D.M. from Horry County, South Carolina writes:
Dear Mister Condo,
We have an ocean front condo in Myrtle Beach, SC. About 80% of the 300+ units are on a rental program. We use ours every weekend. The problem we have is with nearby restaurants putting their menus or flyers underneath our door or between the door and the door jamb. We usually find 60 or more of these flyers on our floor. We have tried taping the gap under the door and around the door frame but it gets removed. I believe this is a fire hazard. I am also disabled and find it hard to clean up. Our board does not allow any signs on the doors. What can we do?
Mister Condo replies:
D.M., one of the joys of living in an active community like yours is that there is so much to do. Businesses have lots of competition and they have found a very inexpensive way to market themselves by distributing their pamphlets and sales literature however they can. I am guessing many of your neighbors like to order delivery pizza, Chinese food, burgers and more and that those delivery drivers are told to place flyers up and down the route as they make their deliveries. The only problem is they are technically littering and they have no permission to do what they are doing. In fact, they are very likely trespassing every time they come onto the property! Have you brought this problem to the attention of the Board? The Board is the only authority at your condo who can try to prevent this type of unauthorized activity on the common grounds of the association. For starters, they can ban all solicitation. They may need the assistance of local law enforcement to those businesses that need “reminders” when their employees trespass or litter. Additionally, the Board can actually prohibit these vendors from entering the property (no fast food deliveries) or require that unit owners come to the parking area to pick up their food. However, before the Board will do anything, they will want to make sure the homeowners agree. The renters couldn’t care less about the flyers littering the halls. They are basically treating your condo like a hotel. The owners of those units want happy renters so they aren’t too likely to get behind any effort that impedes their ability to rent. This will come down to a battle between those that care (like you) and those that don’t care. You need to elect Board members that are sympathetic to your cause. If there aren’t enough like-minded folks owning and/or serving on the Board, the flyers are likely to continue. I wish I had better news for you but it will likely come down to majority rule. Good luck!