Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: CC & R interpretation and compliance?

[Christine Johnson (manzjohnson]

> "Cathy Snow" <cathysnow [at] comcast.net> wrote:

> Our CC & R's include a vague reference to keeping ones home in good  
> repair
> and in a neat and clean condition, but who determines what that means?

In typical homeowner or condominium owners association (HOA/COA),  
either management or a compliance committee or the two acting in  
concert, perform regular property inspections and follow a protocol  
for enforcement.  The protocol for enforcement is typically stated in  
a policy which had been approved by the the Board of Directors.  In  
our community and I bet in most cohousing communities, we've not put  
such compliance structures and policies in place.  As a result, we  
sort through each concern, making or not making decisions on a case by  
case basis.

> How do we balance the desire to respect different situations and  
> personal
> preferences, while still ensuring the safety of individuals and  
> protection
> of the overall property?

Where there are formal policies in place and where there is a  
structure for effecting enforcement and where owners are treated  
equitably in being subject to the policies, the Board has the  
discretion to make allowances for individual's circumstances,  
documenting in the Minutes all the reasons why.
> One idea we had was to have our buildings team due an annual  
> inspection -
> inside and out - of the units to ensure smoke detectors are  
> installed and
> working, no foundational issues are occurring, and that no other  
> safety /
> health /cleanliness/ maintenance issues exist..

This is an excellent plan because it is routine (annual), you are  
using a criteria that would apply equitably to all the owners, and it  
is impersonal, so you don't run the risk of being charged with  
"selective enforcement".

HOA and COA Boards get a lot of bad press for 'selective enforcement'  
and sadly, it is often deserved.   Absent routine practices for  
determining whether someone is in compliance or not and absent  
specific policies for working with non-compliant owners, it's  
difficult to defend enforcement actions that can appear to be directed  
to (i.e., against) one individual or family.

> But we would be very
> interested in hearing from any of you who have had to deal with  
> similar
> situations.  Or any of you who simply have ideas to share!

I think in cohousing in general, we've elected to go with resolving  
"compliance with the rules" issues on a case by case basis, with folks  
who are willing to assist a non-compliant owner, jumping in to help  
resolve the situation.  Another informal method is plain old social  
pressure.  Those of us who choose to live in cohousing, as a rule,  
value our  relationships with neighbors and social pressure probably  
has a greater influence in our communities than in a typical HOA/COA.   
Another common practice is to ignore it (such as a trashy front  
porch).  It's just not that important in the larger scheme of  
things.    We're I given a choice between a tidy, well run HOA/COA  
with strict enforcement in place and a messy cohousing community, I'd  
again choose the latter.

Christine Johnson
Stone Curves Cohousing
Tucson, AZ 
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