The long-term operation and social success of a community association is heavily dependent upon a few key items.

After finances and communication, rulemaking and rule enforcement will often determine how much people like (or dislike) their neighborhoods.  

Enforcing rules is always hard, regardless of how large or small a community is. But how can it be done effectively when you have multiple HOAs in your portfolio?

Pro tip – don’t try to do it on your own. Paper documents and spreadsheets don’t cut it anymore. The old way of managing violations is too clumsy and time consuming. Your team could spend their entire day issuing and updating violations, and there would still be work to do.

Instead, look for a dynamic tech solution that will help reduce the workload by streamlining violation processes, even when different HOAs have different rules.

Table of contents

• HOA rules will be broken
• The challenge: being consistent when rules are different
• The solution
• Key principles to keep in mind

HOA rules will be broken

As a portfolio manager, it’s not up to you to make the rules. But you do have to ensure they are enforced. And you can count on rules being broken.

According to a detailed study produced by Frontdoor, over 1 in 6 homeowners have been fined at some point while living in the association. That’s somewhere between 17% – 19% of members.

Of those who have been fined, an average of 2 fines per person were issued. This means that either the problem was not resolved, or the fine was not significant enough to deter the person from committing another violation. Many (42%) said they were fined for a landscaping issue.

46% were fined between $50 –$100, and 30% were fined $101 – $500.

The challenge: being consistent when rules are different

Violations must follow a process so that biases and subjectivity are removed from the equation. But, as you know, every HOA does things a bit differently.

This creates an additional challenge for you and your team, because different communities will have different requirements. Keeping track of those varied processes is not easy.

On top of that, you’re having to communicate with unhappy residents and owners.  

Returning to the report from Frontdoor, 34% of participants said they didn’t believe rules were enforced fairly. That could be because they got in trouble for doing the same thing their neighbor did, but only one of them received a letter. Or, maybe they weren’t aware that they could attend a hearing to plead their case.

Whatever the reason, it’s usually you and your staff who have to deal with the complaining.

The solution

In order to be fair and consistent with rule enforcement, a multiportfolio HOA manager needs intuitive, flexible, and reliable tools. Something like Condo Control’s violation tracking and management solution is ideal. Why? Admins have the option to:

• Issue and update violations across communities on one operational hub. No need to login in every time you enter a new workspace
• Create custom violation types and stages that comply with each community’s enforcement schedule
• Cite, from governing documents, which rule was broken for common violations such as noise or landscaping
• Make different templates for different workplaces
• Print out premade violation templates
• Add auto-populated fields to your messages
• If feasible, set up violation types and stages one on your Condo Control portfolio and apply them to all workspaces

By implementing this feature, neither you nor your team has to remember which HOA follows which violation process.

 Plus, letters can be delivered in minutes, ensuring more consistent and fair rule enforcement.  

And there’s more.

Managers can create and update violations from the Condo Control mobile app. This makes it very easy for them to log new violations or follow up on outstanding issues while patrolling a community.

Smart geotracking provides real-time location and identifies homes near them that have outstanding violations.

When a resident or owner receives the letter, they can view details, respond to notices, add files, and pay violation fees online, if applicable.

If they have questions or concerns, they can easily write a response to management to get more information.

Rule enforcement across communities becomes far less cumbersome and time-consuming when you’ve got Condo Control’s flexible violation management solution in hand.

Key enforcement principles to keep in mind

Even with a streamlined violation management process, handling this responsibility can be unpleasant.

This guideline from the Community Associations Institute (CAI) can help your team, and the boards you serve, assess the validity and usefulness of its current rules.  

It is not your job to make rules, but if you or your staff notice something that seems unfair, or doesn’t align with state laws, you can make recommendations to the board.

• All rules and regulations should be based upon proper legal authority as contained in applicable legislation, court precedent, and the governing documents of the community  
• Rules and regulations should be adopted solely to serve the legitimate needs of the community, taking into consideration the personal and property interests of owners
• Rules and regulations reflect the current standards of a community and should be reviewed periodically to ensure they are being kept abreast of the community’s needs and are in compliance with governmental regulations
• Changes should be considered in a meeting where owners are invited to attend and afforded the opportunity to review and comment upon proposed rules and regulations prior to their adoption by the governing board
• Changes to duly adopted rules and regulations should be made available, using the association’s regular communication modes, to the owners of record. Communication helps ensure compliance.  
• The community’s enforcement process should make adequate accommodation for due process, including the opportunity to appear before a hearing panel after a violation notice has been issued, and the violation has not been cured within a reasonable time
• To avoid the appearance of selective enforcement and criticism by owners, the board or its appointed hearing panel should ensure that all violations of rules and regulations of which the association becomes aware are enforced in a consistent, uniform manner using common sense

Conclusion

Multiporfolio managers cannot and should not try to deal with violations the old-fashioned way. Instead, using a tool like Condo Control’s violation management will improve the speed and accuracy with which violations are issued and resolved.  

That being said, the very best way to handle violations is still education. The more owners know about their rules and bylaws, the less likely they are to break the rules in the first place.

Improve education by ensuring owners and residents can access CC&Rs online, either through a portal or website. Furthermore, when it comes to submitting architectural change requests, digitize the process to speed up response times. Owners can get the answers they need in less time, allowing them to move forward with projects without breaking any rules.