E.C. from Fairfield County, Connecticut writes:
Dear Mister Condo,
I am on a board of a 25-unit condo complex. The board consists of the president and two board members. I have a two-part question: Is the president obligated to tell board members if a contractor quits (snow plower) because of a dispute one of our home owners caused with the snow plower? I found out second hand that the contractor quit on the spot because of this belligerent home owner. The president and I usually communicate via text or if we happen to run into each other but she also tends to keep things to herself, not keeping me in-the-loop. Is the president required to keep board members up-to-date of issues that occur?
Second question: What can be done with our belligerent homeowner? He so happens to have been the president of our complex at one time so he should know better, but apparently not. A letter has been sent to him asking him not to speak with to contractors if they are on the premises doing work but he ignores this. He also ignores written requests to clean the clutter under his deck (he uses this space as storage). He has blatantly said he will not clean under his deck or pay any fines. What can we do? Thank you in advance.
Mister Condo replies:
E.C., former president or not, you have a belligerent homeowner on your hands for sure. I am sorry that it has come to this. You should enforce the rules against this homeowner as you would any other homeowner. Notice of violation, intent to fine, ask to appear before the Board, fine, etc., whatever your documents call for. You should warn contractors that this homeowner is difficult and that they should ignore him or call the management company, Board, or police if he interferes with their work or creates a scene. There is no other solution that I am aware of. In a small community like yours, the best thing that can happen is that this resident will either calm down or move out. Other than that, he is likely to make life miserable whenever he can. It is a lose/lose for both the owner and the association but you can’t teach people good manners or force them to behave. All the best!
Being in the condominium maintenance industry since 1978. I always tell any of the workers that if approached by a unit owner kindly refer them to myself or there property manager. I advise my vendors not to give any answers to questions or even explain what they are working on. The unit owners have to call the manager.
Funny, I just wrote a blog article about difficult people in the association. Maybe this will help:
https://axela-tech.com/blog/do-you-have-difficult-people-in-your-condo-or-hoa/?fbclid=IwAR0fm0a4MdHVAwvxw3TwB9uAmVsqa4lag7XoWEidK046UhF-_zT0ZnKSvqQ