THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 17, 1994 TAG: 9409150341
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 30 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Common Ground
SOURCE: G. Robert Kirkland and Michael A. Inman
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
I am on the Board of Directors of a condominium where a lot of owners are choosing to ignore decor restrictions, and it is starting to look a little tacky. We just had board elections and several of the new members and I want to begin a rigorous enforcement program. We don't want to make any legal mistakes. What are our powers and what step should we take? Can we put heavy fines on these offenders? Can we get the court to enforce the fines?
The answer to your last question is yes. The Condominium Act and the Property Owners' Association Act both give power to the board to enact rules and levy ``charges'' or, in essence, fines, against the offending owners and ultimately enforce those fines by court order. There are certain requirements that must be met and you must be sure to dot all your I's and cross all your T's before going to court.
First, make sure you have complied with the requirements of the statutes by having adopted a rule about the process of suspending the use of common areas or levying the charges and conducting hearings. The code provides that before you can levy a charge against a homeowner, you must give appropriate notice and conduct a hearing giving him an opportunity to appear and state his case. The reason for this process is twofold: (1) it might lead to a better understanding by the unit owner of the rule, and (2) a better understanding of the board's viewpoint may lead to some voluntary compliance. The statutory maximums are $10 per day for a continuing offense and $50 for a one-time event such as a noisy party.
After a hearing is held, a decision must be made and published to the offending owner. Typically, you would give the owner a reasonable time to comply, but state the date on which the fine begins, e.g., 10 days after the date of the letter.
If the owner chooses not to comply with the decision of the board , the panel may take out a civil warrant after the daily charges begin to accrue in order to collect the fine. Upon receiving a judgment against the unit owner for the amount of the charges, you will have a lien on his unit and any other property that he owns, and the power to garnish wages or levy on property in order to collect the fine. The judgment will also be reported to credit data companies so that payment will probably be obtained at some point, barring the owner's bankruptcy. Also, even without going to court, the penalty amount becomes an assessment lien upon the unit owned by the defendant. You need to get a copy of the pertinent sections of the Condominium Act so as to structure your process appropriately. You should get some advice from your lawyer. MEMO: G. Robert Kirkland, president of a Virginia Beach property-management
consulting firm, and attorney Michael A. Inman specialize in Virginia
community-association issues and are affiliated with the Southeastern
Virginia chapter of Community Associations Institute. Send comments and
questions to them at Real Estate Weekly, 150 W. Brambleton Ave.,
Norfolk, Va. 23510. To submit questions by phone, call 446-2033; fax:
446-2531.
by CNB