One of the key responsibilities of a community association board is to enforce the rules of the association among homeowners in the community. Your community association is in place to help everyone in a community and preserve the overall aesthetic of a neighborhood.

Therefore, when a neighbor constantly violates the rules, they have to be confronted.

 Some ways that homeowners can violate rules include:

• Leaving trash cans out too long
• Failure to properly maintain landscaping
• Improperly parked vehicles
• Fence disrepair

In most cases, the community association will take action, but the violation process can be cumbersome. The assistance of community management experts can be useful in these situations. Here are the steps that a management company can take to help your board resolve violations.

Enforcing Numerous Notices

The rules for resolving violations vary from association to association, but the general progression starts with a number of different notices sent out by HOA association management.

Courtesy Notice

Sometimes an initial courtesy notice can be a friendly knock on the door or a phone call. However, the best route is to send an HOA Violations Letter to the violating homeowner. This first letter is a polite notice that explains the violation to a homeowner. This letter makes the homeowner aware of the rule they are violating, what they need to do to correct it, how long they have to fix it, and the consequences if they do not remedy the violation.

A courtesy notice should also provide contact information of the management company should assistance be needed, or an extension given.

Certified Notice

The next letter serves as the final notice and lets the resident know that the matter has escalated, and further corrective actions will be taken unless the matter is resolved in the given timeframe.

Fine Notice

This notice is the big one. At this point, you have warned the resident that their actions would result in monetary or other consequences. This letter will entail what the consequences are, typically the application of a fine or suspension of common area use.

Yes, enforcing the rules with consequences can be difficult to do for a community association. That is why your association management team will be able to help your board draft, deliver, and enforce the consequences of these types of letters.

Self-Help Clauses Through Community Association Management

Some community associations have self-help clauses that allow an association to go on a property and correct a violation on their own. An example of this could be allowing an association to mow an overgrown lawn and charge the homeowner for the service.

While self-help clauses can be helpful, the community association should note that the property is still a homeowner’s private property. Your association management company will be able to help you decide if you have the legal authority to enforce self-help clauses and how to go about them carefully.

Goodwin & Company Carefully Navigates Enforcing Clauses for Your Community Association Board

If your community association board is experiencing issues with resident violations, don’t let these problems linger. Get in touch with a team that specializes in community association management. Goodwin & Company has the skill and experience to help you work through these frustrating issues in your community. Contact us today to find out about our services and successes within communities like yours.

Good community management requires extensive knowledge, specialty in financial organization, expediency, and excellent communication with the Board and community members. Meeting community expectations used to mean endless phone calls, complex spreadsheets, and hours of creating and mailing notices.

A management company that relies on the “old ways” of their business is living in the past. Here are 4 reasons why your association can benefit from partnering with a professional management company that focuses on technology to improve the homeowner experience.

1.  Simple Maintenance and Operations

HOA and condo property management require constant maintenance and operations supervision. From documenting violations to creating processes that ensure maintenance requests are completed to delivering financial reports.

In this day and age, everyone wants to be able to do everything in the palm of their hand.  Several aspects of maintenance and operations can be documented from remote locations on the go. This includes:

• Creating violations,
• Processing vendor invoices for payment,
• Sending community-wide correspondence,
• Submitting and reviewing ACC projects.

   2. Communication Becomes Even More Efficient

Another key aspect of successful community operations is communication between community members, the management team, and Board members. This is especially true when dealing with big projects like coming up with a community association maintenance plan, or clubhouse spruce up.

Making sure that everyone is up-to-date on important community issues and events is important. A good management company will utilize technology as a way to streamline how communication works within your community.

Most software systems assist with:

• Making Governing Documents easily accessible
• Sharing financial reports
• and making communication of important events or issues instant with email and text notifications.

3. Make Getting Involved with Your Community Simple

Effective use of community management software gives your Association the ability to really foster the welcoming neighborhood feel.  Whether it be quickly notifying owners about community events or building a stand-alone website as a one-stop-shop for association information, your Association can leverage technology as a way to build an involved community.

 4. Your Association Looks More Professional

Although most would say that looks aren’t everything, the visual appeal of professionalism matters a lot to potential community members. By partnering with a professional management company with strong technology offerings, your Association correspondence reaps the benefits and will look clean and professional.

An online system creates a mobile-friendly hub that helps with:

• Property owner registration,
• Registration for association events,
• And access to member directories.

Goodwin Uses Software that Improves Your Community

If your community is still operating in the stone age, it’s time for a change. Look to the future and work with a management team that uses technology to benefit your community. Goodwin & Company is an industry leader that helps communities with:

• HOA management,
• Development services,
• Condo property management, and more!

We use automated software to help make the specifics of community management streamlined for everyone involved. Contact us today to find out more about our services.  We know our team can help make your community all that it can be.