Home Owner Associations – Frequently Asked Questions
Homeowners associations (HOA) are common in single-family housing developments, as well as condominium and townhouse complexes. An HOA is the governing body of the neighborhood or complex. They are usually responsible for enforcing the Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&Rs), which is just a fancy way of saying the rules of the community.
When an owner buys a property governed by a Homeowners Association, they automatically become a member of the association. They don’t have the choice of not joining. The purchase of the home becomes a contract with the HOA. They agree that will obey all the HOA rules. When you rent a home in an HOA you agree also to obey the rules of that HOA.
HOA rules are called covenants, conditions, and restrictions and usually apply to both you and your home. They might cover what color you can paint your home, what you can plant in your yard, how many cars you can own and park, and whether you can own a pet. There are usually noise restrictions as well.
When rules are broken, many HOAs punish homeowners and tenants. The usual penalty for breaking a rule is a fine. Tenant must comply with any owners’ association rules or restrictive covenants affecting the Property. Tenant will reimburse Landlord for any fines or other charges assessed against Landlord for violations by Tenant of any owners’ association rule or restrictive covenant.
Homeowners in a covenant-controlled development pay mandatory association fees or dues, either monthly or yearly, as part of their membership. In some HOA’s the pool or park and other amenities may be included in the mandatory association fees. Often times you may need to get a letter from Bridgeman Property Management, LLC giving you permission to use the HOA’s amenities.
Tenants are only responsible for optional or voluntary dues. Some HOA have optional dues to use their pool or clubhouse or other amenities which the tenant would have to pay for to use. HOAs use this money for maintenance of common areas used by all the homeowners, such as walking paths, swimming pools, or recreation centers.
More than likely you have violated one of the HOA violations listed in your lease agreement. If a tenant violates a rule, the homeowners’ association cannot take action directly against the tenant instead, they notify the landlord of the violation and the landlord then in turn notifies Bridgeman Property Management, LLC of the violation.
When we receive a HOA violation several steps have to be added to our daily work flow. We have to follow up with the HOA and notify them that we are taking action to cure the violation, we also have to follow up with the Owner, and notify the tenant of the HOA violation. Once the HOA violation is cured, we have to follow up again with the HOA and the owner letting them know that the HOA violation has been cured.
We do charge the tenants a small processing fee for all additional work created because of the tenants HOA violation. This does not include any additional fees that the HOA may charge. There are a couple of exceptions. If a tenant breaks a law or commits a crime, the homeowners’ association can report that directly to authorities. If a vehicle parks illegally, the homeowners’ association can tow the vehicle and vehicle owner is responsible for the associated costs. For questions or concerns please visit your HOA’s website that list all Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC&R’s).
NOTE: We reserve the right to amended our Frequently Asked Questions as deemed necessary at any time with or without notice