HOA Rules Violated Several Times

[Jason R.]

Hello all, 

I have a question that I'm sure some of you may have come across over the years. I have tenants who are only on their 4th month of the lease that I have had to reach out to already about HOA violations. The neighborhood they are living in is a very tight knit HOA community. People there take pride in their lawns, love walking their dogs on well kept sidewalks, ext. I think you're getting the picture right? So far, I have received several texts along with pictures of oil stains in the driveway, trash cans being left out for almost a week at a time and snow not being removed on the sidewalk that is in front of the house (north facing, it never melts). I went over all of this with them as they were signing their lease. I also asked them to clean up the oil stains and gave deadlines. However, they know one of my neighbors is feeding me this intel and confronted them about it. I asked the neighbors to reach out to the HOA in order to keep a paper trail, and also so there wouldn't be any confrontation between neighbors. Do you think I'm doing the right thing? Have any of you experienced this? If so, how did you handle it?

[Nathan Gesner]

I would tell the neighbor to report the violations to the HOA so it's not putting all the pressure on you. The HOA will send a written warning or fine. Then you follow up with your own written warning, a deadline for cleaning it up, and a penalty for failing to follow the rules. Example:

"If the oil spills are not cleaned to the satisfaction of the HOA before 5PM on January 10th, 2022, then I will hire someone to do it and charge you for the cost. You are also responsible for paying any HOA fine.

You were told about the HOA rules before signing the lease, yet we've already had multiple violations. This will be your last warning. If you are unable or unwilling to follow the rules, then I ask that you move out by January 31st, without penalty, so we can clean things up and move forward. If you insist on staying and there is another violation of the rules, we have the option of terminating your lease."