Articles

Social media, email, and the Internet have vastly improved some aspects of business. Your association may have a website or use Facebook or Instagram to promote the benefits of living in the community or condominium building you manage or to post pictures of community events. But when employees spend work hours sending personal emails, going online to shop, or checking their social media channels, it leads to a decrease in productivity.

Facts: A homeowners association declaration permitted garages that are attached to a home, and accessory structures that are not used for storage and that are deemed acceptable by the design review committee. Two homeowners’ request to build a detached “garage” on their property was denied by the association because the declaration allowed only those garages that are attached to a house. The homeowners built the garage without the association’s approval. The association sent the homeowners a letter asking them to comply with the declaration.

Facts: A townhome owner failed to pay two years’ of association assessments due on the property. The association filed a small claims action seeking damages for the unpaid assessments, including late fees and attorney’s fees.

Facts: An association discovered that two homeowners in the community were operating daycare businesses in their homes. The association asked a trial court for a declaration that this was in violation of the restrictive covenant, and an injunction—that is, an order from the court to shut down the businesses.

Facts: Two homeowners moved into a planned community in 2009. The association fined them for bringing their dog into the clubhouse. The homeowners contested the fines. The homeowners argued that the fines were wrongly imposed because they hadn’t been properly notified of any change in the HOA rules prohibiting dogs.

The cold weather is about to arrive in many parts of the country, bringing with it the increased threat of fires due to the improper use of electric space heaters. According to the National Fire Protection Association, space heaters account for one-third of home-heating fires and three-fourths of home-heating fire deaths.

Many associations allow their members to rent out their units, provided they follow association guidelines regarding how this is done. But it’s the association that ends up having the sometimes onerous task of controlling renters’ behavior on a day-to-day basis. You can do this by creating a lease addendum containing protections for you with regard to renters, and passing a rule requiring members to attach the addendum to any lease they sign for their unit.

Q: As the manager of a condo building, I recently discovered that a member has been operating a day care for profit in her unit. There have been a few complaints from other members about noise and an increased number of visitors to the building—mostly from pick-ups and drop-offs of children. I checked our governing documents and home businesses are banned.

If your community includes mixed-use space, your association may be afraid that members will have to battle customers who are visiting retail stores or entertainment venues for parking spaces. But worse than that is the increased risk of crimes happening at the community if nonmembers have access to parking lots or garages. This can be commonplace if a member regularly rents out his space, creating a steady stream of strangers using that spot.

Many associations allow their members to rent out their units, provided they follow association guidelines regarding how this is done. Renters can help a community by taking care of units that would otherwise sit empty, and by financially relieving a member who’s having trouble paying her mortgage or assessments and fees. But the transient nature of renters creates risks for the association. It’s hard to make renters have the same vested interest in the well-being of the community that members have.