Does HOA have legal right to charge home owner on tenant violation?

[henrysd]

I am asking this question – on whether HOA has sufficient legal right to charge home owner penalty on tenant violations. Have a friend owns a rental condo and the tenant put some object on yard which the HOA deems unauthorized. The violation is not outrageous and most other home owner wouldn’t mind. A different HOA may tolerate too. But this HOA is pretty picky. The home owner is cooperative to HOA and asks the tenant to remove the objects, but the tenant seems less cooperative. He always said yes in mouth, but didn’t really comply. Since the home is rented out, the owner can’t just go ahead and bring down the objects. The owner lives quite a far distance to the rental home. The HOA didn’t do anything directly to the tenant for example deliver notice directly to the door to ask the tenant to do any correction or apply any penalty to the tenant. The HOA just keep sending notice to the home owner and now HOA is charging home owner penalty in assessment account.

My friend would appreciate any ideas if the HOA has the legal right to charge owner on tenant violations. The owner hasn’t got to the point to start evicting the tenant as the tenant still pays rent and keep the home in reasonable condition. He’d also appreciate on ideas on how the home owner should counter punch on the HOA aggressiveness.

Thanks in advance.

[an]

Simple answer is YES. I’ve dealt with something similar and have asked lawyers about it. Bottom line is, you’re SOL if they’re following the HOA guidelines. If you decide to sue, the HOA’s fee pays for their lawyer fees and if you win, your HOA fee will go up due to the cost of the lawyer fees. So, in short, you’re best to just pony up the fine and get the problem fixed.

[spdrun]

Yes, and this is why I put a clause in my lease saying “tenant is responsible for HOA fines incurred due to violations of CC&R’s (see attached pamphlet).” If the fine is for something reasonable, I’d pay and pass it on to the tenant.

If it’s for something UNreasonable, hell yes I’d fight it. The defendant’s costs will be split among ALL the tenants, not just me, so I’d be screwing all of my co-owners over. A good incentive for them not to elect HOA board members that levy unreasonable fines, don’cha think?

[EconProf]

HOA boards do not have a legal relationship with tenants of their complex, but with owners. So they have to rely on owners to inform their tenants of the rules and make sure they follow them.
I used to own condos in San Diego and always made sure tenants got a list of HOA rules and regulations of the complex that they would need to comply with. Too few owners do this, which is one reason condo buildings with high concentrations of renters acquire a bad reputation, go downhill, and are avoided by lenders.

[spdrun]

^^^

Having said this, that’s why it’s best to keep address of record at the condo and just pay bills, etc, online. What the HOA board doesn’t know, they’re not obligated to report to banks of buyers seeking financing (thus keeping values up).

[urbanrealtor]

[quote=EconProf]HOA boards do not have a legal relationship with tenants of their complex, but with owners. So they have to rely on owners to inform their tenants of the rules and make sure they follow them.
I used to own condos in San Diego and always made sure tenants got a list of HOA rules and regulations of the complex that they would need to comply with. Too few owners do this, which is one reason condo buildings with high concentrations of renters acquire a bad reputation, go downhill, and are avoided by lenders.[/quote]
I am not a lawyer.
I am, however, an expert on real property contracts and a former HOA president.

It is often the case that parts of a CC&Rs are unenforceable or voidable.

Let’s take 2 examples:
1: I closed a deal for a Pigg a few years ago (this person can feel free to chime in) that had an HOA requirement that the owners be of a certain race. That is an extreme example and obviously unworkable.

2: I (while still a secretary on an HOA board) sued the HOA for damage to my unit. There was a storm and the drain outside my unit had not been maintained. The drain backed up and flooded my unit (specifically the nursery where my son was sleeping). This resulted in 3 weeks in a hotel and replacing carpet and other flooring. The judge took all of 5 min to rule. The HOA attempted to rely on a stipulation in the CC&R’s stating that the individual owner had to pay for all interior repairs irrespective of culpability.

Obviously, the judge thought that was horse shit.

[urbanrealtor]

The point is this:
If the requirement is fundamentally unfair (eg: $1000 because a tenant left a bbq on a patio for a week) the courts will decline to enforce it.

[SD Realtor]

I am not so sure it is a good idea to presume the courts will choose to enforce/not enforce anything. Playing it safe from the beginning to me makes more sense. Additionally it is always such fun to spend time going to court fighting off something stupid that your tenant did.

As others have implied, having a very strict lease requiring the tenant to comply with all hoa bylaws and ccrs is a good idea. Furthermore there is usually a notice of violation of the hoa when the unit is in violation. You may want to even put in the lease that upon notification of violation the tenant has x number of days to remedy the violation or else the tenant is in default.

[urbanrealtor]

[quote=SD Realtor]I am not so sure it is a good idea to presume the courts will choose to enforce/not enforce anything. Playing it safe from the beginning to me makes more sense. Additionally it is always such fun to spend time going to court fighting off something stupid that your tenant did.

As others have implied, having a very strict lease requiring the tenant to comply with all hoa bylaws and ccrs is a good idea. Furthermore there is usually a notice of violation of the hoa when the unit is in violation. You may want to even put in the lease that upon notification of violation the tenant has x number of days to remedy the violation or else the tenant is in default.[/quote]

I agree.
While the pound of cure is generally effective, it is far more certain to require the ounce of prevention.

Out of curiosity, was the HOA required to send a violation (per their rules)?
If so, did they?
Also, does anyone know the statutes regarding notice?
I seem to recall they are pretty restrictive for the HOA.

[SD Realtor]

Obviously the lease will be tailored to match the individual HOA. While it may be a pain in the ass to understand the HOA bylaws and such, any responsible landlord should know them, especially the rules regarding the notifications so that they can protect themselves in the lease. A simple call to the HOA or PM with a question of where in the bylaws or CCRs is/is not the instructions regarding notifications should get an answer. If there is not any notification then the lease should be tailored to account for that. Unfortunately for the original poster, they are going to have to deal with it directly through the HOA or fight it in court unless they had some sort of protection. Kind of a bummer.

[scaredyclassic]

my wife forbade me from living anywhere with an HOA. she is so wise. i have a water heater in my front yard for the last couple years. that would probably be a 19,000 fine by now…

[spdrun]

HOA’s make sense where they make sense — in condos which share common structure and mechanicals. Otherwise, yeah, I’d sooner make sweet love to a methed-out Orangutan than live in a detached house in a HOA-infested area…

[urbanrealtor]

[quote=spdrun]HOA’s make sense where they make sense — in condos which share common structure and mechanicals. Otherwise, yeah, I’d sooner make sweet love to a methed-out Orangutan than live in a detached house in a HOA-infested area…[/quote]

Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.

The orangutan I mean….

[scaredyclassic]

I think my wife also forbade me from making sweet love to other primates.

[CDMA ENG]

[quote=6packscaredy]my wife forbade me from living anywhere with an HOA. she is so wise. i have a water heater in my front yard for the last couple years. that would probably be a 19,000 fine by now…[/quote]

I can see Scaredy on his front yard doing squats and lunges ala Rocky Balboa style with the tank on his back.

“Try’in’ hard now…”

CE

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