Need warning template and fine

Hi, i am new to this HOA thing, I am the Vice President of my small townhouse community and was wondering if any of you very knowledgable people could give me a template for an initial warning and then subsequent fine, and the ins and outs of sending this, time frames to give them etc. Any help would be great. thanks.

Welcome Lisa,
Unless the offense is serious or the person is doing something that must be halted right away which would require a demand notice (cease and desist); then in my opinion the first letter should be a friendly reminder notice asking for their help in being a good neighbor and reminding them of what they agreed to when they purchased in your community. The purpose of the letter is to get them to do what you want with as little fuss and muss as possible.

Everyone has had a bad day or is new to Association living and can easily goof about when to take in the garbage cans and a friendly reminder goes a lot farther than a dictate from on high: "Do this or we'll fine you $25.00 a day until you do!" That type of communication always seems to immediately generate an "Oh yea, you can't do that." or "I'll show you." or "Who appointed you king/queen." response and what is a simple matter suddenly becomes WWIII as the H/O takes a stand on "principle".

You should have a written set of rules and each H/O should have a copy of them along with a copy of the enforcement policy for how violations will be handled. In ours we noted that you only get one "friendly" reminder per violation, i.e. if we send a reminder about garbage in Jan and you do the same thing in April then it automatically goes to step two a fine; good record keeping about violations and actions is a must.

This is a violation notice posted by another member here in a previous post however if your documents allow it then you could impose a fine after giving a reasonable time to cure the violation instead of threatening legal action:
Dear _______________________

It is the obligation of the Board of Directors to ensure that each Homeowner in our Community is adhering to the Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CCR’s) set forth in our Documents. Our Community is striving to continue to be a beautiful place in which to reside harmoniously with our neighbors. We are all bound to conform to the Articles of our Covenants.

We believe that you are a good neighbor and would not knowingly violate our CCR’s. Please be advised that the following Covenant Violation exists:

The Violation falls under Article _____________, Section ______________ and is specified as: _______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

1. According to our Declaration, the Violation must be remedied within fourteen (14) days from the date of this notification.

2. You can also notify the Board of Directors at the address above in writing, or at any of the following contact numbers, of the course of action you intend to remedy the Violation, with a specific completion date (within that 14 days).

3. You also have the option of having a hearing before the Board of Directors to discuss or refute the specified Violation (within those 14 days).

Unfortunately, any Violation which goes untended and has not been addressed with the Board of Directors by 14 days must go forward to XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Attorneys for legal action. The cost of which will be the obligation of the Homeowner.

We look forward to working together to in the continuing effort to keep our Community beautiful and protect the property values of all our neighbors’ homes. If you have any questions or concerns about the above matter, please do not hesitate to contact any of the BOD Members as listed below. The Board of Directors is in place to serve our Community.

John, our first "warning" letter takes that approach.

But you also have to let people know the consequences of failure to act. If it's too informal, folksy, "oh, by the way"-ish, you can set the resident up for additional inadvertent non-compliance if you don't put in a distinct, concrete timeframe, and at least an indication of what ultimate consequences can be for continuing to be out of compliance.

It's the "neighborly" thing to do!

Our templates (the first notice, the second warning and the notice of attorney action) were all reviewed, edited and finalized by our board's most incredible resource, a retired Coast Guard judge!

He is about the friendliest, most neighborly, most non-threatening board member you'd ever have the pleasure of meeting.

His approach is to do whatever it takes to minimize ever having to go to court, and he is very keen on residents being partners in this venture with us, not archenemies!

Cool guy.

I agree. Word(smithing) matters.

And there are all sorts of communication styles. What one person considers generic and non-threatening, another may consider hostile and rude.

Here's an example of our first notice:

We have been contacted regarding a trailer parked on your lot in violation of the XXXXXXXX Deed Conditions, Covenants, and Restrictions. Please consider this letter a reminder of the restrictions regarding trailer parking/storage in XXXXXXX and take action immediately upon receipt of this letter to bring your property in compliance by parking your trailer in your garage as required by the deed restrictions.

Article II. Section 3. Use of other Structures and Vehicles.
(d) No trailer, motorcycle, commercial vehicle, camper trailer, camping vehicle or boat (hereinafter "vehicle") shall be parked or kept on any lot at any time unless stored in a garage or basement.

We all agreed to abide by the deed covenants associated with the XXXXXXX neighborhood when we purchased our homes. Our duty, as the board of directors, is to notify residents when a problem exists.

Often we find that the resident is unaware that he or she may have violated a deed restriction and, once notified, corrects the situation immediately.

However, if corrective action is not undertaken voluntarily upon receipt of this letter to cease parking the trailer on your lot in XXXXXXX, except in your garage, the board must then begin legal action to enforce the rules and covenants. As we would prefer not to expend association dues to resolve this matter, your cooperation would be greatly appreciated. You may call XXXXXXX, XXXXXX board president, at XXXXXXX with any concerns or questions.

Then the second notice:

In October we sent you a reminder notification regarding the XXXXX Deed Conditions, Covenants, and Restrictions restricting parking or storing of trailers in XXXXX. We have been notified that you are once again parking/storing a trailer on your lot.

Please consider this letter a second and final reminder of the restrictions regarding trailer parking/storage in XXXXX and take action immediately upon receipt of this letter to bring your property in compliance by parking your trailer in your garage as required by the deed
restrictions. Any further notification will come from the XXXXX Association attorney.

We all agreed to abide by the deed covenants associated with the XXXXX neighborhood when we purchased our homes. Our duty, as the board of directors, is to notify residents when a problem exists.

However, if corrective action is not undertaken voluntarily upon receipt of this letter to cease parking the trailer on your lot in XXXXXX, except in your garage, the board must then begin legal action to enforce the rules and covenants. Please keep in mind that in similar actions the courts have upheld the integrity of the XXXXX Deed Restrictions and ordered compliance. In addition, the court has also ordered reimbursement of XXXXXXX Association attorney’s fees as a result of such actions.'

As we would prefer not to expend association dues to resolve this matter, your cooperation would be greatly appreciated. You may call XXXX, president XXXXXXX Association, at XXXX with any concerns or questions.


There is a wide range of warning letter and violation notice templates. I guess people should just try to use one that reflects the personality of their community.