Owners Intimidated by Actions of Overzealous Board

Question: We live in a development of 30 townhouses with very little common area. Our board hired a management company because homeowners wanted to be on the board but said they didn’t want to do the work. But since that hiring, the board is doing more than ever.

In their fervor to do their jobs, board members have become such patrol and control freaks that we refer to them as the “condo police.”

They are preoccupied with minutiae while the big problems remain unresolved. Board members examine the grounds, concerning themselves with insignificant details and looking for things to do such as turning the sprinklers on and off five times a day, even if it ends up killing the plants.

They open garbage can lids and go through the trash of individual homeowners, or spot a wire that doesn’t look quite right so they whip out their notepads and start writing. We barely have any gardening needs, yet the board gardens everyday, even though the gardeners come three times a week.

The contractors used to come when needed, but now the board tinkers along with the contractors and vendors as they work.

The board is consumed with conducting patrols in front of our homes, equipped with yellow notepads, soil meters, decibel counters and other devices to assist in their patrols. Not content in controlling the outside, they are now concentrating on what homeowners put in their patios.

The result is constant noise pollution and an incredible lack of privacy. When a homeowner complains about the board’s behavior, the owner is told to “move out.” Even though the other homeowners feel as I do, I am the only one who still speaks up. The board’s nitpicking is unnerving, but what can I do about it?

Answer: Living in a common interest development can present many challenges. Homeowners may have to contend with a board of directors whose actual duty and perceived duties are quite different.

Boards and members like the ones you describe believe they are obligated to ensure all owners live in accordance with what that board decides is appropriate. This can happen in a common interest development when the board’s duties under the Davis-Stirling Act--to inspect, repair, replace, restore or maintain--interfere with the imposition of personal beliefs about the use and enjoyment by individual owners.

There is no reason why the vendors and their workers must disturb the quiet enjoyment and privacy of the very residents who pay their salary.

If in carrying out their board duties, members interfere with the enjoyment of your unit, they can be sued. Homeowners are cautioned about the growing expense and anxiety attached to lawsuits, however, and litigation is recommended only as a last resort.

Mediation and arbitration offer little alternative and should be avoided in this circumstance because your remedy should include an injunction barring these “patrols” from interfering with your property and enjoyment of life.

Write the board a concise letter explaining the problems regarding their intrusion into your privacy and give them a deadline to respond. Keep detailed notes of the events occurring before and after you write.

Whether the board is overzealously carrying out its duties is a question that may ultimately be decided after litigation, a disappointing reality of owning a home in a California common interest development. California laws in the aggregate work to protect boards and board members, not individual homeowners, thus making it difficult for homeowners to resolve problems like yours.

When the other owners’ lives are interrupted to the extent yours is by the noise, inspections, note taking and rummaging through trash, you may have the support you need to take action. Unresponsive boards have been voted out, and we know of several boards in recent months that were replaced by homeowners fed up with the board’s treatment. Until then, existing law allows your board’s nitpicking and nerve-grating intrusions to continue.

*

Stephen Glassman is a writer and an attorney in private practice specializing in corporate and business law. Donie Vanitzian, J.D., is a writer and arbitrator and manages commercial property. Both live in common interest developments and have served on various association boards. Please send questions to: Common Interest Living, P.O. Box 451278, Los Angeles, CA 90045 or e-mail your queries to: CIDCommonSense@aol.com.