#HOA BOARD HAS FELT TO FOLLOW COVENANT SERIES#

'The board allowed one party to paint one side of a house and didn't require the other owner to paint his side. 'I lived in a neighborhood with twin homes, like duplexes,' he recalls. Vinzani once lived in an HOA that had a similar problem. In South Carolina, home owners that the board tries to enforce rules against in the future could argue the board has no such authority because, in essence, it has unclean hands.' 'But in this case, people are actually violating the HOA's covenants. 'Most covenants say that boards can decide not to enforce all the provisions all the way, and there's nothing owners can do about it,' explains Jeff Vinzani, an attorney in Charleston, S.C., who represents associations. Generally, our experts say that boards should enforce their HOA's rules unless there's a really, really, really good reason not to-and that's hard to find. Here our experts discuss whether boards can waive compliance with the HOA's rules in this way, whether it's a good idea, and the risks, if any, to which board members expose the HOA when they make such a waiver. What course of action can homeowners take against an unconcerned, irresponsible board?' I would also assume that a lender would be wary to proceed with a loan due to the fact that at any time a new board may enforce the standards and force a new buyer to comply. I would assume that an appraiser hired by a lender would notice a roof not compliance. 'My concern lies in a precedent of noncompliance being set on all replacement issues and property values being affected. Both suggestions were denied without supportive reasoning. That does give the owner time to accumulate the funds (or plan⁄price accordingly) and protects future board members to enforce roof replacement standards. I also suggested at the least sending a certified letter stating that the owner is out of compliance, and when the time comes for him to sell the property, the resale certificate won't be issued until the roof is in compliance. I suggested (and sent a supporting 'how to' link) painting the shingles. 'The homeowners in the section weren't notified of the decision. Their reasoning is that the homeowner can't afford to replace the new roof, and they don't believe it will affect the property value. The board chose to ignore the homeowner's negligence and opted to have each of the adjoining townhomes in his section match his noncompliant color when the time comes for them to replace their roofs. The board stated at the community annual meeting that the owner didn't follow the procedure of obtaining approval through our architectural request process. It's not even close to the existing colors. If you have a question you need answered, post it on the message board.Īn reader writes, 'A homeowner replaced his roof and chose a color that isn't in compliance with our replacement standards.

#HOA BOARD HAS FELT TO FOLLOW COVENANT SERIES#

This article is part of an ongoing series in which we'll take your questions from the discussion forum and get you the answers you need from experts who specialize in association management.

Hoa board has felt to follow covenant