3 Chronic Rule Violations and How Your Association Clients Can Get a Handle on Them

Most managers agree that dealing with rules violations is the worst part of their jobs. It doesn’t help that the same ones seem to occur again and again. Here are some of the violations that won’t seem to go away and how some associations and managers are tackling them.

Associations have implemented a variety of rules to try to get a handle on short-term rentals (STRs), but owners have proven tenacious in their desire to circumvent restrictions.

“They keep coming up with creative ways to get around violations,” says Jennifer Biletnikoff, a shareholder in the Naples, Fla. office of Becker & Poliakoff, “including claiming renters are family members. ‘This is my cousin from my mother’s side twice removed.’”

Biletnikoff’s clients are generally taking one of two approaches. The first is defining in the declaration exactly which family members are allowed to stay when the owner isn’t present.

“The more you get into the level of the family relationship, it’s about enforceability,” she says. “How far do you go trying to prove the relationship? Is it something you can actually enforce?”

Such rules can be enforceable if you’re willing to put in the legwork, though. “I’ve seen where managers will go through and search Airbnb ads to find listings with reviews from people who clearly aren’t cousins,” Biletnikoff adds.

For more tips on how you and your association clients can deal with chronic rule violations, read the full article now: 3 Rule Violations That Won’t Go Away — and How to Handle Them

Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President