything to help this resident who has been impacted by the "Nasty".

1. Can't believe this is the first time this has happened and...

2. ......is there a solution?

I understand the Nasty is behind in HOA dues.

Thanks for any thoughts, for we would like to keep our high quality resident from moving out.

CathyA3 (Ohio)
Posts: 6,299

Posted:

The association can do something about violations of your governing docs: not picking pet waste and the like.

The association can't do anything about personality flaws (rude, arrogant, profane, etc.). There needs to be hostile behavior that is being directed at certain individuals. If these individuals are in what is referred to as a protected class, then the HOA can and should do something to avoid a potential Fair Housing complaint. And if this person's behavior is so bad that people feel threatened by it, then it's a job for the police, not the HOA.

Otherwise it will depend on whether this person's behavior rises to the level of a nuisance as defined in your CC&Rs. Unfortunately, the word "nuisance" is vague and enforcing any provisions in your CC&Rs against nuisance activities can be difficult to impossible. The laws that protect the rights of homeowners also protect the rights of jerks. If the board tries to take legal shortcuts, the association may find itself on the receiving end of a lawsuit which the entire community will have to pay for.

It's not a clear cut issue, unfortunately.

CathyA3 (Ohio)
Posts: 6,299

Posted:

Forgot to mention, the HOA can and should be pursuing collection actions against this person, including putting a lien against the property and foreclosing when appropriate. The board should be working with the HOA attorney on this. Foreclosures are not slam dunks, nor do they happen quickly - the board has to make sure they do everything by the book in order to be successful, and even that is no guarantee.

So in short, yes there are some things that can be done, but none of them will result in this person being gone like, yesterday.

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

Is this "resident" a renter or owner? Are you on the board, Jeffrey?

Cathy's right about everything. The best the board can do is to enforce the rules the assn. has, and penalize the violator the max and as often as possible. If the jerk is a renter, hid owner may get tired really fast of the constant calls to hearing and fines.

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By CathyA3 on 07/21/2022 8:53 AM
The association can do something about violations of your governing docs: not picking pet waste and the like.

The association can't do anything about personality flaws (rude, arrogant, profane, etc.). There needs to be hostile behavior that is being directed at certain individuals. If these individuals are in what is referred to as a protected class, then the HOA can and should do something to avoid a potential Fair Housing complaint. And if this person's behavior is so bad that people feel threatened by it, then it's a job for the police, not the HOA.

Otherwise it will depend on whether this person's behavior rises to the level of a nuisance as defined in your CC&Rs. Unfortunately, the word "nuisance" is vague and enforcing any provisions in your CC&Rs against nuisance activities can be difficult to impossible. The laws that protect the rights of homeowners also protect the rights of jerks. If the board tries to take legal shortcuts, the association may find itself on the receiving end of a lawsuit which the entire community will have to pay for.

It's not a clear cut issue, unfortunately.

Sound advice.

JeffreyS6 (Florida)
Posts: 2

Posted:

Many thanks for your input and reply. Appreciate greatly your thoroughness.

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