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- Newsgroups: misc.consumers
- Path: sparky!uunet!timbuk.cray.com!equalizer!joel
- From: joel@cray.com (Joel Broude)
- Subject: Re: Dispute with Home Owners Assn - Advice Sought
- Message-ID: <1993Jan23.022417.24172@equalizer.cray.com>
- Organization: Cray Research Superservers Inc., San Diego CA, USA
- References: <1993Jan21.192752.7854@netcom.com>
- Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 02:24:17 GMT
- Lines: 39
-
- In article <1993Jan21.192752.7854@netcom.com> bsardis@netcom.com (Barry Sardis) writes:
- >I own a condo... I engaged a mangement company to locate a tenant...
- >The tenants have a dog and they keep it chained on the patio.
-
- >Some residents complained about the dog. The HOA CC&Rs do not allow
- >pets in the complex. There are lots of cats in the complex, roaming
- >free.
- >
- >What I am wondering is if I have any legal recourse to get them [the
- >managment company/HOA] to stop the harassment? Can I take them
- >to small claims court?
-
- You have two issues.
-
- First, you are responsible for your tenents, regardless of who located them
- for you. If no pets are allowed, you cannot allow your tenants to
- keep a pet there. You must make them get rid of it or move away.
-
- Second, if you feel the management company didn't fulfill its contract
- to locate qualified tenants, sue them in Small Claims Court for your
- losses. If the tenants lied about the pets, file against them for
- your losses caused by that lie. But if you knew they had pets
- before they moved in, then YOU are responsible for breaking the
- rules, and you should accept the consequences of your actions.
-
- Many arguments can be made about unequal enforcement of the rules,
- cats vs. dogs, people's rights to have pets, etc. But the bottom
- line is that when you bought your condo, you agreed to abide by
- the CC&R's, as did everyone else there.
-
- You now ask advice on how to get away with breaking that
- agreement -- to your benefit, but to the detriment of your
- neighbors, who may have purchased their condos partly to be
- away from neighbors' dogs.
-
- You cannot control those tenants who have cats against the rules.
- You should be able to accept responsibility for abiding by the
- agreement you made when you bought your condo, even if doing so
- carries some costs.
-