Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Enforcing CC&R's

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Apr 19, 2026, at 11:47 AM, Melanie Mindlin via Cohousing-L <cohousing-l 
> [at] cohousing.org> wrote:

> Our original lawyer-drafted CC&R’s state, "A potential buyer must read and 
> acknowledge in writing their understanding of and agreement to comply with 
> the Bylaws, CC&Rs, Rules & Regulations and other appropriate documents. A 
> buyer must also attend an orientation process to be determined by the 
> Association.”
> 
> For the last 18 years since founding, we forgot about this requirement and 
> did not enforce it, although we pressed for lots of contact with potential 
> buyers. In the last few years, we have had a couple of people come who denied 
> having seen (or at least read) our policies before purchase, and did not want 
> to comply with our requirements for participation.

Read your local/state laws relating to condos. They should state what a buyer 
is agreeing to when they purchase a condo and what documents must be furnished 
to a buyer before they buy. In DC, condos are required to furnished a full set 
of the Declaration, Bylaws, Policies, Community Rules, etc.

It is customary that a buyer agrees to follow all these rules when they sign on 
the dotted line. The exception is if the Bylaws contradict a higher law like 
the state condo laws, the Constitution, etc. But youir lawyer should have 
affirmed that the bylaws were in accordance with all higher laws when the 
bylaws were filed with the state during the registration of the condo. The law 
is worded differently and it is interpreted and enforced differently in each 
state (if at all).

Historically, cohousing communities have formed unaware of state laws, not 
because they intended to be unlawful, but because they were developed on a wing 
and a prayer and professional real estate developers didn’t want to work with 
them. The conventional processes like bank financial reviews, etc., don’t 
happen until far down the line and even then communities often say well, we 
don’t have to enforce that — we’ll just put it in the Bylaws because the bank 
wants it or whatever.

Your community may also have this history and these owners expected more free 
wheeling. But in fact ignorance of the law does not invalidate the law. It 
isn’t a defense. 

In the end you have to find a solution that works for your community which 
means it works for the personallities it has attracted. One approach is to 
point out that the logic of cohousing as a self-managed condo depends on each 
member contributing labor as well as monthly fees. Ask the owners to propose an 
alternative. There is noone else who will cover the expenses resulting from 
homeowners not working.

i’m not a lawyer. I’ve just spent a lot of years talking to lawyers, reading 
laws, reading the Community Association Institutes case files, etc. More 
significant, however, my energy on this issue is time spend watching groups 
give up their rights because someone refuses to honor them.

The rules of tyranny formulated by Timothy Snyder include “Don’t obey in 
advance." Don’t believe that what these members are telling you is true, legal, 
or even logical. Do respect that they probably feel betrayed in some way and 
that will have to be addressed in order to live happily with them.

A Community Associations Institute membership will give you access to a lot of 
materials online incuding court cases on this very issue and to a forum of 
members where you can ask these questions. The members include community board 
members, lawyers, and professional managers with tons of experience. It would 
help change the world of self-governed condos if more cohousing residents would 
interact with them sharing stories of what works in cohousing.

> Community Associations Institute is a nonprofit trade organization for 
> homeowners associations, condominiums, and cooperatives. It provides 
> education, resources, certifications, and advocacy for board members, 
> managers, and service providers, and its headquarters are in Falls Church, 
> Virginia. Founded 1973.
> 
https://www.caionline.org/

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines
Riderwood Village, Silver Spring MD
Founding member and 25 year resident in Takoma Village, Washington DC