Back to the subject of HOAs, owners, and their tenants…
Owners are responsible for following CC&Rs, excepting unreasonable or illegal clauses, which means their tenants must comply with the CC&Rs. Ideally, owners should make the CC&Rs an attachment to the lease and be sure the tenant understands that when the rental begins. Practically speaking, that is not likely since CC&Rs can be a half-inch thick document.
Long ago I owned 3 condos near UCSD where most of my tenants were students. Students in the first rental of their lives can be a challenge because they don’t understand rules, contracts, neighborliness, etc. The condo complex was two-thirds students and was going downhill fast. Absentee landlords failed to rein in their tenants and enforcing rules about parking, noise, trash, pets, etc. was hurting our image and property values. The landlords were amateurs and perhaps thought the HOA was supposed to be their property manager while they sat back and collected rent. I got on the HOA Board and came up with a two-page list of the key rules and regulations. We convinced most of the landlords to make these rules a part of their lease. Of those landlords that didn’t, we came down hard on them when their tenants misbehaved. I’d recommend this approach for other condo associations which have a lot of renters.
