Do Nuisance Provisions Create Too Much of a Nuisance for Home Owner Associations?
Although the governing documents of most community associations include nuisance provisions, an increasing number of attorneys are concluding that these provisions themselves may represent a nuisance for the boards responsible for enforcing them. One problem, although not the only one, is simply defining the term. Most documents use language similar to this: No owners shall engage in noxious or offensive activities, or do anything which may become an annoyance or a nuisance, or in any way interfere with the quiet enjoyment of other owners. The obvious goal of nuisance provisions is to prevent owners from making other owners miserable. But the broad wording of typical nuisance provisions leads to arguments of whether such provisions apply to almost any activity, or none of them. This ambiguity causes board members charged with enforcing association covenants to echo former Supreme Court Justice Stewarts statement about the difficulty of defining obscenity: [I cant define it], but I know
Related Questions
- How will you manage parking incursion onto the residential streets since Home Owners Associations and CC&Rs will not be in effect there?
- What must Sellers of condos and properties with home owner associations disclose (and Buyers know) before -- rather than after -- the closing?
- What is a nuisance and what are my responsibilities as a home owner?
