Articles

Facts: The declaration of covenants and restrictions of a private residential community included an amendment that prohibited owners from renting their homes to tenants. After the association learned that one of the owners in the community was renting her home to a tenant, it sued the owner. The association asked the trial court for an injunction—that is, an order from the court to the owner to stop renting her home to the current tenant and not to rent to future tenants—without a trial. The trial court granted the injunction, and the owner appealed.

A member of Bayside Estates, an age-restricted community in south Fort Myers, Fla., won't give up his right to let family, friends, and employees younger than 55 years old stay at his house. The community's homeowners association is just as determined to clamp down on the 76-year-old homeowner. In a letter to the member in 2008, the then-association president wrote that without rules there is “anarchy and disorder.”

If the community you manage is located in a scenic area, like near a beach or lake, or in a city with a famous skyline like New York, Boston, or Seattle, the view that owners enjoy from their units might be very important to them. Owners often buy their particular units because of the views and are dismayed if they're obscured by structures or foliage added later. Owners who have paid for a specific view that they can no longer enjoy or that previously made their unit more valuable and unique than others, making resale easier, could sue the association.

Facts: An owner sued the homeowners association, two board members, and two employees of his condo complex for discrimination and retaliation, claiming that they had discriminated against his family on the basis of their national origin (Indian) by depriving them of services provided to white residents. The district court concluded that the owner's allegations were “insufficient to state plausible claims of discrimination or retaliation under the Fair Housing Act (FHA).” The owner appealed.

The most recent U.S. Census reports that there has been a sharp increase in the number of home-based businesses across the country. According to Census statistics, 51.6 percent of the country's businesses are operated within homes or other noncommercial spaces.

Knob Hill Property Owner's Association in Augusta, Ga., recently denied housing to a retired, paralyzed African-American war veteran. The association claimed that the home would require specialized accommodations and that those accommodations would ultimately lower the overall property value of Knob Hill.

New legislation in Florida, effective July 1, will have a major impact on both condominium and homeowners associations within the state. The legislation will primarily affect procedural and operational issues of the associations. Cooperative associations were, as they have been in the past, excluded from the bill.

The law, House Bill 1195, will amend current laws concerning owner privacy rights, employee salary information, and closed board meetings, among other things.

Retired Marine Mike Merola can now fly his flag on the 20-foot flagpole he erected on his property at the Lakeland Village Community Association in Houston, Texas. In December, Lakeland claimed that Merola was in violation of the community's design rules and ordered him to take down the flagpole. When Merola refused, the association sued.

The financial health of a community association is one of the most important things that an association manager must constantly monitor. Without enough funds, the association's board of directors may struggle to cover costs, and may eventually have to increase assessments. Since the downturn in the economy, many associations have felt the stress of budgetary shortfalls. But as the economy improves, some are getting a pleasant surprise: They have a budgetary surplus, rather than a shortfall.