R.W. from New Haven County, Connecticut writes:
Dear Mister Condo,
Can our Board of Directors choose what association rules to enforce? That is, they ignore many of our rules, but then at times arbitrarily pick a rule to enforce.
Mister Condo replies:
R.W., as hard to believe as it is, the Board absolutely has the right to decide which association rules they will enforce. What they can’t do is single out any single unit owner for rules enforcement while not enforcing that same rule in uniform manner throughout the association. Let me give you an example. Let’s say that you have two dogs and the rule is only one dog allowed per unit. There are several residents with multiple dogs but they only go after you. The should either go after all of the rule breakers or none. The reason is simple. The Board will likely be facing a discrimination lawsuit if they only go after a single unit owner for breaking a rule that multiple unit owners are breaking. In a perfect world, all of the residents would follow all of the rules and the Board could simply do what it was elected to do; manage the assets of the association. Rules exist to persuade people to purchase or rent within a community. The rules create expectations for what people can expect. Time spent chasing rulebreakers is time that the Board could be doing much more important work, namely enhancing, protecting, or maintaining the commonly owned assets of the association. Very few volunteers come forward to enforce rules. They come forward because they care about their investment in their unit and want to make sure the assets of the association are managed correctly and that property values are maximized. Chasing rulebreakers doesn’t accomplish that goal. All the best!
I would like to know ,who is responsible for repair of a unit if the second floor unit toilet leaked throw the ceiling for 2mo.???
D.B., interior unit repair is typically the responsibility of the unit owner, regardless of the cause. That is why most condos/HOAs require that unit owners maintain homeowner’s insurance. The association’s insurance may come in to play as well to handle the damage done between the two units (common elements). There are also times when the damaged unit owner can go after the unit owner who caused the damage, especially if negligence is involved. If your unit was damaged, contact your homeowner’s insurance company first and then look to see if there are any out of pocket expenses worth trying to collect from the unit owner that caused the damage. Good luck!