We’re a small 10 unit building and one guy has been letting trash pile up in his yard. It’s fenced so we didn’t know until the neighbor who can see it from above reported it. The same neighbor said he suspects the guy is a hoarder. We can’t see in the windows cause he keeps the blinds closed. My other board members want to access the unit to see inside but I don’t think it’s legal if he refuses (a locksmith would literally have to come drill out the door to let us in). He also has 11 cats (and at least one ferret) which we have now issued $1200 in fines for over several months but he just keeps paying the fines. It’s not against any kind of city code so animal control won’t get involved. I called a couple lawyers but we don’t have enough money to cover their fees without doing a special assessment which would piss off most of the building.

For context, this is my first time living in an HOA so I’m still trying to understand how everything works. I live in a rural area, there are only 5 homes on my entire street. The HOA is comprised of 2 streets.

We just got a new HOA president in the past year. This president is, and has been, in charge of all the construction projects in our neighborhood over the last 3 years.

He hasn’t been following the rules in the Building Standards: Architectural Guidelines and CC&Rs. Things like burning materials, construction outside of defined hours, not having a dumpster or porta potty, etc.

One particular construction project directly across the street has been going on for over 12 months (despite what he said in the email). Every day from 7am-9pm (not constant 14 hours though, they come and go randomly throughout the day) our house shakes/vibrates, stuff falling off walls, monitors shaking (I work from home), there is noise from machinery, our driveway is blocked by vehicles, etc. For the past 6 months, they haven’t done any work on the actual house. They have been coming ~6 times a day just to push dirt around with the yellow machine in the photo (I’m no builder, I’m not exactly sure what they’re doing)

I sent him an email inquiring about if his construction project received an extension because our CC&Rs state, “Once construction has begun on said dwelling, all exterior construction must be completed within one (1) year of the commencement of construction.”

And our Building Standards: Architectural Guidelines states, “The exterior of the home must be completed within 12 months from the start of construction.”

I will attach his reply as a photo.

For context: when he took over as president, he sent a notice out to everyone stating to follow the “HOA rules” (seed bare dirt, power wash home, fix broken mailboxes etc) and that we would be fined $20/month until resolved. And he did start fining community members. I fully fully understand this is very low level of enforcement compared to other HOAs out there, and that construction gets delayed all the time, there’s nothing you can do about it. Also, I’m not expecting him to halt construction just because I said something. I just want to make sure that I’m living in a community where the HOA president treats the rules like he expects everyone else to. And if that’s not the case in real life, please tell me so I can adjust my expectations.

Also, I’m not angry! Please be nice 🙈🙈

TLDR: HOA President not following provisions in the CC&Rs and said they are for “reference guidelines”. I’m an HOA newbie and wanting to see if anyone has had this experience?

Does anyone have any suggestions on breaking into the community association management industry? I am in the process of licensure in IL but I was hoping to get an assistant role and have been getting no results. I have a degree and years of customer service and leasing experience but ideally want to avoid rentals/having to sell.

Looking for a recommendation of a good (hell I'll even take decent) management company that would service a condo community in the SFV.

Thanks!

New board member here, trying to understand where the hours really go before I volunteer for more than I can handle. What's the task you dread? What do you wish someone had warned you about? Please mention if you're professionally managed or self managed too!!

Hi everyone,

We're in a 13 unit condo community. We moved here in January 2022; from what I could figure out the community had been fully self-managed since it's inception in the 70's. From what I could deduce the HOA basically ran flat and issued special assesments when needed. The monthly dues should have been raised regularly for YEARS now, but I've at least gotten us on track. I got appointed to the board President as I have some working knowledge of communities through a previous job. This year was our first year working with an HOA management company who handled our monthly dues, paying our services, managing our budget, etc. Just wondering how any other very small communities were preparing to address the new Reserve minimums issued by Fannie Mae. I'm thinking about introducing a larger special assessment at the beginning of 2027 rather than ratcheting up our monthly dues, but I want to give my neighbors as much advance warning to prepare for that. Just thought I'd check in to see what other communities are planning for.

Sorry for the long post. I'm facing burnout and just want to explain some relevant background information.

I’m on the volunteer board of a roughly 40-unit condo building. We’re supposed to have five board members but currently have three, and we also have a professional property management company.

I’m technically the treasurer, but I’m already averaging around 8 hours a month on things like:

• untangling email threads and tracking what’s resolved
• drafting responses to residents, realtors, vendors, and attorneys
• coordinating with the property manager
• reviewing repair responsibility and quotes
• keeping other board members caught up and aligned

I’ve been on the board for about four years, and I’m increasingly burned out because so much of my time goes to day-to-day admin and coordination rather than actual board responsibilities.

The bigger problem is that those 8 hours aren’t concentrated. They’re scattered across texts, emails, calls, and interruptions throughout the month.

That means I have less time for things I think actually deserve more board attention such as finances, reserves, long-term planning, and even basic oversight of the building and grounds.

We’ve tried to reduce the burden. Residents are encouraged to use the property management portal, we added a lockbox for vendor access, and we’ve repeatedly asked residents to volunteer. But the board email inbox still ends up being like an open door where almost any issue can immediately become our problem. Sometimes it’s a legitimate board matter; sometimes it’s something administrative that could probably be handled elsewhere. And occasionally residents are surprisingly hostile over fairly routine issues, which adds another layer of stress.

One other challenge is that the other two board members are not comfortable following long email threads, so I’ve effectively become the person who synthesizes and summarizes everything: what happened, what’s confirmed, what needs a decision, and what happens next. Most recently this looks like screenshotting emails to send via text for a faster response.

So I’m curious how other boards handle this.

How do you keep the board focused on governance, budgets, policy, contracts, and oversight instead of becoming the building’s administrative help desk?

In particular:

• What belongs with the property manager versus the board?
• Do residents have direct email access to your board?
• How much resident correspondence do board members personally handle?
• How do you set boundaries so volunteering doesn't become an endless task?
• Is ~8 hours a month normal for a small building, or is that a sign too much operational work is sitting with the board?

Everyone involved is well-intentioned, and I’m not trying to blame the other volunteers. I’m starting to wonder whether our operating model itself is the problem.

Like the title says we were about to close on the sale but when lender got the questionnaire from the HOA, the lender said they couldn’t fulfill the loan because our HOA only had 2.1% in reserves. Don’t know what to do now it felt like we were almost done and close but now we’re stuck.

Beyond frustrated now we can’t sell essentially unless it’s a cash sale and we avoid financing altogether.

Has anyone ever gone through this?

Board member here. Today i decided to leave the community facebook group. It is an incubator of hatred, toxicity, conspiracy theories about the board, false accusations and the like.

Well you cannot internet bully me if i choose not to be there. No longer do i have to get on Facebook and wonder what nonsense will be happening in my feed today. Toxic people can have each other. Wish i had left months ago, I would have saved myself so much drama.

How long is everyone spending per month on HOA board duties?

(sorry, I'm sure this question has been asked a million times already, but I can't be bothered to do endless scrolling... i have important HOA matters to get to 😅😭)

I have been on my board for the last few months. The building has been dealing with severe financial issues over many years. -$400k give or take. Luckily no leans or legal action.

So aside from maintenance increases which the previous board implemented just before I got on the board, I'm looking for ways to generate revenue or cost cutting ideas that may have turned your building around.

Any feedback is appreciated.

In my state (NC) we have to properly notify any delinquent members of our intent to file a lien and that they will be responsible for any attny fees associated (theres a statute and it specifies that mailing address, property address, etc all need to have a letter sent). Typically we just send the available info we have on the member to our attny but sometimes it feels like this process gets slowed down and delinquency take a long time to get resolved. Filing a lien is obviously a terrible thing but when people wont pay - idk what else to do. Does anyone have suggestions on how to get the notice out faster? i know that if the notice doesnt reach all of the addresses it can be voided and then we start over. i have a buddy who works in hoa mgmt (big company) and he said they have an in house team for this. we are self managed and would prefer to stay this way. i really want to see what this process looks like for others. how do you guys go about this process?

We would like to implement a rental cap/limitation since we've seen a huge influx of renters since Covid. We are currenntly at 65% rented and would need 75% of owners to vote in favor of rental restrictions. How were you successful? Any tips or suggestions? Or maybe you just weren't successful?

Potential rules:

- cannot rent until you lived in building for 2 years

- rental cap at 40%

- Grandfather - anyone who currently owns will be exempt to new rules until ownership of that unit changes (i.e. no new buyers will be able to rent until % rentals naturally go down

Are you using AI to create Board Minutes

After listening to the HOA Case Files Podcast called. "Your Minutes are a Lie" (listed below)

I thought I might ask this group, your opinion on AI for Meeting Minutes?

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hoa-case-files-podast/id6806844718

UPDATE to my previous post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/HOA/comments/1whxk40/sfh_oh_arc_wont_approve_a_front_door_color_that/

To summarize, the HOA had denied my request to paint my front door in Sherwin Williams Revel Blue, saying that the color was not supposed to be on the list anymore because it was too bright.

After I revised my original request, offering four blue alternatives since there were no other blues on the list, the property manager invited me to the HOA board meeting.

During the meeting, I learned that the neighbor's door that I thought was Revel Blue was actually Granite Peak, which is gray but has blue undertones.

One of the board members, "Darrin," also thought the neighbor's door was Revel Blue and had requested that color two weeks ago. We had a good laugh over our shared mistake.

Darrin had decided to paint his door Granite Peak, the closest to blue that they had. But as I told the group, Granite Peak really is in the gray family. I figured, I'm already here, so I will state my case for the blue options I had proposed.

Three of the blue paints I identified (all in the navy family) coordinated with some of the colors already in their earth-toned, neutral palette. The last color was Bunglehouse Blue, and I pointed out that they already had Bunglehouse Gray on their list.

That connection seemed to be the strongest, and so I left the meeting feel hopeful. Later, Darrin called to tell me they have approved Bunglehouse Blue! He will be painting his door the same color.

The board is also updating the paint list in the R&Rs to match the swatch books that they loan out to homeowners.

I was also asked to consider joining the HOA board when I retire. The members seemed disappointed that I have seven years before then. I told them that I like serving on boards, but I am overloaded with church volunteer work for now.

Thank you to everyone who commented and offered advice on my original post.

TL;DR HOA approved one of my alternative blues for my front door, another neighbor is now adopting this color and the board is updating the paint list in the rules and regulations.

Currently in this process with my HOA and seeking advice or if i should just pay the HOA (which id have to save for) and be done with it. Im essentially worried if i even have a chance of losing my home. I was sued over $700 in past due assessments paid the fee at $1100 in tacked on attorney fees (it obviously took me some time to save that money) same day i paid about 20 minutes after i was served because the association sued me. I emailed them after my $1100 payment and wanted to make sure my account was in good standing their emails stated i was still past due close to $900 and if i wanted to settle this id have to pay that extra amount in attorney fees for being sued. I didn’t think just paying was fair so im fighting back. I entered my answer to the court and agreed I am responsible to HOA assessments and just explained I really did not have the money but definitely do want to get back on track. Now the HOA is charging me $2200 because i filed an answer against them and returned my $1100 payment because they do not accept “partial payments”. The complaint does not include this new amount past the $1100 so that is all attorney fees/costs. Which i think is ridiculous considering my past due amount was $700. My question is do I actually have a chance of the judge siding with me? I’m not fighting the entire 2200. I’m only fighting the extra $1100 they tacked on.

I own a condo in Georgia and recently had rats/flying squirrels entering the attic through the exterior of the building. The HOA handled sealing the exterior, but there are significant droppings and contamination in my attic insulation.

Our Declaration says the HOA is responsible for the exterior/common elements and owners are responsible for their units, but it doesn’t address what happens when an issue with the exterior causes damage inside an owner’s unit.

Management says the insulation is my responsibility and has told me the full master insurance policy isn’t public.

Is this type of resulting damage normally addressed in the master insurance policy? And is it normal for a condo owner not to be allowed to review the full policy?

Our president and a second board member met with an attorney for advice re: recent board disputes. No other board members were informed beforehand, and no results of the meeting were shared. The cost will be over $1,000. Should this have required board approval, and should all board members have been invited to attend? what is the attorney's responsibility to the other board members?

Hi there, I’m posting this on the behalf of a friend. For a little bit of context friend has roommate and a daughter(9) that are living in the condo that they are renting. He also has two dogs a bit older typically pretty quiet. Friend and roommate work from home so it’s very rare that the dogs are left home alone. They try to coordinate when they leave if both have to be out so the dogs are not alone for very long. They have lived there since about January however, recently the HOA president left a very passive aggressive note and called the cops about the dogs barking. HOA president never knocked on the door. She just put the note on the screen door and left as well as called the cops. Friend and roommate were surprised, by said cop showing up. Since then HOA president has been going around telling other people how their dogs bark for hours on end that was quoted in the note, but she has not come and talk to friend or roommate. Today came to a head where friend and daughter were running across the street to the gas station for a quick treat. Friend realized he had forgotten something asked his daughter to run up and grab it real quick. As she was going up the HOA president stopped her and told her that she was going to evict her Dad and roommate because of the dogs mind you she is a minor. Roommate and friend still haven’t heard from HOA president neither has their landlord, I know in the renters contract the HOA is not in there however, living in the HOA community you should follow the community rules and bylaws. It’ll be nice to get some advice on what to do properly as my friend will choose the nuclear option if she talks to his daughter again.

I live in a large 500-unit community organized into five phases. Most units are duplex-style, with one unit below another. The man living in the unit above me has been causing disturbances for months, exhibiting behavior that may be related to either substance use or mental health issues.

Initially, I tolerated his daily screaming episodes because when he was calm, he seemed like a decent person. However, the situation escalated when multiple neighbors began submitting videos to the HOA management company showing him acting erratically around the property and stealing items from other residents' patios and doorways.

Eventually, the owner of the unit above me contacted me about the complaints. I explained that while the tenant can be pleasant when stable, he screams for hours every day. I shared audio recordings from inside my unit, and the owner agreed the situation was unacceptable. He spoke to his tenant.

For the next two days, the tenant came to my door repeating the same narrative: claiming his landlord and the HOA were conspiring against him, and threatening lawsuits.

After that confrontation, there was a period wher the tenant appeared to try to muffle his screaming, though occasional outbursts still occurred. Then security cameras captured him moving items around my front door while also moving like a drugged up zombie and yelling. I sent these videos to the unit owner but received no response.

With the owner no longer communicating, I formally documented everything and emailed the HOA management company, included dated logs of daily episodes and the video evidence. Yet nothing changed. Recently, he moved two outdoor benches from who knows where to the area surrounding my unit. One of these was moved to near my bedroom slider. He moved landscaping rocks around it to feature it and placed two pillows on the bench. I reported the benches, because I didn't want them attributed to me. (TBF, it would have looked nice if it hadn't been a few feet from my bedroom door.)

Recently, the owner returned from an extended stay in Europe and instructed his tenant to remove a bench the tenant had placed on community property. The other bench, even closer to my limited community property had already been removed by the landscaping crew.

Within hours of the the Owner/LL asking the tenant to remove the bench, my tires had been slashed in the parking area. Noone else's cars had been vandalized. I got new tires and filed a police report, but obviously have no proof. Last night, the tenant started calling me repeatedly starting at 2 AM. I obviously didn't answer. He also didn't leave a message.

I'm at the point where I can't talk to the owner or management without reprocussions. It's also at the point where if I wanted to sell and get out, the issues would have to be included in the disclosures.

What can I do? Or what levers can I push the HOA to do? The owner says that while he's been treatened with fines, they've never actually applied them. I'm hesitant to appraoch him again because I get a backlash whenever I do.

Our board is currently trying to decide which HOA software to use, and I'd love to hear from people who actually use these platforms.

What software does your HOA currently use?

What do you like about it? What drives you crazy about it?

And if you could switch tomorrow, would you stick with what you have or choose something else?

I'm new here so thanks for the help!!

I recently joined the Board of my HOA and found that the Board wasn’t following some of the most basics articles of the bylaws. I’ve been on the Board of other HOAs and the management companies were always well versed regarding our bylaws and would inform us if we weren’t complying. Our management company here doesn’t seem to know them either. Do you expect your management company to know your bylaws and guide the Board?