If there’s one challenge that keeps showing up in community associations’ management, it’s the growing disconnect between what boards prioritize and what residents actually experience day to day. This gap rarely comes down to bad intentions. It’s usually a failure of process, communication, or understanding.
Right now, we have more than 370,000 HOAs operating across the US, governing over 40 million households. That’s roughly 75 million Americans living in communities where daily life is shaped by CC&Rs, bylaws, and board-adopted rules. Homeowners are expected to follow them, and boards are expected to enforce them. When residents violate those rules, they face fines, loss of access to common areas, suspension of privileges, or further enforcement action.
On paper, that structure makes sense. But here’s what makes condo and HOA living different from almost any other residential arrangement: the association functions as a small political system. Board members are elected volunteers. Decisions are made locally. Enforcement happens close to home. When board priorities drift away from resident reality, the effects are more personal, more immediate, and more damaging than any other form of local governance.
Over my years managing properties, from high-rise condos to sprawling suburban communities, I have watched this disconnect play out in buildings and communities of every size and demographic. In this guide, I will walk you through the most common disconnect I see between board priorities and resident reality, and I will share the solutions that have actually worked in the communities I have managed and supported.
Selective enforcement
Rules exist to maintain order, protect property values, and set clear expectations for behavior within a community. Rule enforcement is one of the board’s most visible responsibilities. It is also one of the fastest ways to lose credibility if you handle it inconsistently. In condos and HOAs, enforcement touches everything from parking restrictions, pet policies, noise rules, rental limitations, to the use of common areas and architectural guidelines.
The problem starts when enforcement becomes selective. One homeowner gets written up for leaving the trash bins out past collection day, while neighbors down the street do the same thing without hearing a word. From the homeowner’s perspective, this feels personal, not governance. And data backs up what I hear from residents all the time.
In a recent survey that we conducted, 43% of homeowners say violation enforcement in their community is unfair, compared to just 38% percent who find it fair. When we asked HOA residents what they wanted improved most, 37% pointed to rule transparency as their top priority. That tells you everything you need to know about where trust stands.
Why does selective enforcement happen?
In most cases, selective enforcement isn’t the result of favoritism or malice. What I have seen, time and again, is that it stems from operational constraints and a lack of systems. Take board turnover, for example. A new board comes in and decides the previous leadership was too lenient. They push for stricter compliance, thinking they are correcting past mistakes. Internally, they feel responsible. But to residents, it feels like the rules changed overnight without explanation or warning.
Then there is the issue of governing document literacy. Many volunteer board members simply don’t know their CC&Rs inside and out when they start. They are learning on the job. When enforcement procedures aren’t well understood, mistakes happen. Rules get misapplied, violations pile up unevenly, and complaints start rolling in.
Another major factor is complaint-driven enforcement. A lot of associations don’t have the capacity to proactively monitor compliance, so they rely on residents to report violations. If no one reports it, nothing gets enforced. That creates a system where enforcement depends more on neighbor relationships and visibility than on the actual rules.
I have worked with large communities where management simply doesn’t have the staffing to patrol regularly, so they do periodic sweeps instead. Homeowners who get caught during one of these sweeps often feel singled out, even though the board is just working within resource constraints. No matter the reason, the outcome is the same. Residents feel targeted, and the enforcement feels arbitrary. Over time, this erodes trust.
How successful associations handle enforcement disputes
When disputes over selective enforcement arise, many boards instinctively try to resolve them internally. That feels logical, but in my experience, it almost always makes things worse. If residents already believe enforcement is unfair, a board-led resolution really restores confidence. You can’t adjudicate complaints where you are the opposing party.
The more effective approach is to remove the board from the role of judge. Appoint a neutral third party, such as your management company or HOA attorney, to handle this conflict. You can also hire a professional mediator or arbitrator experienced in association governance. The neutral third party evaluates both sides, references the governing documents, and provides a written resolution at the conclusion of the process. This protects the association while demonstrating fairness to residents. Yes, meditation and arbitration involve additional costs. But compared to litigation, they’re significantly less expensive and far less disruptive to the community.
Personal conflict
Living in close quarters makes conflict unavoidable. I see it in high-rise condos, townhome communities, and suburban HOAs alike. The reality is that board members aren’t distant administrators; they are your neighbors. They share the same hallways, elevators, parking areas, and amenities as everyone else in the community.
Most of the friction that comes up is minor. A bike is blocking a shared hallway. A noise complaint after quite hours. Someone is monopolizing the guest parking. These things are a part of community living, and most of the time, they get resolved without much drama.
The issue is that very few board members come into their role with formal training in conflict resolution or governance procedures. These are volunteers with full-time jobs, families, and lives outside the association. When a dispute isn’t handled properly early on, it can quickly turn personal.
For example, unresolved personal conflict between a homeowner and a board member makes the board member actively look for violations and penalties to penalize the resident. Enforcement stops being about the rules and becomes retaliatory. And when that happens, the board’s responsibility to act in the community’s best interest gets completely overshadowed by personal grievance.
How associations can defuse personal conflict before it escalates
The most effective way I have found to manage personal conflict is to remove emotion from the process. I suggest you go the mediation route to facilitate structured, neutral discussions between the parties involved. Medication gives both sides a chance to be heard, while keeping the focus on the governing documents, not personalities. It also helps prevent minor disputes from turning into formal complaints, enforcement battles, or legal action.
Lack of financial management skills
Financial management is another area where I see some of the widest gaps between what boards intend to do and the impact their decisions actually have on the residents. HOA and condo boards are elected, but they are still volunteers. Most have little or no background in financial management, governance, or property operations.
A 2022 survey by the Community Associations Institute found that 60% of HOA board members had no experience in property management or governance before taking on the role. That is why states like Florida have started requiring newly elected board members to complete educational courses within 90 days of taking office, covering topics like fiduciary responsibility and financial oversight.
Without that foundation, boards struggle with budget preparation, dues collection strategy, reserve planning and funding, and long-term capital forecasting.
I have seen boards avoid necessary assessment increases out of fear, such as fear of resident backlash, fear of losing reelection, or simply not wanting to pay more themselves. In fact, I have seen board election flyers proudly advertise that assessments haven’t been raised in 5 years, as if that signals good leadership. In reality, that signals deferred risk.
Many associations fail to commission a reserve study, fail to update it every two to three years as recommended, or ignore it entirely. As a result, reserves go underfunded while major components continue to age, replacement costs rise, and inflation continues. After all, there are no condo buildings or HOAs where infrastructure gets newer or cheaper over time. However, boards continue to budget as if the community exists in a vacuum.
From my experience, boards that resist incremental assessment increases almost always end up in the same place: a special assessment. This is where the real disconnect happens.
From a resident’s perspective, special assessments are meant for true emergencies, such as natural disasters, catastrophic failures, and unexpected events that couldn’t reasonably be planned for. In those cases, even if the financial hit is painful, it is usually understood. The conflict arises when a special assessment results from years of underfunded reserves or financial mismanagement, and now the community can’t afford the major maintenance and replacement project. Homeowners see these assessments as unjustified and avoidable. And in many cases, they are right.
A sudden demand for something like $1,800 due within 30 days is a financial crisis for many households. It can drain savings, force debt, and disrupt a family’s entire budget. Special assessments are also one of the fastest ways to trigger lawsuits. Once legal action begins, both the association and homeowners incur additional costs, deepening the financial strain the assessment was meant to address in the first place. At that point, the board’s intention to protect the community is completely overshadowed by resident hardship and distrust.
Best way to reduce financial conflict
If boards want residents to support financial decisions, they can’t make those decisions behind closed doors. The most effective associations actively involve residents through budget and financial committees. Send requests for volunteers and give interested owners a voice in the budget process. When residents see the numbers, the reserve projections, and the long-term risks, confusion drops and cooperation increases.
You’ll be surprised by what community members can offer. Some residents have backgrounds in asset management, construction, accounting, or financial planning. Excluding them from the process wastes valuable expertise.
Communication breakdown
One of the most consistent complaints I hear from condo and HOA residents is poor communication. The disconnect between the boards, management, and homeowners creates silence, delays, and fragmented messaging. This results in legal exposure, financial confusion, and social tension across the entire association.
For example, you find boards pushing forward capital improvements that residents don’t support, or boards shutting down proposals that homeowners are excited about. In both cases, the underlying issue is that residents don’t feel included or informed.
The data reinforces this gap. In an interview we recently conducted, 38% of condominium community residents say they are informed about board decisions, while another 38% say they are not. That means governance transparency is essentially a coin toss. For any association, that split signals a serious communication failure, and it directly impacts resident trust.
Another common source of disconnect is the gap between resident expectations and what the association can realistically deliver. Sometimes expectations exceed what governing documents allow. Other times, residents misunderstand the board’s timelines and financial constraints. When expectations and reality drift apart, the burden falls on the board to reset them. If the board doesn’t communicate early and clearly, residents assume decisions are arbitrary, dismissive, or made behind closed doors, even when that isn’t true.
Communication problems are made worse by technology sprawl. When boards and management teams rely on multiple apps and systems to handle announcements, maintenance requests, and resident inquiries, things get lost. A message gets buried, and residents assume they were ignored.
How to improve communication in HOA and condo communities
The solution is straightforward: use modern channels and tools of communication to create a single source of truth. Community websites and resident portals allow boards to store governing documents, share updates, and post announcements consistently. Email newsletters help reinforce key messages and provide predictable touchpoints.
That said, portals alone aren’t enough. In a recent resident research we did, we found that only 36% of condo residents check their portals weekly. For HOAs, engagement is even lower. Just 24% of homeowners log in weekly. That means many homeowners can easily miss critical information even when the information is technically available.
So I suggest you supplement portals with SMS alerts for urgent notices, emergencies, or last-minute changes. Another option is to use mobile apps that fetch information directly from the resident portals. The easiest way to do this is for the board to implement HOA management software that comes with a mobile version like Condo Control. That way, residents can review rules, submit requests, and pay assessments from their phones.
Lack of financial transparency
When homeowners pay assessments, they expect responsible stewardship. Even when the boards manage finances correctly, trust erodes quickly if residents can’t see where their money goes.
Many homeowners view fees as excessive and unnecessary when used for amenities they rarely use. A good example is in our recent study, where we found that 50% of the HOA homeowners rarely or never attend HOA-sponsored events. For those residents, the board’s use of assessments on those events feels disconnected from real value.
As a result, many homeowners believe boards withhold financial details until budgets are finalized, leaving them with no influence over how their money is used. In fact, according to HOA-USA, 40% of resident complaints relate directly to financial transparency.
How associations can build financial transparency
Financial transparency is about giving residents real-time access to financial data through simplified reports. Many states already mandate transparency. For example, Arizona Revised Statutes 33-1805 requires HOAs to provide homeowners access to financial records.
I suggest you give regular updates, such as quarterly or semi-annually, so residents understand where the community stands. If the association is trending over budget, share early. When boards explain financial pressures in advance, before assessments increase, residents may not like the outcome, but they understand it. For instance, if an increase is likely next year, say so now. Let homeowners absorb the information, ask questions, and see the reasoning.
Conclusion
In most cases, the disconnect between board priorities and resident reality isn’t because the board is mismanaging finances or acting against the best interests of the community. It is due to a communication breakdown, and homeowners can’t really tell the financial status of the association or how assessments are being used.
With the proper communication, it is possible to prevent conflicts from arising, rather than trying to resolve them after the fact. From my experience working directly with property management companies and communities of all sizes, I have seen that the associations that succeed are the ones that prioritize transparent and early communication, involve residents in meaningful ways, and create systems that remove emotion from enforcement and decision making. The work isn’t always easy, but the payoff of having a trusting, engaging community where residents and the board work together is worth every effort.
