Enforcing Rules

Who's job is it to enforce the Rules of the HOA? The Board or the management company? We have been having issues with certain homeowners with tenants not wanting to follow the Rules & Regulations.We have some issues with the HOA atty and had a meeting with her. We expressed our concern. Our attorney has told us its not the Boards job to enforce the Rules and Regulations.

Judy,

When your attorney gave the board this gross mis-information did anyone think to ask her who's job it is? I certainly hope the board didn't pay the attorney for that meeting!!

Your board needs to do two things immediately:

1) find a new attorney, and
2) thoroughly read and understand the gov docs, especially the article entitled "duties of the BOD"

The board may "designate" the manager as being resp. for policing the neighborhood and sending violation notices thereby taking on the resp of enforcing the rules and regs. However, in any court case, the BOD would be the defendant not the manager.

If a tenant of a property is violating the covenants, the property owner should be sent the violation notice and any subsequent fines. The BOD should only be dealing with the property owner. If he cannot control his tenants he should pay the price for it.

Susan, with all due respect, that answer is silly and brings in way more than what was asked.

Collect a bill or confront residents who are breaking the law? I am at a loss to understand how you could possible glean that from the post above.

The OP asked specifically about enforcement of Rules & Regulations.

The most helpful statement in your post was the first half of the very last paragraph:

"The board should have clear and concise policies and procedures."

Mary is correct, review the documents. But the attorney is dead wrong, too. I wonder if he has some connection to the management company?

The fact of the matter is, with most all associations I've seen, the buck stops with the board.

The board can either opt to send out enforcement letters themselves, which give the violator a set deadline for compliance as well as specific penalties if compliance is not received, or delegate that action to the management company.

Depending on whether the association actively walks the development looking for violations or whether it enforces on a complaint-driven basis, the management company, for the most part, often may send the letters and/or track and monitor the situation.

But that activity is at the board's direction and delegation. If the management company is not following board direction on enforcement then it may well be time to search for a new management company.

I think the board has the right to enforce the rules, but not confronting the owners or tenants in person it can be dangerous. Unless you have a manager that lives 24/7 in the community, many of the violations can be miss the board must be the eyes for a manager. I like to walk with the manager every few weeks to make sure she is doing her job, if a board relies only in the manager to do ALL inspections' work slowly there were be a caos; homeowner in HOA have a tendency to act as they live in a community without rules and regulations negleting property maintenance and dues etc. Some of them rules are just to be ignore the directors live in the community and SEE who are the violators if a board member is too indiferent then is not doing his/her job.

As President of my Board let me say that 'owners' of units do not care what their tenants do, especially if their mortgage is getting paid. So FINE THE OWNERS AFTER GIVING THEM NOTICES; WARNINGS; ETC. I found that hitting their pockets with fines that go up with each infraction works.
GOOD LUCK THIS IS DEFINATELY A THANKLESS POSITION