HOAleader.com - Tip of the Week - December 20, 2013
Published: Fri, 12/20/13
=================================================================
Wait! There's More! Additional Ideas to Combat Short-Term Rentals
=================================================================
In this week's tip, we follow up on last month's article exposing
the challenge HOAs face in policing owners who violate HOA rules
by renting their units out for short-term stints through growing
websites like AirBnb and VRBO.com.
Someone made a suggestion: What about that idea of providing
notice in the listing's review section to potential renters that
the owner may not have the right to rent the property? Our
experts universally don't like the idea.
"If it were me, I'd never consider posting something like that,"
says Duane McPherson, the Carrollton, Texas-based division
president at RealManage, an association management firm that
oversees properties in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida,
Louisiana, Nevada, and Texas. "If you made a mistake, I think
you're opening the association to extreme liability. Comments
need to be communicated directly to the owner and not anybody
else."
David W. Kaman, a Columbus-based partner at Kaman & Cusimano LLC,
which represents associations throughout Ohio, agrees. "We'd
advise against that," he says. "There's a concept in the law
called tortuous interference with contract. If it turns out my
board member posts this warning to potential renters because the
board believed the property listed was in Sunnyvale, and it was
in Sunnydale, and that owner loses a prospective tenant, my board
member is facing personal liability.
"Also, under Ohio law, I can say. 'I'm going to shoot you,' but
there's not a lot you can do until I pull the trigger," adds
Kaman. "Advertising a unit for rental isn't a violation. When the
owner pulls the trigger and rents that unit, that's where the
association has an interest. We have some associations right on
Lake Erie that prohibit leases for less than 30 days, but owners
will attempt to lease their properties to fishermen. If owners
are in violation, we can start fining them a daily rate. And
after 10 days of violation, we can evict the tenants. That's what
stops this practice. So we'd tell our boards to stay away from
that issue completely. There are too many variables, and we have
tremendous recourse so that it's not worth the risk."
Want another way to fix the problem--and to hear directly from
the operator of several short-term rental websites on their
policy when it comes to owners' potentially violating
association rules? Get both in our new article:
http://www.hoaleader.com/members/929.cfm
Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President
=================================================================
Free Group Membership Upgrade
HOAleader.com members can now get a free upgrade to group
membership.
With a group membership, the rest of your HOA or condo
board--up to 9 additional members--will get their own member
accounts.
It's a fantastic value.
Make your job easier. Help the rest of your board get up
to speed on HOA management best practices by adding them to your
HOAleader.com membership today for no cost.
Already a member? Create complimentary accounts for the
other members of your HOA board now:
http://www.hoaleader.com/members/main.cfm
Not a member yet? Sign up now with our low individual rates and
then add your fellow board members for no additional cost:
http://www.hoaleader.com/details.cfm
=================================================================
Recent articles posted at HOAleader.com:
================================================================
Follow Up: More on Catching Owners in the Short-Term Rental Act
Last month, we exposed the challenge HOAs face in policing owners who
violate HOA rules by renting their units out for short-term stints through
growing websites like AirBnb and VRBO.com. This month, we get feedback on
the issue from an operator of such sites--HomeAway. We also discuss one
potential way to shut these owners down: Posting a comment in the review
section of a listing informing renters that the owner may be violating HOA
rules and that the renter could get caught in a dispute between the owner and
the HOA.
Click here to read full article:
================================================================
Four Tips to Avoid Being a Scrooge When It Comes to Holiday Lights and
Decorations
You can put reasonable restrictions on your owners' holiday displays. But
that can cause resentment among some owners. Here we discuss whether and how
HOAs have broached the Christmas display issue by imposing rules and
regulations. We also discuss what an HOA should do when owners go overboard,
creating what some consider a nuisance in the neighborhood, with extreme
lighting, noise, and traffic.
Click here to read full article:
================================================================
HOA Board Reserves Parking Spaces for Own Use; Mistake?
In this week's tip, we answer a reader's question about whether a Washington
state board is acting illegally or unwisely in reserving common HOA parking
spaces for its own use.
Click here to read full article:
================================================================
Reserved Parking Spaces for the HOA Board: a Breach of Fiduciary Duties?
An HOAleader.com reader asks, "We have a secured parking garage in our condo
building with assigned parking spaces. There are four parking spaces that
remain unassigned and that passed from the developer to the HOA at
transition. The board has been unwilling to rent or sell these spaces to
owners, preferring to 'reserve' them for their own use. Is this legal in
Washington state?" Here we address whether there's anything in the law,
regardless of the state, that prohibits the board from doing what it's
doing. Second, we answer the broader question of whether this board is
stupidly harming the HOA--maybe even breaching its fiduciary duties--by
putting its own interests above those of the association and unnecessarily
creating conflict between owners and the board.
Click here to read full article:
=================================================================
Get your own copy!
Subscribe to the HOAleader.com Tip of the Week at:
http://www.hoaleader.com/public/department49.cfm
=================================================================
Please feel free to forward the *entire text* of this email to
others.
Copyright 2013, Plain-English Media, LLC
(866) 641-4548
http://www.hoaleader.com