Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: gun ownership/possession in co-housing

[Muriel Kranowski (murielk]

More on the unenforceable aspect: Last year we had an attorney who
specializes in HOA law in our state (Virginia) review our Bylaws and other
governance documents. He recommended that we remove a Bylaws section about
registered sex offenders that worried parents had insisted on adding to the
Bylaws about 10 years ago, because having such a clause makes us as an HOA
subject to potentially ruinous lawsuits in case a sex offender were to move
in and do harm.

The legal jeopardy would result from the appearance in our Bylaws of a
guarantee of protection when in fact we couldn't make such a guarantee. So
we removed that clause.

In general, look at whether anything in your Bylaws or other binding
documents seems to promise some kind of protection that you can't actually
provide -- it leaves your HOA very vulnerable to huge costs if you are sued
for breach of promise or whatever it is called. A gun ban seems to me to
fall into that same zone for an HOA.

   Muriel @ Shadowlake Village Cohousing