Background Checks

What do you mean "accepting them into the community"?
Becoming a Member? Do your documents say you can screen memberships?

Better check with a lawyer about Civil Rights and privacy laws.

What specifically are you looking for?

Our documents say that the HOA has to approve all new residents prior to closing. We are a 55+ community so obviously we have to screen for that first and foremost. Is a background check not common practice? Can you not eliminate pedophiles for example from moving into your community?

Does anyone have an HOA application that they use which they can share?

By the way I am a newly elected Board Member and President who is dealing with a mess. I inherited very little organizational methods and I'm trying to get us on a plan which will include revamped accounting practices as well as the aforementioned screening. I attended a meeting last week of an HOA group here in Florida and when questioning other Board Members I discovered that most of them do in fact screen new buyers in addition to credit checks. The other Board Members here think that this is overkill. I don't.

Dick,

Correction: "Do your docs also say that if you don't "like" the potential buyer you can deny them the right to purchase in your HOA?

Donna,

Exactly! So why go through the process? And regarding a credit check, that should only occur if the member is delinquent and his account is turned over to an attorney for collection. Other than that, a person's credit report should be of no concern to the BOD.

Our documents state that we CAN refuse a potential buyer. But know what else it says???? If we DO deny them then WE have the obligation to BUY IT ourselves. Not exactly what we want to do.

Hey Dick...I DO see your point. I know you're concerned about their ability to pay maintenance fees based on their previous credit reports...high risk and all that. But the mortgage company will do their own credit check before giving them a loan.

As a citizen you can do your own criminal checks very easily (on-line) just to know who your neighbors are but as a board member you can't do anything with that information.

Just because your docs say you can do something doesn't mean you can (or should). The documents and bylaws are subservient to the lowest municipal ordinance. As Donna said many documents were created years ago or are based on documents from years ago that don't take into account changes in the law, both enacted and case law.

As an example, the documents at my condo had restrictions on the clubhouse including a rule regarding smoking. Smoking was expressly permitted when the clubhouse was rented to a unit owner. A couple years later the state enacted a smoking ban that included buildings like our clubhouse. The association had to comply; in fact we were obligated to put up state-approved No Smoking signs. We also had a CC&R that prohibited satellite dishes. That went out the window when the FCC issued its OTARD rules. Since amendments are expensive and time consuming with a large association these old rules remain on the books with full knowledge that they're not enforceable as written.

This is one of those areas where you need to seek legal guidance before proceeding. This forum is no substitute for legal advice and given the murky waters that come with such a contentious issue you owe it to the association and its members to proceed only after all due diligence has been completed. The last thing you need is to be served with a discrimination complaint after a denial and have the association's lawyer tell the board "If I'd only known you were going to do this I would have said not to touch it with a 10 foot pole."

Dick besides the things others have posted a background check only tells what the persons history is if it is known. If you follow the HOA news feeds you will see a number of stories of upstanding citizens without even a parking violation to their name suddenly responsible for the embezzlement of thousands of dollars from their HOA's.

Dennis,

I owned a rental condo in Ft Pierce and they wanted to do a background check on me prior to purchase. I refused to give them SOME of the information that they wanted so they called me before the Board. I had a letter from my corp. lawyer, stating that it was illegal in Florida to do a background check. They okayed the purchase without a problem. But when I had my first tenants in, they tried to do it again. DUH!! This was a 55+ community so my 78 year old renters really should not have had to deal with the problem and I made sure that the Board knew that IT IS ILLEGAL to do these kinds of checks.

Background check doesn't have anything to do with the ability to pay. Credit checks and a call to the current landlord is all that's needed to check.
If you still want to run background check, and decide to deny housing based on something you don't like in the report, you better be damn sure it's legal, and it's doesn't conflict with Fair Housing laws.

There was an article on this in the Wall Street Journal last year. How landlords are doing electronic background checks and using minor reasons to deny rentals. Many are now saying it could be a violation of housing discrimination laws.