Conformity

My HOA has sent a letter of complaint that our lawn needs to be sod. This came from a neighbor who I complained about because he has a garage band in a 55 plus neighborhood. They will not do anything about the garage band but are requiring us to correct the lawn. I admit the lawn is bad due to drought in Florida. My question is this: there are many lawns with no grass in the neighborhood. Shouldn't they all be required
to have grass. I seems this HOA only enforces rules if some one sends in a letter of complaint Is this how most HOA's work?
Thanks

There are HOAs that only address complaints, but it you get a letter everyone violating the regulation should get a letter. The enforcement is a prate issue between the HOA and owner, but that doesn’t stop you from asking an owner if they received a letter.

Re garage band, Your local city/county may have a noise ordinance, and your governing documents may have a prohibition on nuisances. You are authorized to enforce your governing docs.

I think NA1 hit the nail on the head: there may be HOA rules and regulations about the lawns, but there may be nothing in them about garage bands. Hence the difference in enforcement. However...

Most CC&Rs have some restriction against nuisances, and a garage band would certainly fall under that heading unless the band is a string quarter that practices their Mozart and Haydn (and even that could cause problems after hours).

As for the apparent selective enforcement over others' dead lawns, if enforcement actions in your community are kept confidential, you won't know who has received notices from the HOA and who hasn't. The board could be ignoring everyone else, or they could have sent everyone notices and the recipients are ignoring the notices. If your state doesn't require enforcement actions to be confidential, then these notices may be association records that are available to any homeowner to inspect - in which case you could verify if you're being singled out.

The real issue is: if you are being singled out, what are your options? Legal action is expensive and may not go the way you'd hope. It also tends to raise assessments for everyone because the HOA has to get their own attorney busy. I believe Florida has options for mediation or alternative dispute resolutions, which seems like the best way to go here - especially if there are some state laws addressing drought conditions and lawn care.

Final comment: one of the things I always paid attention to as a board member was whether or not a complaint was valid or if it appeared that a homeowner was trying to use the board to get revenge on a neighbor. This rarely goes well for anyone, and shame on the board if they're allowing themselves to be played.

Nobody said these alternative methods are easy or cheap - although they can be cheaper and faster than a full-blown lawsuit that may involve multiple lawyers.

I've often said in the past that the least-expensive solution to many HOA disputes is to say "yeah, whatever" and just go along with whatever the board wants. Unfortunately too many people are offended by the perceived injustice and are willing to throw large amounts of money at being proven right - often far more dollars than they would have spent on the "whatever".

One attorney I know has said that he'll walk away from a client who insists "it's the principle of the thing", because that client usually is more interested in harming the opponent than in coming to a mutually acceptable resolution.. He's also said that civil disputes tend to be more vicious than criminal ones, for the same reason - criminals are just trying to stay out of prison.

They are not cheaper and easier than Small Claims court.

When small claims court has jurisdiction, and when the risk of having to pay the other side's attorneys fees is absent, I am sure this is true.

Readers should keep in mind that small claims court is mostly about disputes over money. Disputes about whether a land use covenant can be enforced often (usually? always?) will not be in the jurisdiction of the states' small claims court jurisdiction.

In Florida, unless maybe the OP starts getting fined, I do not think small claims court is an option.

TerriS6, I am sorry that you object to the presentation of facts that are relevant to the thread.

When I am agreeing with you or applauding your work (as I have several times), do try not to accuse me of being "contrary."

The poster's problem seems perfectly suited to small claims court, especially if she does the work then takes the association to small claims court for reimbursement because their demand was improper.