complaint-driven enforcement VS inspection-driven enforcement

My question is for anyone that has switched from inspection driven to complaint-driven enforcement what procedures should be in place to make everything go smoothly? We already have a violation policy.

Full details below:

Our HOA just switched from "full service" mgt co to a financial-only one because the Mgt Co. decided to double per door base fee overnight with out giving a reason. A community survey (34% response) indicated we should switch to financial only because people did not see the value in full service 80% felt this way.

Violation reporting is really the only service difference between full and financial mgt for us at least.

The full-service company would drive around once a month using a mobile app and take pictures of violations and send a PDF report to the board. The board would make a few corrections and then everyone would get mailed and emailed a violation notice (if they gave us an email). on average 20 letters/month.

150 SFH no amenities except a kid's park.

Thinking of switching to a complaint-driven enforcement instead of an inspection-driven enforcement for the following reason:
1. We have not issued any fines in the last 3 years. All bark no bite. Other board members seem too busy to hold hearing violations.
2. The non hoa neighborhood one street down looks just as good as our HOA does IMHO.
3. For the last 1.5 years, we have had ONE complaint from an owner about CCR violations.
4. Survey indicated Only about 5 people would help the board do violation reporting and only if they were paid $40/report
5. Using professional software would cost about $1200 to $1500 per year. I realize it could be done low tech without an app by using a cell phone (and dry erase board to write violation) and emailed)
6. Seems like we would reduce the volunteer boards work load.

common interest communities in NC 2nd ed says this:

Taken to the extreme, either method of enforcement can be problematic for an association. An association whose
members never report violations can lead to situations where covenants are ignored and ultimately waived. A
board that constantly canvasses the neighborhood several times a week seeking out the smallest of violations can
lead to acrimony in the neighborhood, unnecessary discord and avoidable legal fees for the community. Courts
in other jurisdictions have used either the business judgment rule or some other “good faith” standard when the
association’s enforcement action is challenged. See, e.g., Cave v. Riverbend Homeowners’ Ass’n, 99 A.D.3d 748,
951 N.Y.S.2d 758 (2012) (holding actions of a board of directors in amending and enforcing rules and regulations
concerning the leasing of units, parking, and pet ownership were within the scope of the board’s authority and
were done in good faith and in furtherance of the condominium’s legitimate interests).

yes the Mgt Co was making money on sending out the letters approximately $4/letter mailed which is about $960 a year. The mgt company would hire people for $15/hr to drive around and do this. Occassionaly the portfolio manager would do the inspections and they would always rack up 4x more violations then normal. Hard to say whether it is greed or being anal.

yes any spreadsheet system could be used, but still struggling with how to link photos to the spreadsheet easily.

yes committe could be made but we would have to pay them. Membership is apathetic and won't do anything unless paid. I have the skills to mail merge or email merge, but I doubt many do. Which is fine, they will just be less efficient.

Other 2 board members are pushing for active inspection driven enforcement, not me, but they are probably not willing to do any work to make it happen. They aren't even holding hearings for violatios that are 4 months old. I told them via email that a house with dented garage door 4 months old either needs a hearing or we drop the matter and not stop wasting money sending them violation letters. They decided not to send him more letters! I thought for sure when push came to shove they would run a hearing since they are more hawkish than me.

good idea, but I like it Keep it simple. Dry erase board in every photo taken with Date,Address and 2 or 3 word violation phrase is something anyone could do.

Enforcement. If any Owner shall violate or attempt to
violate any of these restrictions, failure to comply with any
of the same shall be grounds for an action to recover sums
due, for damages or injunctive relief, or both, maintainable
by the Board of Directors on behalf of the Association, or, in
proper case, by an aggrieved Owner.

Margaret makes some great points. I understand wanting to save money, especially if the property manager
took advantage by sending out violation letters, knowing the board (most of them anyway) wasn't inclined to
do anything regarding enforcement (and they still get paid!) On the other hand, not enforcing CCR violations just
because no one's complained about anything puts the association at risk for the regulation(s) being tossed by a judge because
there was no enforcement. In this regard, I'm thinking of people who make all manner of exterior changes without
getting them pre-approved by the board.

How about a hybrid approach? I don't know if it's still being done, but once a year, our property manager would
walk the community with one or two board members to identify problems in the common area that had to be
addressed, and part of that included identifying CCR violations. Usually, it was stuff like a fence that had been put
up without approval and a letter would be sent to that person requesting an architectural change request (ARC) form
be submitted. If the change wasn't anything crazy, so all the person really had to do was to turn in a copy of
an invoice that listed the installation date, dimensions, type of materials used, etc., and that would be the end of it.
This was only done once a year in the spring and the problem was generally resolved within 3-6 months. So that
approach could take care of the exterior issues, or you can do it quarterly, with an emphasis on specific problems,
such as homeowners who overfill trash carts and the litter gets strewn everywhere.

As far as complaints go, some of them go to our security officers, usually if it might be a crime issue (they're off-duty cops)
or the offending neighbor has proven to be hard-headed and someone with authority needed to speak to him/her cordially but firmly to get them to cooperate.
We don't accept any anonymous complaints or disputes between neighbors unless the issue concerns abuse or misuse of the common area
or several neighbors are affected.

From what you've said, it may be people manage to resolve problems themselves or at least know how to act so there aren't any major issues,
so you might be able to do most of the enforcement on a complaint basis. I wouldn't worry so much about the non-HOA community - you
don't live there, and perhaps it looks better because those homeowners aren't as apathetic about things as your neighbors? Ditto for the folks who
want to be paid for reports (you may as well stick with what you have, and who's to say they wouldn't run around searching for trivial things because
of the check?) I don't think you need formal software - an Excel spreadsheet or Access database should be able to do the record-keeping - if necessary
find someone with some expertise to help set it up.

You can always try the complaint-based program for a year or two and see what happens. As Margaret says, the pendulum may swing from one side to the other, depending
on what people care about, so a hybrid program can help keep things even and save time and money.

Our MC wanted extra money to do drive through inspections. We opted not to hire them for this but they still send out and track violations. Our BOD Members occasionally do a drive through and notice any violations. When we get told of one by a fellow owner (even anonymously), someone from the BOD will check it out. Regardless, it takes at least two BOD Members agreeing the MC should send out a violation notice. All violations letter go out under the MC signature. Our first violation letter is simply a friendly reminder of what the violation is.

whatever you want to call it, so be it. it's not what it isnt'. Trust me I'm not loosing sleep over it.


Figgured out by using google forms and uploading a picture file, that we can embed the image into a spreadsheet and then bulk email people their violations. Not quite as slick as some of the apps that cost $125/month but it's free and anyone can do it on their smart phone.

still would be easier to just dump the whole folder of images on a private google sites web page and give the violators a link to search for their image. Just set up a demo for other board members to look at, but I'm betting they will vote down having the violation images public. I do way too much as it is, they can spend their extra time if they want taking care of violations.