Homeowners associations have a set of rules that every household-member must strictly follow. Failure to do so could result in penalties or in worst-case scenarios, expulsion from the community, which means you could be evicted from your house. In general, the HOA is legally allowed to make such a decision. A homeowner could be evicted if it has been proven that they have put (or are putting) the safety of the community or a neighbor at risk. Disagreements between neighbors are one of the most common causes of a situation getting out of hand, thus endangering the safety of another.

How do HOAs handle disputes between neighbors? Here are the initial steps they take to prevent the situation from escalating:

1. Request for a formal complaint in writing

Here’s the thing, the HOA cannot immediately intervene in a dispute between neighbors. Everything must be handled professionally, which means the HOA will have to request for a formal complaint from one of the parties involved. If the complaint was made verbally, a formal written complaint will still be requested by the HOA. This is so everything is on record, for safety and legal purposes, among others.

Understand that the HOA may choose not to intervene in a dispute related to personal matters like dating and relationships, whether romantic or family related. They can only intervene if the situation has put others in danger (including one of the parties involved).

2. An HOA Board member will be assigned to investigate

For homeowners associations that have an HOA management company helping them out, the HOA manager will be the one to do the investigating. If there is no HOA manager, the HOA Board will assign one of their Board members to the case to investigate.

3. Investigation

The HOA, through their HOA manager or Board member, will look into the situation to find out all the facts. Understanding that the dispute could very well end up in a lawsuit, they will be thorough about the entire process, making sure not to leave out or overlook important details. Those involved should expect to be interviewed.

4. Intervention

Based on all evidence and information gathered from the investigation, the HOA will then decide whether or not the situation is something they could or should intervene with. This decision will be made by all HOA Board members. Having a lawyer present during discussions on whether or not to intervene will be helpful since they can provide a legal insight or give their legal advise.

These are but the initial steps to how an HOA handles disputes between neighbors. For HOA disputes between the association and a homeowner, the process starts with
Internal Dispute Resolution.

Whether you are moving into a residential property you recently bought or have started renting, chances are you’re moving into an HOA-managed community. Nowadays, you’ll hardly find a residential property that doesn’t belong to an HOA. For those who have never lived in such a community before, the top-of-mind question usually is “Do I really need a homeowners association?” Find out below why an HOA-managed community is the best place for you and your family:

1. You have “instant” support and assistance

Moving into a new neighborhood usually means you have no one to run to for support or assistance during the first few months or even first year in your new home. When you belong to a homeowners association, you’ll immediately have access to the support and assistance they provide to all their members. You’ll have peace of mind knowing you’ll have someone to run to in case of emergency.

2. You will feel safer at night

In relation to the above, knowing that you’re moving into a community that’s kept safe and secure by the HOA 24 hours a day, seven days a week translates to sleeping soundly at night. This is especially true if you have young kids sleeping in the next room. You know they are safe inside your house and within the premises of the community.

3. Property value is maintained

When you live within an HOA community, there are certain rules and regulations you must follow for several reasons, one of which is to maintain property value. Since a real estate property is an investment, it will be prudent on your part to take the necessary steps to ensure that its market value will not depreciate, and instead, even appreciate. This makes for a good investment should you decide to sell in the future. Even if you don’t plan to sell, it’s best to keep this in mind when looking for a new house to move into.

Studies reveal that an HOA can significantly increase property value, more than five or six percent from those that don’t belong to an HOA community.

4. Access to amenities

From private parks to pools, gyms or fitness centers, function halls, and more, HOA communities provide certain amenities to their homeowners. These are private amenities that can only be accessed by the homeowners and their families, and since these are maintained by HOAs, you’ll know they’re safe, clean, and of course, functional.

There are several other benefits to moving into an HOA-managed community. Do your research on the HOA regulating your property so you’ll know whether or not it is ideal for you.

HOAs are generally strict about the collection of fees and dues. In fact, by-laws and CC&Rs
include a stipulation that clearly defines penalties and consequences for late and delinquent homeowners. In a worst-case scenario, a homeowner may be evicted for being a delinquent payer. Homeowners associations may send several reminders first and may even conduct an interview with the homeowner to find out if their financial situation has changed. Eviction is always the last course of action.

But this time around, being a delinquent payer may not be the homeowner’s fault given that the world was plunged into a financial crisis when COVID-19 caused businesses to file for bankruptcy and/or close shop for good. People lost incomes and depleted their savings, which means not only are they unable to pay bills and association dues, they are also having a difficult time providing for their families.

What are HOAs doing to help their residents in this time of global crisis? Here are a few steps they’ve taken to help ease the burden of their financially strapped residents:

1. Relief from dues for a specific period

At the height of the pandemic, a lot of homeowners associations across the country stopped collecting membership dues as their residents struggled to cope with financial losses caused by the pandemic. This meant HOAs had to dip into their emergency funds for important expenses. This also meant minimizing HOA expenses to the bare essentials only.

Some HOAs stopped collecting membership dues for three consecutive months; others longer.

2. Reduced membership dues and other fees

To help residents pay their dues and fees, some HOAs reduced these by a considerable amount. Some HOAs also scrapped other fees; keeping only membership dues until such time when economies and finances become stable again.

3. Flexible due date

Before the pandemic, HOAs were strict about due dates but they have been flexible and lenient about this since the start of the pandemic. Members are given a longer payment period for their dues. If they are still unable to make payment on the “absolute deadline,” HOAs discuss payment options with their residents to help them make payments without adding to their financial burden.

While these changes in fees and dues negatively affected the HOAs operations and emergency funds, HOAs deemed it more important to take care of their residents first because being homeowner-members themselves, they too have been impacted by the pandemic, which means they may be going through the same difficulties as their neighbors.

COVID-19 has changed the way we live in ways no one ever imagined. To say that the disease took the world by surprise would be an understatement. No one saw it coming. Everyone scrambled to keep up with the sudden changes it brought upon the world. Homeowners associations, for one, had to implement immediate changes to keep their respective communities safe from the threat of the novel coronavirus.

In general, every homeowners association across the nation has an emergency and disaster preparedness plan already in place but when COVID-19 hit, no one was prepared for it because no one saw and understood the scope of damage it could do. HOAs knew they had to make changes in order to keep their communities safe. Below are some of the points they considered to update their disaster and emergency preparedness plan amidst COVID-19:

1. Follow CDC and WHO recommendations

The first thing HOAs did was to follow the basic health and safety recommendations of the CDC and WHO. Every homeowner-member within their jurisdiction were asked to do the following: wear a mask when stepping outside, frequent hand-washing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, limit trips outside the home (going out only when absolutely necessary), and practice physical distancing.

In addition to these, HOAs also implemented a “no-guest” policy where guests from outside the community aren’t allowed to visit except in emergency medical situations. Public amenities were also closed: swimming pools, gyms, and parks

2. At-risk residents are identified

At the onset of COVID-19, the WHO and CDC identified at-risk individuals as those who are aged 55 years old and above. In response to this, HOAs too identified vulnerable residents within their community and implemented additional regulations to keep them safe. These additional recommendations generally included fully restricting trips outside, which means they will rely on their household members or caregivers to procure supplies and other necessities for them. Medical appointments may also be restricted to at-home visits by their healthcare practitioner.

3. Evacuation

In the event of a disaster or emergency where residents need to be evacuated, HOAs must develop an evacuation plan that will still keep the residents safe from COVID-19. That means evacuation plans need to still strictly follow health and safety protocols recommended by the CDC. The biggest challenge is maintaining physical distancing during evacuation and after when residents are already gathered at the designated evacuation center/location.

These are only a few changes and considerations HOAs made to keep their residents safe in this time of the pandemic. Emergency and disaster preparedness plans may be updated from time to time to keep up with the new changes brought on by the pandemic.

One of the biggest changes that the pandemic has brought on everyone is physical distancing; that is, keeping yourself at a safe distance from everyone else. This means no close, physical contact with anyone outside of your household, which dramatically changed how businesses ran operations, and how goods and services are purchased and delivered. In the HOA landscape, this also meant limiting physical contact with the board and the community.

What changes did homeowners associations make in order to fulfill their duties? Here are some of them:

1. Virtual meetings

Much like everyone else, HOAs too had to learn to adapt to online platforms for their day-to-day tasks and needs. Virtual meetings are scheduled and subsequently held to discuss important HOA matters, especially those relating to the pandemic and how to keep the community safe. Quarterly meetings

that were once held inside the HOA office are now conducted online. Emergency meetings are also held online.

The challenge here is having a platform that allows all homeowners to attend the meetings as well if they do so wish. Some HOAs provide the option of audio participation to allow more members to join the meetings.

2. Settling disputes between neighbors

In the past, disputes between neighbors were resolved following a step-by-step protocol, which generally involves filing a complaint, sending a notice to the defendant-member, conducting separate interviews, interviewing witnesses (if applicable), and finally, conducting a hearing to hear both sides at the same time. The pandemic has changed all this. Complaints and notices are sent online, and interviews and hearings are conducted online as well. Disputes then could take longer to resolve during the pandemic.

3. Voting and elections

For issues that need votes from the board and/or household members, as well as elections of HOA board directors and members, ballots are sent to each household and picked up by the HOA representative or dropped off by the homeowner at a designated drop off area. In general, anything that needs to be voted anonymously will be done through house-to-house ballot-voting instead of the usual ballot-voting at the HOA office or community center.

Apart from house-to-house, mail-in ballots, some HOAs have also provided their community with an online portal for electronic voting.

While in-person or face-to-face meetings, elections, and such are now allowed, physical distancing regulations should still be strictly followed. HOAs must then ensure that personal attendance for public meetings or hearings will still be at a limited capacity.