HOA rules are not always popular, but they’re usually designed to protect and enhance the community as a whole. The association is responsible for setting rules, and all homeowners agree to those rules when they purchase within the HOA. The association is also responsible for enforcing rules, and if a homeowner is out of compliance, financial penalties are usually charged.
When the CCRs, bylaws, rules, and regulations are not enforced consistently, your HOA can run into trouble. If you’re having trouble with enforcement, talk to a
San Francisco property management company and get some help reigning in the homeowners who neglect their responsibilities and violate the rules.
Not Enforcing HOA Rules Can Lead to Legal Disputes
If your association is enforcing the rules with one homeowner but not another, you’re welcoming a lot of legal liability into your HOA. The board must enforce the rules uniformly in your homeowner’s association otherwise the entire organization will be vulnerable to lawsuits and legal claims. When your residents can prove that the rules are being enforced against them but not against other homeowners in the community, your association will have a hard time defending itself. There may be fair housing violations as well, leading to additional expenses and court time.
Not Enforcing HOA Rules Can Lead to Distrust
The community has to trust that the
HOA is going to hold everyone accountable to the same standards and requirements. If your board allows rules and regulations to be broken without consequences or enforcement, you will lose your ability to maintain the trust of your homeowners. The entire community will feel like the HOA doesn’t care about the rules they’re supposed to uphold. This will strip away any authority or legitimacy of the association.
Change the Rules or Enforce Them
If your HOA is not consistently enforcing some of the rules you have in place because they don’t seem important, consider changing those rules. There may be times when it’s clear that a rule, regulation, or covenant simply doesn’t make sense for the community anymore. Follow your process for amending or changing those rules.
If the rule is still relevant and needs to be in place, hold your community and its homeowners accountable. There should be a schedule of fees and penalties when rules are broken. If they’re not paid by the homeowner who violated the rule, take the next steps. This might include hiring an attorney and getting a personal judgment in court. Hopefully it won’t come to that, but you have to show your homeowners and your entire community that you’re serious about the rules and their enforcement.