BOARD REVEIWS ALL COMPPLAINTS BEFORE A NOTIFICATION LETTER IS SENT??

Hello there. I would like to know how common this is with other HOA's. ? Our documents clearly have in place the process of which violation is dealth with. Letter, which can lead to a $100 fine and legal action if after all that it is still an issue. ( thats the clear part ) If a homeowner, or a board member have a complaint, they use to call the management company and a letter was automatically sent...initially

After being on the board for a few years here, all of a sudden, our President sent an email telling us that all violation letters must be reviewed and approved by the board. I don't find that iself an issue, but I do if its a self made rule which it seems to be.

Also, inconsistency with this reinforcement. #1 I called the mangement company and asked if we could send a letter to our neighbor who is on the phone at 6am on her balcony chatting it up loudly and smoking weed. This is a daily occurance and it has gone on for weeks. I asked that my complaint be kept anonymous due to the nature of substance she is using. ( a letter went out without board approval immediatly) #2 I noted a homeowners dog defecating on the property in front of a homeonwers door. Not wearing a leash and homeowner was with it. I didn't make this anonymous and I was just told by the President by email....No letter will be going out...How can that be done?

I have read the cc&rs and rules and our violation policy does not say anywhere that there is on person or the board that can ok or not ok complaints.

I'm not going to be much help to you on this because I'm a big fan of validating or verifying complaints prior to letters going out.

We allow for anonymous complaints.

MOST of our complaints are anonymous, but many are not.

Either way, whenever a complaint is received -- the entire board is notified of the complaint (with the reporting party's identifying information stripped out) -- and a board member is assigned to VERIFY that a violation has occurred.

Sometimes a board member will volunteer for the verification, if the complaint is near their area.

We do not have a property management company, but are working on getting one this year.

If and when we do, our policy will not change much.

When a complaint is received, the board will all receive a copy of it and a board member will be assigned to verify.

Only then will the PM be required to send a violation notice.

In the cases you mention, if a board member cannot verify, we would require a notarized statement regarding the infraction.

For the doggie poopy thing (we do not have a CC&R that prohibits that sort of action), but if we did, we would require either a notarized statement or a photo or both.

While we want people to follow the CC&Rs, we also want to minimize the potential for harassment of one neighbor against another.

Talking loud on the phone? pffft.

The pot smoking, however, the letter would probably indicate to the offending party that not only would we hold the homeowner in violation, but we would also turn any and all information of illegal drug use over to the proper authorities.

BUT, the issue of whether the board can revise its own policies, my guess is that they can, as was mentioned, through the rules and regulations clause, or simply by way of establishing policy review and revision.

PROCESSES are often fluid and not hard coded into the CC&Rs (with the exception of our nomination, voting, and annual meeting processes, we are free to engage and enact any policies and processes for anything else we do in the course of fulfilling our roles on the board).

We don't even address "anonymous" complaints. All complaints must be writing and signed by the person complaining. We never, ever disclose the name of the person who complained; no identifying information.

We (the board) deal with rule violations on a daily basis---but as a whole. Not one of us can just pick up the phone and ask for a letter to be sent to the violator. All the board members are informed of the complaint, a letter is drafted, which all board members read then agree if it should go out.

The violations have usually been witnessed by many of us (parking issues, roaming dogs, etc.) We'd never approve a letter without every one of us knowing about it first.

Now about the lady yakking it up at 6:00 a.m. We'd been dealing with the same problem lately, too, but we didn't bother to find out what she was smoking. She certainly did get a letter---quoting all the noise rules she's violating....and that if it didn't cease it would be turned over to the association attorney. (This wasn't the first letter she'd received about it, either.) The bottom of the letter said: c.c. Mr. Joe Smith; Association Attorney. She stopped talking.

The above first sentence of my post is missing a word.

It should read as follows:

"I see no reason not to accept anonymous complaints."

I agree with John on the pot-smoking "violation". Unless that particular violation is stated in your CCRs or rules, what gives the BOD the authority to deem it a violation? In fact, it's really no one's business what a member "might" be smoking while enjoying their morning coffee on their private balcony. However, if anyone "thinks" it might be pot then call the local P.D. In CA it's not illegal to smoke pot if it's being used for medicinal purposes!

Also, I see nothing wrong with accepting anonymous violation notices. The BOD or A/C should be checking out all violation complaints b/4 sending a letter, so what difference should it make if the notification was made anonymously or by letter,email or phone call?

Anna,
I agree with you on this one. All complaints must be in writting, either in snail mail or internet and must be signed by the complainer. No anonymous calls will be validated. It sounds rather harsh but without a person behind a complaint, it is a "he said, she said" situation. It is up to the Board and P.M. to respect the privacy of anyone who willingly identifies themselves as the notifier of a problem.

No it's not. How do you figure that? (a "he-said, she-said situation").

Like I mentioned before, ALL the local enforcement officers of a variety of agencies here in my locality accept and act on anonymous complaints.

Animal Control.
Zoning Enforcement.
Local police.

Requiring signed complaintscan serve to silence people if they are afraid that their name will be discovered. I am not kidding you that retribution can and does get vicious and violent. And "promising" them that it will never be shared, well, I wouldn't risk it. All it takes is one person with loose lips. . .

On the other hand, if the complaint has no merit, if it is investigated and the complaint can't be confirmed, then no letter gets sent.

To me, that respects all sides of the equation.

I agree that we will just have to agree to disagree on this one.

Glen,

Anonymous complaints are not prohibited. However, if a member registers a complaint, and gives his name, his name shall then be given to the h/o in violation if that h/o sends a written response to the violation notice to the Board or A/C. The statute states that the assn shall give certain info to the h/o in violation, including the name of the person who observed the violation. I've heard that many HOA's are just stating that the violation was observed by the PM, which would be true because the PM should check out all complaint notices b/4 sending a violation notice.