Owner Complaint Routing

What would you do in this situation?

An owner e-mails you only as a Board member because you are the person they are familiar with on the Board and whose e-mail address they have. They send you an e-mail wishing to file a complaint about an HOA matter.

Would you respond by instructing the owner to make a formal complain with the management company, who will disseminate the e-mail to the entire Board, or would you forward it yourself to the other Board members?

Entirely agree with Max. Ownres do know to make complaints to the manager, right, NpB?

If you don't know, you should since you're a board member.

Go ahead and forward the complaint, but remind your neighbor of the proper procedure. If she squawks, tell her that (1) this is part of the property manager's job (2), this ensures a paper trail in case the owner has to follow up and (3) UT can also ensure all issues are addressed consistently and fairly. - you don't want to be accused of using your position to curry favor for your friends and no one else.

I suspect your colleagues may have the same problem, so it might be a good idea to post something in your newsletter or website (preferably both) about tg5e protocol and why it exists. This way everyone dies tge same thing and doesn't get accused of favoritism or something.

NBP

When anyone on the BOD receives a complaint, someone on the BOD will be tasked to investigate. If that person finds it valid then a formal notice of violation will go out under our PM's signature. We always protect the complainer even when the tip is anonymous.

Well then, it's high time the board create one - unless you and your colleagues want to spend all your free time reviewing complaints.

Our property manager is also off site, so depending on the complaint, it'll be referred to the department in the management company or back to the board. You and work with your property manager in drafting a policy. Some things you might address:

Reminder of what the property manager does vs.the board so you don't waste time complaining to the wrong people

Information you need like nsme, address. Complete descriptions, etc.

Anonymous complaints

What to do in emergencies- and what constitutes an emergency

Disputes between neighbors This might also include a few words from your police department on when they should be called xo you can avoid things like heating/cooling repairmemn or women getting the police called on them because they have a different skin color. Like this guy:

https://www.theroot.com/karen-calls-the-cops-of-hvac-technician-for-just-doing-1850099775

I get those emails from homeowners all the time. I send them to the PM but I usually send a reply myself to thank them for contacting me and letting them know we are looking into it. Usually I'm pretty non-committal because most of the time they are not important for the association. I always tell them that our PM will look into it.

I get the regulars (coconut guy, yard waste guy, pickleball guy, pool lady) and then had one the other day from a guy who was upset that too many planes from the airport are flying over our community. Sometimes they are important issues - but everybody deserves a response until they get nasty. Yard waste guy is officially on my "do not respond" list now.

As a director, you should simply pass the complaint to the management company. The management company is an information clearinghouse on matters like this. When you sidestep the MC, you are opening an argument that you're not handling good-faith complaints in an equitable manner.

This made me smile. We have the ‘mower guy’. He wanted us to ask the adjacent golf course not to mow so early in the morning. 😂

I do a little of most of what all have said here. I always respond if the email is sent directly to me quickly. If the email was sent to our board email depending on the subject matter, I sometimes respond and in either case I copy the PM and mention that this type of request should always be directed to him first. I always start my email with I am not responding to your note as the Board. I am only 1/5 of the board and can't speak on the boards behave at this time.

As I always remind my board no matter what the subject is if you do not clearly make that the first sentence in the email they will say "The Board Said" which I clearly did not say.

The reason why I respond is often these notes are sent Friday evenings and the owners expect answers as if the PM or PMC waits on the calls 24 hours a day. Luckily, we have a great manager who does respond very quickly to most owners.