HOAleader.com - Tip of the Week - May 22, 2020
Published: Fri, 05/22/20
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COVID-19: Is Banning Condo/HOA Short-Term Rentals Necessary or a Power Grab?
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In this tip, we answer a question from an HOAleader.com reader asking if their community can implement a ban on short-term rentals to keep fewer people from entering the community.
This question isn't quite so straightforward since use restrictions are different from other rules in community associations. "This is tough because it's basically an association taking an emergency position to not allow someone the right they probably have under the covenants," says Andrea L. O'Toole, a Walnut Creek-based principal at Berding Weil, a law firm that does only community association law throughout California.
Let's start with some good news for Florida residents: The governor has taken the burden off of you on this front. "The Florida governor issued an executive order on March 9, 20-87, stating that vacation rentals are suspended for a period of 14 days unless the order is extended, and then they extended it," states Brad van Rooyen, founder and senior member of Tampa, Fla.-based HomeRiver Group and its national specialist for community association management and the president of Home Encounter.
"In Florida, then, if your community has short-term rentals, you can prohibit those," he adds. "Regular rentals, such as 12-month rentals, I don't think you have the right to do that. Could you use the emergency powers that have been granted to Florida community associations during this pandemic? I've talked to attorneys, and they've said they believe that's really pushing the intent of what the emergency powers are."
This is likely a nonissue for many community associations in a few other states. "Most of my clients already don't allow short-term rentals," explains Phaedra J. Howard, a partner specializing in community association law at Hellmuth & Johnson PLLC in Edina, Minn. "We had the Super Bowl here in Minnesota last year, and many of my clients that do permit rentals amended their documents to address Super Bowl challenges. They changed the documents to say the board can designate special-event times to allow owners to do that.
"To restrict these rights, you have to amend your declaration, and that's not easy," adds Howard. "If you're not prohibiting short-term rentals and you want to temporarily put a moratorium on them during this situation, you're essentially in the position of asking your members for voluntary compliance. You're simply stating, 'Please, let's keep people out who don't need to be here.'"
Michigan is another state in which this issue should be rare, but that's not universal. Find out why, plus the steps O'Toole recommends for being extra cautious in implementing this temporary restriction, in our new article: https://www.hoaleader.com/members/4124.cfm
Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President
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Click here to read full article:
https://www.hoaleader.com/members/COVID19-Your-CondoHOA-May-Qualify-for-PPP-LoanBut-You-Must-Act-Quickly.cfm
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COVID-19: How Condos/HOAs are Handling Dues and Collections
Our experts are getting lots of questions about whether boards can waive dues for suddenly unemployed homeowners, use reserves to help such homeowners, or take measures to ease to collections. We report what our experts are advising on the collections front.
Click here to read full article:
https://www.hoaleader.com/members/COVID19-How-CondosHOAs-are-Handling-Dues-Collections.cfm
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