BoD Duty to Renters?

How much duty does the Board have to renters?

For some unknown reason, the most active complainers in my neighborhood seem to be people who are renting their houses. I feel bad even asking about this, but - for example - recently I got a really bitchy request about pool access. And I took care of it for them{1} - but strictly speaking, I suspect I should tell them "take it up with your landlord". Especially if they continue to be DBs about it.

Or am I wrong?

Bill

{1} they've got a kid, and my biggest motivation for putting up with all of this pool bs is because I loved swimming when I was a kid, and I want the neighborhood kids to have that kind of fun, too.

Nope, you aren't wrong. The landlord's contract with the HOA (as a homeowner/member) isn't the same as his/her lease agreement with the tenant. Frankly, this is one of the many pet peeves I have with investor-owners - they expect the HOA property manager and board to manage their investment while they sit back and cash rent checks, not caring if their tenants are aware of the rules, let alone follow them. They also tend to be the ones who scream the loudest about assessment increases or funding reserves (because it cuts into profits).

(And before anyone here gets their panties/thongs/Depends in a bunch about this, I am well aware there are lots of good landlord/owners in HOAs -- I've known several in my community and served with three during my 10 years on the board. I'm also well aware of the ones who flew the coop when they couldn't cover leasing expenses which should have included assessments and then went belly up, leaving the association with no choice but to write off the bad debt. I also served with one investor/landlord who only seemed to care about the money and got really angry at me when I called him on it - several times).

Anyway, you were being neighborly in taking care of this, but I hope you told them that any and all future inquiries need to go through the landlord - if he/she has additional questions or concerns, they can call the property manager or the board and take it up that way. In my community, we used to require tenants get permission from the landlord to attend board meetings - technically, I think it's still a rule, but it's not enforced. Usually, the tenants show up during the resident forum portion of the meeting, ask general questions and leave when they get them answered and it's not an issue. Some have been very good about letting the board know of problems and they did a better job then the landlords!

We also let tenants use the pool, but the landlord was responsible for applying for the pool pass and we sent it to him/her for forwarding to the tenant. All owners had to sign a form acknowledging receipt of the pool rules and agree that he/she and their household (or tenants) would comply with all of them before the passes were sent out, and they were responsible for all damages. That cut down some confusion, but not enough, and we eventually shut down our pool (mostly due to rising costs, but assorted mayhem by owners, their households, tenants and lots of non-residents did the rest).

Also keep in mind that a tenant may be having a dispute with their landlord and may try to use the board to win the argument. That's a place that the board doesn't want to be.

Totally false statement.

Stop lying about what I wrote and go back to stirring your witch's brew.

If someone walks by your hood and says "nice neighborhood". What obligations do you have to them? That is similar to the relationship of a renter to the HOA. It is nice to live there but the HOA owes them nothing. No copies of documents. No attending meetings. No voting rights. They can not run for office.

The HOA relationship to a renter is through their landlord owner. That is whom is a member and is responsible.

The statement was the board has zero duty to renters. That statement is FALSE.

Point out where it is false? A board of the HOA does not deal with renters. They deal with the owners who are members. If your HOA interacts with renters it is breaking the law, over reaching it's authority, or it is written somewhere in the documents.

Otherwise no interactions should exist unless you want into their business.

For Florida condos, among others: False. From Florida's condo statute:


-- When a unit is leased, a tenant shall have all use rights in the association property and those common elements otherwise readily available for use generally by unit owners and the unit owner shall not have such rights except as a guest, unless such rights are waived in writing by the tenant.

-- If the unit is occupied by a tenant and the unit owner is delinquent in paying any monetary obligation due to the association, the association may make a written demand that the tenant pay to the association the subsequent rental payments and continue to make such payments until all monetary obligations of the unit owner related to the unit have been paid in full to the association. The tenant must pay the monetary obligations to the association until the association releases the tenant or the tenant discontinues tenancy in the unit.

-- No resident of any condominium dwelling unit, whether tenant or owner, shall be denied access to any available franchised or licensed cable television service, nor shall such resident or cable television service be required to pay anything of value in order to obtain or provide such service except those charges normally paid for like services by residents of, or providers of such services to, single-family homes within the same franchised or licensed area and except for installation charges as such charges may be agreed to between such resident and the provider of such services.

There is more.

A board has a duty to a renter to:
Maintain all the common areas and services as if the owner was living there.
Maintain clear access to the property.
Abide by all housing laws as if the owner was living there.
Investigate any complaints for violations of state or federal law the same as it would for an owner.
Insure tenant is not prevented from doing allowable things like hanging clothes on clothesline, growing vegetables, flying flags, putting up political or noncommercial signs.
The are just too many to mention, and DUH tenants are not members with all the rights that go along with being a member.
So it's just ignorant to state a board has ZERO duty to a tenant.

Per the Florida condo statute, Florida condos have the legal responsibility to provide access to tenants to the condo swimming pool (assuming no rules violations; assessments are up to date; et cetera).

Nonsense. The statute creates a legal relationship between the Board and tenant with regard to access to common areas and amenities and other matters.

Glad Terri replied because the question to be is unusual to m. To flip it, what are the duties of the Board to owners?? The Association (not the Board) has the same duty to renters as Terri's list & more shows.

Yes, of course, the landlord is responsbile for the tenants misconduct, etc. But THAT wasn't Bill's question.

Now, about 25% of our 200+ condo units are tenant occupied. They receive the same HOA services as if the owners occupied the Unit. But, it seems Bill's getting at what if tenants nag and nag about certain things they want that the HOA doesn't provide or that the HOA should provide better. Say, one demands longer pools hours. Then I think just gently say, "oh, I see. Well rules need to be changed by the Board, Please ask your owner to write a request to the board of directors via the PM"

We do have a violation form to fill out and any resident --renter or owner--may fill it out. Work order forms, though, only are available on the Owners' portal. So, hear renters phone or contact the PM if a common area item is missing, broken, etc. The PM would reply as to any other similar matter to the tenant. Put another way, the renter wouldn't need to contact their owner to ask the PM to replace a burnt out light bulb in the hallway.

Our tenants here are no more trouble and break no more rules than owner occupants. (During the Great Recession we had a couple of units rented out by desperate owners--who failed to qualify their tenants-- to some real jerks)

Small correction: the STR crowd are neither owners nor tenants since they don't sign leases, are not subject to (many if not all) landlord-tenant laws, but are subject to local laws governing lodging or similar commercial transactions.

The board has a legal duty to any legal occupant of a separate interest, including short term renters.

You stated the board has ZERO duty to a tenant. Your statement is still false.

I didn't say there was. Learn to read.