Community Association Rules

The Kentucky Court of Appeals has rejected a community association owner’s arguments in yet another battle over owners’ right to use their homes as short-term rentals. The court’s ruling, based on a recent decision by the state’s Supreme Court, could provide some useful guidance for your clients that would like to implement enforceable restrictions on…

A Texas Court of Appeals has found that the failure to enforce a subdivision’s restrictive covenants constituted an abandonment of the restrictions as a whole — despite the fact that the covenants included a severability provision intended to protect the other provisions if one or more were struck down as unenforceable. (Densmore v. McCarley, Tex.…

Community association residents can be as guilty of “not in my backyard” as anyone else when given the chance. And they may be in for an unpleasant surprise if they count on their declaration and restrictions to protect them from such situations. A community association in Austin, Tex., learned this the hard way. A federal…

People who buy into pricey gated communities likely assume they won’t have to worry about drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities moving into the neighborhood — but a recent case out of Texas shows that this confidence may be misplaced. A federal district court ruled against an Austin community association, finding that the Fair Housing Act…

Your clients may be worried that the COVID-19 crisis threatens their financial stability, but you need to help them avoid going too far in their efforts to protect their bottom lines. One path to steer them away from, for example, is becoming overly invasive in their financial screening of prospective buyers. An association in Florida…

Depending on the governing documents, community associations may have some say on the buyers to whom owners can sell their properties — but, even armed with that authority, they can go too far and create problems for their associations. That’s what happened in a recent case in Florida, where the court characterized the association’s requirement…

The COVID-19 crisis left many boards of directors scrambling to handle a variety of novel issues, sometimes based on uncertain or questionable authority. This has led some associations to consider amending their governing documents to better equip them to deal with similar (or lingering) issues in the future. And, if they’ve already started the amendment…

Community associations across the country are weighing amendments to their governing documents. While the initial impetus may have been some problematic gaps that handcuffed boards of directors as they tried to respond to COVID-19, these associations realize this also may be an opportune time to act on other issues that have been percolating for a…

You might make yourself your clients' MVP by helping them focus on the steps they can be taking now to make sure the long-term work in dealing with COVID-19 isn't as difficult as the initial steps for many community associations. For some parts of the United States, it seems that the so-called “first wave” of…

Are your clients truly ready for what now looks to be a long game in the fight against COVID-19? Experts widely expect the coronavirus to continue to be a factor in the fall and the winter, when it could be compounded by the return of the seasonal flu. Even if you're in an area currently…