HOAleader.com - Tip of the Week - May 22, 2015
Published: Fri, 05/22/15
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Your HOA’s Mechanicals Are Noisy! Should You Care?
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Here’s a problem our experts have seen time and time again: Complaints that
the HOA’s innards are too noisy for nearby unit owners. In this week’s tip, we
suggest that you investigate before dismissing them as the cries of people
who should have known what they were getting into.
“I actually have had this,” says Nancy T. Polomis, a partner at Hellmuth &
Johnson PLLC who advises homeowners associations. “I have a client who has a
mixed-use building with a restaurant on the first floor and condos above it.
This person bought next to the restaurant venting. It was specifically
disclosed, and I have to assume the unit was priced accordingly. But after he
bought the unit, he started complaining about the noise the venting was
making. This type of issue may not be something the HOA can do anything about
because the HOA may not own that equipment.”
Another of our experts is in the thick of a similar issue. “What’s funny is I
have this exact same issue going on right now,” says Andrew Schlegel, CCAM®,
executive vice president of community management for Orange County and Los
Angeles at FirstService Residential-California in Aliso Viejo. “It
involves an air-conditioning unit, and when it turns on and off, it creates a
little shudder. In the middle of the night, it irritates the neighbor
nearby. In this case, it’s a separate interest issue per the CC&Rs. But in the
reader’s example where it’s plumbing, that obviously is a common element.”
Here’s one thing to consider when you run into this type of problem:
1. Some owners may have to live with common noise. “In terms of nuisance, the
law doesn’t protect an unusually sensitive owner,” explains Joshua Krut, a
partner at Weiss Serota Helfman Cole Bierman & Popok, a law firm with offices
in Ft. Lauderdale and Coral Gables, Fla. “Instead, the law follows a
reasonable person standard. And nuisance is a very fluid concept and one of
the most difficult in association law. It’s sort of subjective and sort of an
I-know-it-when-I-see-it thing. Maybe this owner just has hearing like my
wife, which is like a canine.
“If this owner isn’t sensitive like that but just has a unit close to the
equipment, the HOA still has to maintain common elements the best it can,”
adds Krut. “Maybe this owner bought near the building plumbing, near an
elevator shaft, or on the top floor, which in a lot of condos is near the AC
units. Some of those owners complain all the time, but you can’t turn those
functions off. All the association can do is maintain by best practices.”
Read three more things to consider in our new article:
http://www.hoaleader.com/public/1180.cfm
Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President
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Recent articles posted at HOAleader.com:
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Can This Noise be Silenced? 4 Tips to Tell If It's the HOA's Responsibility
An HOAleader.com reader asks, "I live in a building where a noise problem has
developed that results from water pressure. When the water goes on and off, a
very loud thud occurs. As a resident (also a seven-year board member), this
is disruptive and also negatively impacts the value of my unit. The sound
isn't coming from my unit, but from above and next door. What's the best way to
determine responsibility for this (either surrounding units or HOA)? I'm
presuming it's the HOA since it's more of a generalized plumbing problem. As
a note, I'm having trouble getting the building manager to take this
seriously since it's hard to document a noise problem."
Click here to read full article:
http://www.hoaleader.com/members/Can-This-Noise-be-Silenced-4-Tips-Tell-Its-HOAs-Responsibility.cfm
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It's Time to Start Working on Your HOA's 2015 Taxes. Seriously.
In this week's tip, we give you a big jump on filing your HOA's tax returns next
year. And if you take our advice now, we promise you'll probably be much less
stressed later.
We're offering this advice because unfortunately, an HOAleader.com
reader just learned the HOA's accountant has done the returns wrong for
seven years--and it was a CPA supposedly familiar with HOAs.
Click here to read full article:
http://www.hoaleader.com/members/Its-Time-Start-Working-on-Your-HOAs-2015-Taxes-Seriously.cfm
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Get Ready for Next Year's HOA Tax Filing
Yes, tax time is over for some HOAs. But not all, depending on whether they
operate on a calendar year or some other system. Here we offer a few tax tips
and lend a hand to a reader who's just found out his HOA's accountant mucked up
his association's tax filing.
Click here to read full article:
http://www.hoaleader.com/members/Get-Ready-for-Next-Years-HOA-Tax-Filing.cfm
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Another Emerging HOA Issue: Tiny Homes
A homeowner association expert recently revealed to us a new issue arising
at some of the community associations she represents: Tiny homes.
They're often on a trailer so they can easily be moved, so homeowners are
moving them onto their property. And that's creating challenges for HOAs in
all kinds of areas, including when it comes to architectural rules. Here we
explain and offer advice.
Click here to read full article:
http://www.hoaleader.com/members/AnotherEmergingHOAIssueTinyHomes.cfm
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Time to Get Your HOA's Drone Rules Off the Ground
In this week's tip, we'll fly a few thoughts about drones past you.
They're not just for the military anymore, and you need to get ahead of this
fast-growing trend before your HOA's airspace needs its own traffic
controllers.
Click here to read full article:
http://www.hoaleader.com/members/Time-Get-Your-HOAs-Drone-Rules-Off-Ground.cfm>
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