How Exciting: A Condo/HOA Rule That Really Works
HOAleader.com - Tip of the Week - January 26, 2024
We're always happy to report on tactics and tools that turn out to be effective. In this week's tip, we have one we can tell you about, and we learned about it while answering a reader's question.
A condo resident wants to know if their board has the authority to send violations to owners for their guests' conduct on the HOA's roads. That's right, owners would be fined for their guests' driving. We were actually surprised at
the answer.
This is one of those issues that will come down to whether your state law or documents grant your board this authority.
"The answer is that it depends," notes Janet Oulousian Aronson, a partner at Marcus Errico Emmer & Brooks in Braintree, Mass., who is licensed in that state, in addition to Rhode Island and New Hampshire. "In Massachusetts, we'd be able to do this. The law holds owners accountable for any actions of the tenants, guests, or invitees.
If someone engages in misconduct and they're connected to that owner, the owner is responsible. And maybe their documents permit this, too.
"Now, the board has to identify whose guest is speeding, and is that practical?" she asks. "And how
do guests know the speed limit? Are there signs posted? Would someone coming onto the property know the speed? If there wasn't clear notice of the speed, I don't think a fine would be upheld."
That's also true in Michigan. "Yes, it's OK to
fine guests," reports Bree Anne Stopera, an associate at Makower Abbate Guerra Wegner Vollmer PLLC in Farmington Hills, Mich., whose firm represents more than 2,000 community associations throughout the state. "In Michigan, the governing documents will say they apply to the co-owners, guests, and invitees and that the co-owners have an obligation to ensure that anyone they bring onto the community is complying with the governing documents as they are."