Fines against owners for Infractions of CCRs by owners?

Started by JohnA4 • 7 replies • 1833 views

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JohnA4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 2

Posted:

I live in an HOA development in Tennessee. Recently our President sent a letter stating that if homeowners didn't paint their units according to schedule by Sept. 30, they would be fined. Fines are to be added to monthly assessment. If not paid a lein could/would be placed against the unit.

Is this legal in TN? President says it is, says he has checked with an attorney and verified it.

General comments on fines welcome as well.

DonnaS (Tennessee)
Posts: 5,671

Posted:

John,
Only if the fining is in your own CC&Rs, then yes you can fine. If it is not, then the Board is plum out of luck because Tennessee has NO Statutes or laws for HOAs. Do you have paint requirements in your docs? It sounds like it. You are a condo or villa? Tn does have some Statutes for Condo developements but you will have to look them up.

JohnA4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 2

Posted:

Thanks, Donna.
Fining is NOT in the CC&Rs. Have asked Mgmt. for a copy of the legal opinion upon which the Pres. bases his judgement. She defers to him. . ."I'm not going to get into this etc."
We have "appearance" requirements. In Architectural Guidelines, adopted separately, we have paint requirements, but nothing about fines.
BOD can curtail use of common facilities [pool] by owners who abuse the rules or violate the CC&Rs "on the common area."
This is going to prove interesting because there are several who live here who are up in years, live on SSI, and won't be able to make the deadline. BOD has a healthy surplus in Reserves. Don't know why they can't make a revolving, low/no interest loan with repayment attached to dues!
Oh well, tune in later. . . .

MaryA1 (Arizona)
Posts: 7,043

Posted:

John,

If your docs are silent on fines and there are no TN statutes for HOAs, then the only recourse anyone has is to take the HOA to court. I say, good luck to them! It's costly and a win certainly isn't guaranted. It would be nice if the assn had a plan for members who are having financial problems, but don't count on that. If your board is willing to "create" new rules at their whim which allow them to rule with an iron hand, they probably won't be receptive to hearing bad luck stories.

MicheleD (Kentucky)
Posts: 4,491

Posted:

Well, his CC&Rs might not specifically address "you can fine $XX for this and $XX amount for that," but still give the board the ability to create fines through certain wording in creating Rules & Regulations and such.

We thought forever that we did not have language in our CC&Rs that gave us the ability to create a fine structure for violations, and, as it turns out, we do! We just didn't recognize it as such because it didn't say outright, "You can fine people."

I honestly can't remember the exact verbiage, but we are meeting with our attorney next month to review sample fine structures from other HOAs in the area. I will ask him then to re-state for us where we are given that ability. But I do recall it is somewhat "embedded" in our ability to make Rules & Regulations.

MaryA1 (Arizona)
Posts: 7,043

Posted:

The right to fine is in the CCRs of my assn under the article titled "Enforcement". IT says: "In addition to all other remedies of the assn, the assn shall have the right to assess reasonable fines against any owner who violates any provision of the project documents after such owner has been given notice of the violation and an opportunity to be heard with respect to the violation in accordance with such policies and procedures as may be adopted from time to time by the board or as may be set forth in the bylaws." Fines are generally reserved for CCR violations whereas late fees can be assessed for delinquent assessments. A fine policy and a collection policy should adopted by the board by resolution and mailed to each member of the assn.

MicheleD (Kentucky)
Posts: 4,491

Posted:

Our wording doesn't say "fines" which is why we always thought we couldn't, but the attorney showed us the clause that allows us to address fines as one of the enforcement tools, without it being specifically labeled "fines."

Like I said, I don't recall where it was, or what the wording was, only that we are ecstatic that we can enforce with fines, since our only other recourse had been moving immediately to injunctive relief.

GlenL (Ohio)
Posts: 5,491

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By MicheleD on 05/01/2008 6:33 PM
Our wording doesn't say "fines" which is why we always thought we couldn't, but the attorney showed us the clause that allows us to address fines as one of the enforcement tools, without it being specifically labeled "fines."

Like I said, I don't recall where it was, or what the wording was, only that we are ecstatic that we can enforce with fines, since our only other recourse had been moving immediately to injunctive relief.

Michele Ohio gave the BOD's of condo units the power to fine a couple of years ago. Before that we had the power to assess 'special assessments' against a particular unit to cure violations. Or my all time favorite part of the Declarations: In any case of flagrant or repeated violation by a Unit Owner, he may be required by the Association to give sufficient surety or sureties for his future compliance with said covenants, conditions, restrictions, By-Laws, Rules and Regulations.

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