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

[scaredyclassic]

Lifting odd objects is the new trendy way to be fit–I may just carry that water heater down to the mailbox and bbak.

Weird world.

Hoa would probably frown on me walking around the development with a broken appliance or a boulder or even just carrying my wife around.

[spdrun]

Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.
The orangutan I mean….

You’re got a point there.

[scaredyclassic]

Younger orangutans prefer the term “molly”.

[EconProf]

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.

[henrysd]

EconProf and urbanrealtor both served HOA board before. In my friend’s case, the home owner cooperated with HOA and asked several times the tenant to correct the issue. Nothing owner did wrong. If the owner tries to fight the HOA in court how do you think of the chances are. There are also 2 other ways of resolving dispute – internal meeting with a HOA assigned board member and third part arbitration. Of course the method with lowest cost is internal meeting.

It seems this HOA has too big power on how they can charge penalty. One HOA of my home has very well documented procedure and descriptions on how much and how they charge penalty. For example first notice warning, 2nd notice warning, 3rd notice $100 fine, 4th notice $200 fine. They delivered those documents yearly to all home owners. I don’t think my friend’s condo HOA has a written penalty procedure transparent to all home owners.

Most leases, especially those popular California Realtor Association lease form, indeed have language saying tenant is responsible to pay HOA penalty.

[sobmaz]

Obviously you and your friend are HOA newbies because anyone with any HOA dealings would laugh at your question.

But for you, I know this is a serious question and I would estimate that your landlord friend would be held responsible for tenant fines by about 99.999999% of the HOAs in existence.

Just another reason why landlording is not for the faint of heart.

[sobmaz]

On another note, in the future, you should have the tenant sign a document stating that he has received a copy of the HOA rules and regulations and agrees to abide by them and if any fines result from tenant violating the HOA bylaws, the tenant will be held liable for the fines.

[spdrun]

And make the security deposit large enough to cover potential fines within reason 🙂

[Author]

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