Enforcing with Confidence

Alexis Firehawk: Alright. Welcome everyone. My name is Lex Firehawk. This is Kyle Banfield, and today we are going to be talking to you about enforcing with confidence.

We will review the legal requirements for enforcement on community associations in Arizona.

We’re gonna talk to you about the statutes and the case law that apply, we will share some strategies. To hopefully gain voluntary compliance with the rules and restrictions of the community. We will describe how to tee up a successful enforcement lawsuit, and then we will close with a case, study about short term rentals so that we can kind of show you how everything works out.

We have Andrea in the room with us, so please, we do welcome your feedback. If you have any questions, please just chat or raise your hand, and what we’re going to do is pause at the end of every slide so that we can take those comments we would love for our content to be interactive, and relevant for your needs.

And then before we get started, I just wanna remind you that the law is always evolving. So, do contact Andrea, if you’re not read already on our listserv, we are making regular legislative tracking updates. But in that regard, the information that we’re sharing you to with you today is current as of today, March 5, 2024.

There we go. So we will start by acknowledging that community associations get a bad rap. Like this comic describes the individual with the Pinocchio nose is talking about how the HOA confiscated his drum set because he was causing a nuisance in the community.

The person you see here with their pants on fire is talking about how he got in trouble for overnight parking. And so, as you can see, it’s quite common for individuals in community associations who receive an enforcement demand to sort of feel personally attacked or react this way. And, oftentimes in our practice we will see individuals, or even the media, misconstrue how HOAs enforce their governing documents. And so, really, we wanted to share this information with you today, because when our client’s HOAs enforce flawlessly, when they do everything perfectly, sometimes they still face this type of backlash. And so it’s very important that when the Association is enforcing, that they’re doing so precisely, that they’re following their own governance policies, and that they’re following the relevant statutes and case law.

So, we’ll start with the legal duty to enforce. You know, why are we talking about this subject at all, anyway? And, it’s because community associations in Arizona have the responsibility to enforce their rules and restrictions.

In fact, if the association fails to act – so, let’s say that an owner in the community builds the big purple Gazebo. If the Association doesn’t take action, the complaining neighbor next door might actually sue the Association for it’s inaction. And that’s actually what happens in this case. So, Johnson v. Pointe Community Association. The Johnson’s sued their HOA, they also sued their neighbor, over the fact that their neighbor did not get prior written approval to change the texture of the stucco on the back side of their house. Now, the facts were more complicated than that, but lacking prior architectural approval. You know, that’s the kind of case that I just love to see. Right, Kyle?

Kyle Banfield: It’s very common too. I mean, that’s probably one of the more common cases that we see is the architectural approval issues.

Alexis Firehawk: These are the types of challenging facts that you know when we’re standing in court, sometimes we find the judge or the jury annoyed by the situation. But the bottom line is that this case dictates the fact that even when the governing documents allow for there to be some discretion, that the Association has to take some Enforcement action. It can’t just sit back and take no action. So, the moral of the story here is Johnson v. Pointe stands for the notion that community associations in Arizona must enforce their rules and restrictions

As promised, I’ll check in with Andrea. Do we have any questions or comments on the duty to enforce.

Alright, thanks, Andrea.

So, another important case to be aware of in Arizona is Tierra Ranchos. And so, in addition to the obligation to enforce community associations in Arizona have to treat their owners fair and reasonably when they’re enforcing.

And, this case also had to do with an architectural approval, it was construction of a garage. So again, as Kyle mentioned, this is one of the most popular case types that we see. And the bottom line here was that the duty of an association is to make sure it’s treating, in its discretionary powers, each of its owners fair and reasonably.

And, so, the difficulty here is that the Association, when it’s actions are being challenged in court, it’s going to have to face a jury of individuals that might over their lifespan have had a negative experience with their HOAs. and that jury maybe years after the fact. Right? Talk about Monday morning quarterbacking.

They’re gonna look at it. And, they’re gonna decide if the action was actually fair and reasonable. And, so we say, all of this to sort of set the stage that it’s important for us to be very precise in knowing what our rules and restrictions and policies are, and then following them consistently. Because, it feels like, when you get into the legal environment, when you’re in front of a judge or jury that the deck is kind of stacked against you.

So, we talked a little bit about case law. And now we want to bring to your attention the relevant statutes. Both the Planned Community Statutes and the Condominium Acts in Arizona have similar language, and they both require there to be notice and an opportunity to be heard before the association imposes reasonable fines for a violation. And, so, notice starts with letting the owner know what violation occurred. And then, opportunity to be heard, is really the appeal process. So, allowing them to tell their side of the story before the violation decision is final.

And, the tricky part here is, is making sure that the monetary penalties that might be levied after this notice and opportunity be heard are reasonable. And so, everything sort of circles back to that gray area, and really having to present your case in front of a jury of your peers who’s going to make that determination. It looks like we might have a question here.

Andrea Rizen: We do have a question. Say, 2 homeowners are feuding. One is trying to file complaints constantly against the other. How could the board treat this?

Alexis Firehawk: Yeah. So I just to make sure that everyone heard. Yeah, the question is, 2 owners are feuding. And basically, we see this a lot when in the course of two neighbor to neighbor disputes that they sort of weaponize the association. They wanna use the association as a tool to torture their neighbor. What I will refer you to is a talk that we gave not too long ago, that should be available on our website, called Neighbor Wars, or “Won’t you be my neighbor?,” is how I renamed it. And that’s an entire seminar that we gave on neighbor to neighbor disputes. That question is going to be answered as we’ve march through these slides, and it really does have to do with evaluating and investigating a complaint when it comes. And then making the reasonable decision on how to handle such complaints.

Andrea Rizen: What about presumptive fines?

Alexis Firehawk: What about presumptive fines? Okay, that’s a great question. So a lot of times when we talk about notice and opportunity to be heard before a fine is levied, that brings up a lot of questions. And, so, what I’ll say is that, in practice, oftentimes what we see is that once, you know, the the violation has escalated to a point where we’re levying a fine under our policy, typically it’s that fine letter goes out and automatically with it, we ding the assessment we had ding the the Association Ledger. And, how we’ll explain that is,if that’s really the automated process that many of the management companies that we work with use, it’s more of a placeholder on the ledger. And, the Association doesn’t view that as a final fine and position until the appeal process has made its way through. So, I know that it feels a little bit tricky because it feels like you’re you’re levying the fine immediately. It’s really not. It’s really more of an administrative placeholder of, “Now we’re at the junction where we can levy a fine, but it’s not going to be final until the appeal rights have been expired.”

More questions.

Andrea Rizen: What if an HOA has CCNR restrictions against parking on the street, however, the HOA cannot afford to have inspections to enforce this. Plus, the board feels that daytime parking is hard to enforce, as people have service providers, landscapers, housekeepers, etc, and guests, but want to make sure overnight parking is not going on. Does choosing to only enforce at night hamper the right to enforce all the other CCNRs?

Alexis Firehawk: Really good question. So, parking in general, particularly on public roads, is a very difficult violation. And so, the theme that you’re hearing is: first, that there is an obligation to enforce; second, that it has to be fair and reasonable. But the law doesn’t tell you exactly what you have to do.

What you can’t do, is nothing. Right? But, scoping your enforcement activity in a way that’s relevant to your resources is absolutely acceptable.

And, so, in determining reasonable action, all of those factors that this question brought up in terms of the availability of resources, the availability of evidence in support of a violation to prove it up, all of those come into play with regard to taking that action.

Kyle Banfield: And taking a uniform approach. Right? That’s that fair, reasonableness standard which is: taking a uniform approach to how you’re going to determine whether there’s a violation, when you’re going to inspect and identify those violations, and then taking that approach in a uniform way. That’s that fair and reasonable approach.

Alexis Firehawk: Yeah, really, great question. Any others?

Andrea Rizen: Can a notice of hearing be the same as notice.

Alexis Firehawk: So it depends on your on your enforcement policy. So, typically the CCNR’s, you know, those recorded deep restrictions are going to give you authority to enforce. And, then typically what we see our clients do is they use their rule making authority to promulgate a separate enforcement policy that has more detailed steps about how we enforce. And, that policy will set forth whether you give a courtesy notice without a fine first. And then, if it’s on the second notice, after a period of time, that then you impose a fine. Maybe the reoccurring violation, third, fourth, fifth, gets an escalated fine.

So, it is about follows following that policy, and then the way that the policy is written, it has to bake in these requirements of notice and opportunity to be heard. So oftentimes in policy, what we like to see is express language that authorizes the board to escalate, right, under specific facts. Maybe those facts show really big financial harm, potential financial harm. Maybe the facts show really big health and safety harm.

And, those are 2 justifications that we see often where you can maybe deviate from policy and escalate. If you’re doing any of these things, our advice is to work with legal counsel. So, putting together a detailed policy, following that policy consistently, and then, if you find yourself in a situation where you believe that the facts support deviating from that policy to work with council to do so.

Great! Great questions, keep them coming.

Alright. So this is our last statutory requirement slide. And, essentially what this lays out is a citation to both the planned community statutes and the Condo Act, and the list of 4 things that have to be in that notice. And, so, you have to let the owner know, what what rule, what restriction they offended. Right? Kyle, talk to you in more detail about what the letter itself should contain. But, we have to give them notice on what is the violation itself. And then we have to identify the date of the violation or the date the violation was observed.

So, this gets a little bit trickier. Sometimes we will come across owners who want to complain about something that’s happening in the community, but they don’t want to disclose their name. Right? They’re worried about retaliation. Or, maybe they’re just they just find it awkward, right? I don’t want my immediate next door neighbor to know that I’m complaining about the way they park, or their noise or their weeds.

In the situation where the management, or the enforcement, or the compliance mechanism of the Association can’t individually verify the complaint, in order to take Enforcement action we’re going to have to disclose to the owner who complained about the violation. And, so, that is a conversation that typically management will have with the complaining owner to let them know, you know, if I can’t independently verify it, I’m gonna have to disclose. And, if you’re not comfortable with that, it’s gonna be difficult for us to take enforcement action.

From a litigation perspective, it’s important as well.

Kyle Banfield: Yeah, from a litigation perspective it’s extremely important. I mean, we have to have the ability to prove the violation itself if it does get to the point where we need to file a lawsuit, or proceed from a legal standpoint. And, so, for us to have to rely on that complaining witness.

She can’t just – he or she just can’t – you know, come forward and say that there’s a problem, and I want you to address it, and then say I don’t wanna be involved. Well, if she is the only person that’s identified as the complaining witness, and the manager hasn’t observed that behavior, we’re gonna need to rely on that person and and their complaints in order to proceed on on enforcing against whatever restriction is that issue. So, it’s extremely important that they’re aware of that as they make that that complaint that, they’re gonna have to be involved to the extent that the manager can’t observe that violation.

Alexis Firehawk: So, what rule was broken? When was it broken? Or, when do we observe that it was broken? Who complained about it? Or, who observed the violation? And then, finally, the process again (is a) notice (for) an opportunity to be heard. So, the process for the appeal.

Any questions on this slide?

Andrea Rizen: Do you have to name them? Do you have to automatically name them? Or can it be the management company’s letter and, if they ask if a neighbor complained, then provide the name.

Alexis Firehawk: Yeah. So the question is sort of asking about timing, of disclosing the person who complained.

If you want to be able to escalate in a shorter fashion, then the first initial notice should have all of the information. But, absolutely. So, what we find , most of the time, the violation can be observed by management or the enforcement mechanism, right? And, when that’s the case, you can simply name, you know, whomever that is. In the situation where it is a neighbor to neighbor dispute, and someone is as asking you to withhold that information as long as possible, you can certainly do it in multiple steps. Again, what you wanna do is make sure that your policy is clear on what that looks like. But, yes, you could send the notice, and then, if it’s requested, then you will have a statutory obligation to disclose that information. And then, to sort of bring it full circle again, when we pick it up as legal counsel, to take legal action, we have to have the information we need to prove up the case, which is, which includes witnesses.

Kyle Banfield: Absolutely.

Alexis Firehawk: Any others?

I just want to put Andrea on camera because she’s doing an amazing job in the booth.

Andrea Rizen: My question may be better answered in the May Seminar. I’ll ask here, as it has an aspect of enforcement to it. But please tell me, wait. Oh – ah…

Alexis Firehawk: what’s our May seminar? Let’s do a little plug.

We’ll look at it. We’ll plug it in a bit.

Andrea Rizen: We’ll plug it later.

Alexis Firehawk: Okay, false alarm.

Andrea Rizen: I did have another question. I think it might have been answered. Do you have to provide the first and last name of the resident complaining if it’s requested by the –

Alexis Firehawk: yeah. First and last name is the statutory language so identifying the individual who complained. Like I said, I, you know I don’t want to oversell this most of the time, and with our violations they can be independently verified. The trickier ones are not only going to be trickery because someone doesn’t want to disclose, but things like noise, violations, or other nuisance issues are difficult to enforce for that evidentiary reason as well.

Andrea Rizen: Our May seminar is just all about Arizona statutes.

Alexis Firehawk: Our May seminar is all about Arizona statutes. So, we’re teasing you with a couple in this presentation. We’ll dive deeper in May so make sure you join us for that one.

Kyle Banfield: So, I’m gonna take it over from here and and sort of go over some things that I think are effective in terms of how a manager – one, can achieve voluntary compliance. I think there are a number of strategies that managers and boards they can employ to get that voluntary compliance before you have to come to legal counsel, and it starts with an in fact, an effective enforcement letter. Right? I think these are some of the things that they’re obvious but, it’s worth mentioning, right, clearly describing the violation. So, for for example, if somebody needs to pull their weeds, but they also have a dead tree on the side of their property, identifying those things in the violation letter. Help that homeowner actually understand what they’re in violation of.

And, I think that’s really important, because I think a lot of homeowners don’t really – either they ignore them, completely, which obviously is a big issue. But, at the same time, sometimes they just don’t understand what the conduct is. That’s a problem.

And, so, really, again, subject to management company guidelines, obviously, there’s there’s limitations on what information you can provide and how you can provide it. But, the more context you can provide, and even if you can provide photos, that’s another thing that I include up here, Which is, you know, photos of the of violation.

Those things help put that homeowner on notice, and it also goes to that reasonableness standard, right? It’s how unreasonable are the weeds growing, how unreasonable is the conduct that’s at violation, you know, in violation of, and putting that homeowner on notice of the violation is important, and it’s an important first step. Because, not only is it important initially, but to the extent that it does get to a lawsuit down the end, we’re gonna rely on these fine letters and these violation letters that go out to say, “Look, we’ve we’ve sufficiently described this problem to the, to the homeowner over the course of 6 months a year, however long the violations been going on, for it’s clearly identified the violation notice and the conduct is still remains,” right?

So, that’s that showing of the ongoing non-compliance, and helps us when the case does get to us, and to the extent we need to file a lawsuit to achieve the compliance. It’s developing that evidence over the course of a period of time to show that there was documented, you know, attempts to try and gain that voluntary compliance.

And, you know, our recommendations always be consistent. Right? If there’s a time period or something in the fine schedule that provides a certain time period as to when violation letters need to go out, or how frequently the violation needs to be observed, be consistent.

Calendar reminders are great for that, to the extent you know, that that helps to keep you keep you on track. I know it helps me keep me on track with what what I have going on, but sending reminders that you’re doing it on a consistent basis. And, again, it establishes that ongoing non-compliance that happens over a period of time, and it’s strong evidence for an enforcement lawsuit to the extent it gets to that point. I think we have a couple of questions.

Andrea Rizen: One of the questions is, doesn’t the statute state that we have to provide the name of the complainant only if it’s requested via certified mail within 21 days of receiving the violation letter?

Alexis Firehawk: Yep, that’s absolutely correct. So, we’ll backtrack a minute. That’s exactly what these 2 citations point to. And a lot of times what we find in professional management companies policies is that 21 day trigger, and that is for the next step of enforcement. And, that really is baked into those policies because of that 21 day requirement. Yeah, very precise.

Andrea Rizen: And then we have, When would the attorney attorney recommends sending a cease and desist on particular violations?

Alexis Firehawk: So, that sort of speaks to – cease and desist letters sort of speak to what we talked about before, and a policy for escalation.

Right? And so there’s a difference in a flavor of sort of that normal sort of courtesy notice, and then first fine notice that says, “Hey, you have a weed violation. Pull it.” Okay, you’ve ignored us, now it’s $10 or $50. Cease and desist is a demand (to) immediately stop behavior. And, so our recommendation for that is again, mostly, if it’s a health and safety issue, right? Which could be harassing behavior. Or, defamation, something like that –

Kyle Banfield: Dogs, vicious dogs. That’s the other big one, health and safety.

Alexis Firehawk: Or, if there’s gonna be big financial harm. And, so, you know, water comes to mind for me, things like that. And, a cease and desist demand is just, again, in in the notice itself, it’s saying, you know, “We need this to stop immediately.” Not, you know, “Please comply within the next 21 days, or the next 14 days, or we’re gonna step through our process.”

What I will say is that, you know, you want to use those sparingly, right? You don’t want to be ignored, because every letter, every notice that you’re sending off, you know, makes this demand for immediacy.

And that’s, we’ll sort of talk a little bit more about that in terms of the way that we enforce, and the way that we communicate about our rules and restrictions, because we want to do that in a way that compels voluntary compliance. And sometimes a lighter touch can help communicate better.

Kyle Banfield: And the cease and desist are also very good for ongoing construction projects to the extent that they lack architectural approval, and the Architectural Review Committee identifies that. As soon as those things are identified, it’s helpful because you don’t want them to move forward with construction and say, “Well, I built mine. I built my extension. I built this, and now I have to rip it out.” You know, the cease and desist letters are really good and effective for those sorts of issues.

Alexis Firehawk: Absolutely. And that goes to the financial considerations, right? If you’re asking someone to stop a project, or you know that it’s gonna be a violation, you don’t want them to continue to invest the resources to complete the project before you sort of bring them into the (unintelligible).

Any others, Andrea?

Andrea Rizen: How often do people need to fill out a formal complaint form? Do they need to fill out another past a particular timeframe?

Alexis Firehawk: So that’s a good point. So, when when do we have complaint forms, and how often do we fill them out? It’s good to have a standardized process. So, if you’re receiving a complaint, it’s good to document that through a standardized complaint form. In the situations where the person doesn’t wanna fill that out because they don’t wanna disclose their identity, then you’re gonna have to defer sort of to the company policies regarding regular inspection, and being able to being able to have management, or whatever the enforcement arm is, you know, personally, witness, whatever that violation is.

Kyle Banfield: And, the consistency is key, right? Because that’s the whole idea of treating all home owners in a reasonable and fair way. Consistency helps with that by doing it at a routine or on a regular basis, based on whatever policy it is. It’s important to make sure that that’s being followed, so that when you are sending out that fine letter on a routine basis, it’s going out on a routine basis to everybody. You don’t have one homeowner that’s getting it 14 days later, or one home is getting it a month later. Because, to the extent it does get to further down the line, and there is a litigious issue, those are sorts of things that that that they’ll look into, and opposing counsel may look into to the extent it gets to a lawsuit.

Alexis Firehawk: Any others?

Andrea Rizen: A homeowner was has unapproved architectural changes to their front yard work through the enforcement process, and have now been sending recurring, fine notices. They keep paying the fines, but don’t want to submit an architect or submit an application despite communicating the requirements, multiple times.

Alexis Firehawk: So, in this scenario the fines are not effective, right? The fines are being paid, and they’re not effective. And, you actually have a really great story about that.

Kyle Banfield: Yeah, sure. And I was, I’ll get into this a little bit later as well on some of the later slides. But, for example, we have an our community that had an RV parking issue, right? And, so, it was a pervasive issue throughout the community and the Association, and it’s board identified that it was an ongoing problem, and what they did was they looked at, you know, what it costs to pay to store an RV elsewhere, you know, in the area. And, if it was, let’s say it was $300 a month. Well, the fine for $50, and then, you know, 100, maybe $150 over the course of a month was less than it was for the violation (or, RV parking elsewhere).

The second question is, how often do you have them fill out? So. that’s gonna be also dictated by your policy and your policy. You wanna define, “What is a reoccurring violation?” Right? So, if the trash cans left out and then it’s put away, and there’s no issues for 6 months, well, then, the next time we’re complaining about the trash can we might ask for them to fill out the complaint again. So, it should be dictated by policy, but these are really great considerations. You wanna be proactive about making these decisions. So that, again, you can implement them consistently.

So, in that situation we would always recommend looking at a either a supplemental fine policy, or amending the fine policy that’s on the books to deter the violation, right? That’s the whole point of fines, is really to deter the violation through monetary – sort of regime – in order to make sure that that violation stops it from happening. And, so, this association took that into account. Created a supplemental fine policy that was specifically related to RVs because of the problem throughout the community, and that, you know, seems to have deterred, you know, people from continuing to just pay the fine, you know, instead of just addressing the conduct. That also comes up in this in the context of short term rentals which will also address later on.

Alexis Firehawk: Yeah. So, it’s setting that policy in a logical way that makes sense, you know, in this scenario. And then, also you had a case where someone was paying the fine for a paint violation, and you didn’t get the whole story until you were standing in court.

Kyle Banfield: And, so, there was another case where I went to an order to show cause hearing which is, and I’ll get into some of the specifics related to that, but she showed up to the court and said, “Hey, I my husband and I, you know, we save up every month money every month to just pay off the fines, and we don’t have enough to be able to pay off or to pay to paint our house.”

Well, this is where and we’ll get to the next slide, which is, you know, ways of achieving voluntary compliance. But, you know, when you see something like that as a manager or as a board, there might be something else going on. Maybe they don’t understand the issues, or how to address the violation, or that associations are willing to work with homeowners and not fine them for a period of time to the extent that’s the issue, right? There’s that give and take at work, that balance that you can strike with a homeowner to get that voluntary compliance. And, maybe that’s the issue.

But you don’t know, unless you sort of dig a little bit deeper. And, again, it’s not like we’re not sensitive to the fact that you guys have lots to do. You have lots of communities to manage. But, at the same time, sometimes when it gets to that 6, 7, 8 violation letter, give it a phone call, right? And, and I’ll and I’ll just sort of slide onto the next slide unless we have probably a couple more.

Alexis Firehawk: Yeah, so let me sort of button that up. So, I think that the answer to that is the fines in that scenario when you’re finding a behavior where they’re just paying them – your fines aren’t effective, and they might be because they’re not the right amount. Or, they might be ineffective because something else is going on with that person.

And, so, I love that story because these people were paying the fines, because that’s the lower amount that they could afford to come into compliance. And, so, we would encourage you to just engage with that individual to try to understand – what is that behavior? And our hope would be that, you know, telling them, “Hey? Rather than pay the fines, use that money to bring the front yard into compliance.”

Or you know this, our enforcement is not gonna just stop. You’re not just paying a fee to have a front yard that’s out of compliance, right? That you might be at a point where you do have to escalate to the next level, which is further legal action, and it might be an enforcement lawsuit.

Andrea?

Andrea Rizen: In a situation where the association’s documents have an easement to enter the property, to correct violations, such as landscaping or removing, changing architectural improvements, and charge the expense to the homeowner. Should this type of force compliance be followed through with? And if so, at what point?

Alexis Firehawk: So, what you described is self-help self-help gives all of us lawyers. heebie-jeebies, right? So, number one, self-help is only in the situation where you’re governing documents, like this scenario, specifically set forth that right.

Number 2: Self-help can be very dangerous. Right? You’re entering property, no matter what the contract says, without permission. That comes with a whole host of risk.

And, so, from from our perspective generally, the safest way to exercise self-help is usually in those scenarios where it’s a front yard violation. Right? You’re not actually going into a unit, or going into the backyard of a single family home, into that private space. And, then, with regard to how you do it, you wanna engage professional contractors that are aware of the situation. And, you wanna give so much notice. So yes, self-help can be a tool in the toolbox. It’s an extremely risky one, and it’s one that we would recommend you seeking a legal counsel to help you navigate that.

Andrea Rizen: They had an elderly owner paint her house and unapproved color, so, rather than have her paint the house we attached a requirement that the house needs repainting upon a future sale. Was that okay?

Alexis Firehawk: I love that compromise. So again, it’s very fact-specific. But sometimes you can get voluntary compliance but it’s in a future date, and you have to weigh the pros and cons of immediate compliance before you do something like that.

Kyle Banfield: Yeah. And creative strategies to achieve compliance are always, you know something that we look favorably upon. Because that’s the whole goal of anything – is to achieve that voluntary compliance through using these mechanisms that I’ll talk about right now, but also creative strategies. And, if you ever have any questions, you know, obviously reach out to your counsel about that. Do you have any other questions?

Andrea Rizen: One question, what’s the status of the Turtle Rock case, as it relates to whether all assessed finds must be published in advance. I heard the case was removed by case law, can’t remember the technical legal term for that.

Kyle Banfield: I’m gonna have to defer to Lex on that one. She probably knows way better than I do, and unfortunately Lex has a as a mean cough right now. So, she’s I think she’s going to get some water…

But, I’ll just move along and then maybe we could jump back to some questions later on. And, right now I’m gonna talk about some methods of voluntary compliance. I think, again, this is the goal here. To achieve this before you get to legal counsel and need us to intervene. You know, like, I said earlier and again, I’m not sympathetic to the fact that you guys have a lot of – or I am sympathetic to the fact that you guys have a lot of communities to manage and a lot of things on your plate. Right?

You get thousands of emails a day from all kinds of homeowners with various issues and sometimes picking up the phone is a demanding thing. But, you know, sometimes I think if there’s an ongoing issue – . Really, there are 2 camps of homeowners, there’s the one that’s gonna sort of listen to the violations and understand once you sort of explain to them what’s going on. And, the other one that’s really gonna tell you, “Well, I don’t. You know, I don’t really care what the restrictions say.” And so, you know, you really do get 2 camps of homeowners but you don’t really know unless you call, and you try and make that reach out. The second point really is to follow up right? Consistent follow up is important because it allows them to understand the serious nature of the violation.

You know the the fact that this problem is not gonna go away and identifying that that violation, over the course of a period of time, allows them to understand the associations not just gonna stop paying attention to my weeds or stop paying attention to the (unintelligible) that I didn’t get approval for. You know, those sorts of things.

So, it reinforces the seriousness of the problem, and then documenting that follow up right. That’s always helpful for us. I’ll tell us a a quick story. There’s a a short term rental case I had where an association, you know, sort of reached out to a homeowner about, you know, about renting in violation of the restrictions. You know, we that we sent our EDL letters out, you know, basically saying, “Hey, you know, we’re the attorneys that represent the association, you’re in violation of the short term lease provision.”

And, you know he came back via email and said that he, you know he didn’t believe that we had the right to enforce this restriction against property. And those sorts of communications are very helpful to the extent it gets on down the line to a lawsuit, because it shows that we try to communicate with the homeowner about the violation. We tried to resolve it prior to filing a lawsuit. And, that’s what the judges wanna see is that we made those efforts to try and engage in that discussion before it came to having to seek legal intervention and court intervention.

You know, sending in Enforcement letters consistently. Again, that conveys the serious nature of the problem, but it also effectively communicates that problem to them on a consistent basis. And again, if you’re doing it on a consistent basis, and you’re doing it in a routine way, it’s more likely that it’s gonna be shown as reasonable and fair to all the homeowners to the extent you’re doing it, you know, to this, similar to everybody. And then the final point, and then I’ll I’ll let Andrea sort of chime in with your questions, is considering the fines as leverage for compromise.

Really, fines are not supposed to be a financial benefit to the association. Really, they’re an effort to achieve that voluntary compliance. And, following that fine schedule is important because one you wanna make sure that you follow that fine policy for all homeowners, and a routine in in uniform way, but 2, so that it’s – it can sort of add some some leverage to achieve that voluntary compliance outside of needing to come to council or or file a loss. Andrea, questions?

Andrea Rizen: If a homeowner painted a color, they were that was denied and or outside of the approved color specification, can you force them to repaint it?

Kyle Banfield: Yeah, yeah. I mean again, if one, it’s a violation to not get architectural approval for the paint color that they chose. And 2, it’s a violation of the fact that they painted in a color that was unapproved and not approved by the association. So it’s really 2 violations. It’s moving forward and unapproved improvement. And 2, it’s it’s painting a color that was not approved by the Associations Architectural Committee or or DRC, or however, it’s been phrased. So, it’s really 2 violations. And yeah, there, there’s certainly an enforcement mechanism there to the extent that, you know, they continue to maintain that color, and you advise them that it was not approved. And, you know, all that all that good stuff. So yeah, it’s it absolutely can be a violation.

Alexis Firehawk: What did I miss?

Kyle Banfield: Uh, we got a Turtle Rock question.

Alexis Firehawk: Yeah, Turtle Rock is no longer the the binding case precedent. But we will follow up online with that one.

Andrea Rizen: Can I escalate a paint violation if I’m also sending a violation for changes not completed in the approved timeline.

Alexis Firehawk: So, that’s a really great point about being back on the prior slide about being consistent and thorough in that first enforcement demand letter. Right? So we would encourage you to try to get sort of a global resolution to everything that’s happening on the lot. And, so, in this question, you know, if if there’s multiple violations, you should address them both.

Kyle Banfield: Yeah. And again, I mean us sending the letter, the enforcement demand letter from the attorney, I say this to a lot of people. Unfortunately, us as attorneys, derive the same authority to re regulate and enforce restrictions against property that you guys do as community managers in the board. It’s the same authority. It’s the same rules, it’s the same everything, But unfortunately they sometimes don’t listen to the community managers of the board, they have to have a big scary attorney with a big bald head do that for them. And, so you know, yes, I mean, I think it’s it’s important to make sure that these that you’re you uniformly enforcing against those violations.

Andrea Rizen: An owner was requested to paint their home. They have painted, but the board does not approve of the quality of the painting job. The trim wasn’t done, and one side of the house was not painted. What can the Board do to get the homeowner to paint the house correctly. The owner is combative.

Kyle Banfield: So, that’s a great question. And it’s really a two-parter. One, in terms of the the violation itself, it’s really governing document specific as to as to what the documents say about how the paint quality has to has to what, what standards the paint quality has to fix? You know things like that. Did they choose a licensed contractor, or some of those? Some of those things are document specific. So, it really would depend on what the documents actually say as to whether it’s violation. Now, of course, there’s generally a a provision that talks about the property being in a state of disrepair.

That’s always something you can rely on. But again, it’s really document specific. And then, in terms of trying to gain homeowner compliance here, you know, again, to the extent the documents identify that it’s a violation, you go through your normal violation and fine schedule. You identify whether it’s a violation. You send out the courtesy notice, you follow the fine schedule, and to the extent that they are still not complying, potentially reach out to council to determine whether it’s a violation and those sorts of things. So, engaging us, you know, that’s one thing that I always like to say – is engaging us on the early side, even if it’s from an informal standpoint or reaching out to us for a quick 15 minute phone call, “hey? I got this issue. And here’s what I think. I you know, here’s what we’ve done thus far. What do you think?”

Even that short informal phone call can sometimes give us a little bit more (of the) facts, and then we could take a look at the declaration to identify those provisions that they might be in violation of.

So, I think I will move on to the next slide, which is trying to go over the and just general Enforcement strategy. Again. Obviously, like, I said before, the whole idea is really trying to achieve that voluntary compliance through this sort of phone calls and the follow up, and some of those different things that that that I mentioned previously. But then, really, what it comes down to is this is a board decision, right? How they, how they enforce their governing documents. What decisions they wanna make. Do they wanna proceed on certain violations and address those violations.

Keeping the board informed, and really allowing them to understand their strategy and and get a sense of what the Board wants to do is critical in all this. Because they can’t make a decision as to whether to proceed on a violation or address a problem in the community if they don’t know that there are problems in the community, what the status of those problems are, is it a consistent problem? Right, so keeping the board informed as best as possible, is super critical in trying to move forward on violations and determine what the strategy of the board is.

The other thing is, boards change. As we all know. Some board members leave, other board members join, people have different opinions, and so they’re elected as as board members to serve the interest of the community, and and they get to make those decisions as as as a board, and so keeping them informed. Right? It’s it’s not just, “Well, I mentioned it during this executive session, and I don’t necessarily need to, you know, mention it during the next one.”

If there was some, you know, new developments – inform the board of that, so they’re as informed as possible, and they can make that decision, you know, in what they think is the best decision for the association.

You know, the other thing I’d recommend is obviously proactively involving legal counsel. Right? If if there’s a – I mean the weeds ones, those are pretty easy – they’re, you know, easily identifiable violations. But, when it comes to things like short term rentals or something a little bit more nuanced, like I said, even having that short informal phone call to say, “Here are the facts. Here’s what I’ve got. Can you tell me whether it’s a violation based on our documents?”

You know their documents are very different. As we all know, declarations are different, fine policies are different, and and the words matter, right. So, really giving us that approach and allowing us to sort of get involved on the early side, allows us to build that enforcement case along the way, so that it, to the extent it does get to a lawsuit, it’s a more effective, more comprehensive, and a better overall lawsuit to the extent it needs to get to that point.

You know, sending proper notices of the violation. You know, again, that sort of goes part and parcel with what some of the stuff that I talked about before, which is, you know, sending them consistently, making sure that you’re adequately identifying the violation and being comprehensive in your communications with the the homeowner.

And then, you know, in terms of the enforcement strategy, it’s generally advisable to always get us involved in trying to talk about, you know how, whether it’s a violation, some of the pitfalls that we might encounter to the extent there’s some factual discrepancies or some issues about identifying the violation, whether it’s an inconsistent enforcement issue. All those things are, you know, things that get rolled into that discussion. And then there’s obviously advantages and disadvantages of litigation.

You know, unfortunately, and I’ll get to this later in the slides, courts don’t award all the associations, attorneys, fees in all situations. Now, some declarations provide for all attorneys fees, other declarations, you know, will be reasonable attorneys, fees. So what that means, and how that is a determination that the courts gonna make. And, unfortunately, sometimes it’s a cost of doing business in order to enforce the documents in a uniform way (and) to proceed on the lawsuit, regardless of whether or not the association might receive all its fees, it’s fines. So, there’s advantages and disadvantages to litigation and and trying to achieve that voluntary compliance. And, you know, making sure that you follow those voluntary compliance steps leading up to litigation is also important.

Do you have any questions about – nope?

So, now, in terms of getting prepared for legal intervention and involving counsel. Now, if you’re having a conversation early and you’re asking about those questions, you know, while we’ll obviously have a background about the facts but sometimes we come into these things cold, right? Sometimes we don’t understand what the violation is, or what the issues are, or what communication you’ve had with the homeowner. And so some things that I look for, at least when I get an enforcement case that comes in, “Are there any active collections efforts?,” right?

If they’re, you know. For example, I have a case right now where there’s a homeowner that’s actively in collections with a collections firm that’s not our own, and they’re they’ve engaged in that back and forth process. They’ve sent the statutory notices, those things. And now we have an enforcement case that’s active in our office, and it’s to the point where we’re almost close to the judgement stage, getting awarded an amount for attorneys fees, fines, etc., and having that communication, so that we know, “Hey, there’s this other collections lawsuit going on.,” I advise the community manager and the board to wait until we’re done with that enforcement lawsuit so that we can then roll those attorneys fees and that judgment into the collections efforts. Right? That’s that strategy that can play out, and knowing that information going in is extremely helpful for us.

Second is bankruptcy. Bankruptcy is a big issue for a lot of different reasons. But obviously there are stays involved with bankruptcy, whether or not we can enforce the violations or, you know, based on when the bankruptcy was filed. All those things right? So if you know that there’s bankruptcy now, our firm, of course, checks to see if there was they are in bankruptcy before we proceed. But if you know that information, it saves us a lot of time, and it saves the association attorneys, fees, and costs, because we have to do that due diligence to the extent it’s not identified to us by you.

And then, you know, when you’re sending over these enforcement matters to the extent you the Board has said, “You know what we’re ready to move forward with an attorney’s involvement,” make sure that you send us all their violation letters. Any photos or videos. Photos are great (for) violations because we use them as exhibits in our enforcement cases. They’re really the best evidence of the violation to the extent that it’s possible to get a a photo or something along those lines. Other homeowner complaints: Is this a neighbor to neighbor issue where the the neighbor has identified the violation? And that was what spurred this on? So, that’s also helpful. And then any communications with the homeowner, I think that’s the biggest one, really.

You know, when I get into court, and I’m having to defend what the Association’s actions were, you know, do we have the communications, and am I aware of all that happened prior to my involvement? Because the judge is gonna say, you know, what efforts have you on engaged in and how have you tried to get that voluntary compliance. That’s an important aspect of of any enforcement case.

And then this (slide) just generally goes over some of the steps in the lawsuit to the extent it gets to that point. Obviously, there’s the complaint, the complaint sketches out the allegations and the violations of that issue, and then the provisions of the declaration that they’re in violation of. We also request in connection with filing the complaint, we file a request for preliminary and permanent injunction. That’s what actually gets you the relief that you’re seeking. You know, that’s the request, basically saying, “You know, hey, court, we’ve tried everything we could to try and get this voluntary compliance. Now we need you to intervene and here’s what we need you to do. Here’s what the documents say and here’s what they’re in violation of and we need you to to intervene and tell them that they need to to address these issues.”

The return hearing, that’s a short 15 min hearing. Usually the courts use that to determine what the status of the cases. We don’t present any evidence. But that’s really a good indication of how this is gonna go. Is the homeowner gonna come into the court and identify, “Well, yeah, I understand that there’s a seriousness to the violations. I’m gonna address it. Now that the lawsuit’s been filed, I understand the seriousness of it, and we can achieve voluntary compliance.” Or, is the homeowner going to come in and deny the violations? Well, if they deny the violations, then we sort of move forward to that next step which is the evidentiary hearing, which is where we present the evidence.

We may need to have a community manager testimony to the extent that they were the ones that observed the violations, those sorts of things. And then their judgment and attorneys fees, those sort of go hand in hand. You know, you can sometimes have a piece of paper that’s from the court saying, “Yeah, they are required to remove their gazebo. They’re required to take down their unapproved improvement. They’re required to repaint their home,” those sorts of things, and that’s why we put compliance as the last (list item) with a question mark, because whether you get that court order, and eventually that person complies is a whole different ball game, right?

So, there are steps that happen after we get a judgment plus our attorneys fees and whatever other costs we have in the lawsuit. And there’s contempt proceedings, there’s all sorts of mechanisms we can use to the extent we don’t get compliance at the end of the lawsuit. And, so that’s a give and take. And, again, it’s a fact specific thing. But these are sort of the overview things that a lawsuit entails.

And then, after after we file the lawsuit, here are some potential pitfalls to avoid. And, you know, I mention these because these are important to take into consideration early on, before you file the lawsuit, to determine whether or not it’s a good enforcement case. You know, Lex mentioned earlier, do we need to send another Enforcement letter? Do we need to make the violations a little bit more clear to the homeowner? Do we need to continue to communicate? Is there some back and forth? Is there some give and take, right?

So, some of the issues are inconsistent enforcement. You know that’s the one we see most frequently and one of the best defenses for the homeowners, really, is that (inconsistency). “You’re enforcing against me for parking my RV in front of my property but you’re not enforcing against the the neighbor right down the street, who’s also doing the same thing.” And so that’s where that consistency comes in.

Sending those violation notices on a consistent basis and consistently to all the homeowners is important because to the extent the homeowner obtains an attorney, or even, you know, asks for (documentation) as part of discovery, you know, having the ability to show, “Well, we actually sent 5 violation letters to that person as well and we’re getting prepared to file a lawsuit against them (also),” you know it shows that consistent enforcement and allows us to better defend that the association’s actions were reasonable under that Tierra Ranchos standard.

And then there’s the selective enforcement issues. Again, you know, we all have problematic homeowners throughout our communities. And we’ve all experienced this in the industry and that selective enforcement issue is really big.

You know, we wanna make sure that we’re enforcing in a routine and uniform way and making sure that you’re sending the violation letters to everybody and making decisions in a uniform way is important. So, keep that in mind throughout the process, both when the violations are first identified all the way through sending those fine letters. I touched on bankruptcy already, but again, you know, there’s all sorts of stay considerations and sort of legal issues but you know, knowing that they’re in bankruptcy, that’s also sort of something that we want to be aware of and be cognizant of.

And then, collecting the attorneys fees. As I mentioned earlier, unfortunately, you know, despite the the documents clearly stating what they state, judges will always award what are reasonable attorneys fees and that comes down to a case by case determination and a fact specific inquiry, right? But ultimately taking the steps and showing consistent enforcement, showing those efforts that you engage before the lawsuit, are critical to getting to that attorney’s fees piece and saying, “Look, your honor we’ve expended all these attorneys fees up to this point because of the failure to comply and the failure to respond appropriately, and now we should be entitled to more, if not most of our attorneys fees. But again, those are the pitfalls that we can see sort of throughout litigation.

So, now that I’ll move on. And this is sort of the last topic, which is a good case study about a short term rental enforcement, and some of the things that I look at when I’m looking at a short term rental case where there’s a violation. You know, Airbnb and Vrbo, they have a lot of information on the website that’s great to identify the violations.

For example, there are some restrictions in governing documents where you can’t rent just one room, you would have to rent the whole residence. So, sometimes that’s a violation, and we can read the description of the Airbnb listing to identify a violation that way. Checking minimum night stays. The minimum amount of time you can rent the property for that’s another potential violation. Then, checking recent reviews, I mean, those are the best examples of when the property’s been rented, and the fact that it’s been rented in violation. I know that I made a joke earlier about how bachelor and bachelorette parties don’t usually last for 30 days – unless I didn’t go to the the really fun ones – I don’t know but you know bachelorette and bachelor parties are usually weekend get togethers, and that’s really good evidence that it’s being rented in violation of a 30 day, 6 month, or year restriction that might be in the governing document. So, those reviews are helpful. As you’re sort of identifying the violation, and to the extent you do identify the violation, you know, taking frequent screenshots and creating a file on it is is a good way to document that ongoing noncompliance, because they can change the listing to the extent that you send them out the violation letter, and they say, “WHOA, the HOA has caught on to the fact that I’m doing X, Y, and Z.” Taking those frequent screenshots and identifying, “Well, you’re still renting in violation, there are additional reviews since the time that I took the last screenshot.” So, there’s still, you know, there’s an ongoing noncompliance, right?

So, taking those frequent screenshots. And then also to move on to some of the screenshots that I took that I think are helpful to identify potential violations. Now, if you’re looking at where it says select dates, there’s a minimum 2 night stay that’s listed there. That’s really good evidence of how they’re advertising the property.

You know, when we’re drafting short term rental amendments, sometimes we’ll include a prohibition against advertising for less than 6 months, a year, whatever that time period restriction is. Other times we don’t. So, you know, it’s good evidence that it’s being rented in violation. But, sometimes it’s not – it doesn’t win the day. Right? And that’s that fact specific inquiry that we engage in. You know, looking at the the reviews on the side, you know, reading what the reviews actually say. Is it renting a room? Is it renting the whole house? Do they list the property, saying, you know, “Great home or great single family residence for super bowl parties,” and all kinds of other things. Those are, you know, also good indications that they’re renting in violation.

I have one more slide with sort of shows a good way in which I use the the calendar to really identify the violation as a you know, as a short term rental. Right? So if you look at November 2023, if you see there, they’ve got November 8, 9, and tenth all blocked off, but then there’s gaps in between right? So that sort of shows to me that for 3 days, that property was potentially rented for that that three-day period.

If, again, if it’s a 30 day minimum rental, if it’s a year minimum rental, 3 days is obviously in violation of that. So, that’s good evidence and that’s some of the things we use. And, if you look again, you look at the 18th through the 25th, that’s again more evidence of a week rental which again, potentially a violation depending on what the governing documents say. So, that’s sort of the screenshots that I take in terms of looking for a violation for a short term rental.

Again the reviews are good, but documenting this over time, to the extent your association or your board is interested in trying to regulate this kind of conduct, these are the things you should be looking for to build those violations over a period of time. So, when it does get to us to the extent that some of the the renters are sort of not complying and achieving that voluntary compliance after the fine schedule is exhausted, and it gets to us, we have, you know, 6 months worth of reviews and 6 months worth of screenshots that we can all use to make an effective enforcement lawsuit to the extent we need to get to that point.

Andrea Rizen: We have a question. Fines are soft costs and often waived at the sale, and not sufficient to go to court. Can you discuss the soft cost idea?

Kyle Banfield: Yeah. So the soft cost idea, Lex hit on this earlier this morning. The idea that there’s fines that go on the account based on when the violation is observed. You know, there’s still that notice and opportunity to be heard, and they sit on the account while there’s that 21 day period and they have the right to appeal. And yes, they’re not collectible upon close. There’s sometimes, and again, there’s the practical aspect. Sometimes, you know, when it sits on an account ledger, and then the property goes to sell. The prospective buyer will look at the the fine ledger, and say, “WHOA! What are all these fines? I want these to be handled before before close,” and that’s a way that sometimes it can be addressed. And, unfortunately, the case law is not favorable in terms of trying to collect those things on close, but there are practical considerations in terms of if they’re sitting on that ledger and a prospective buyer goes to look to purchase the property. They can identify that that’s an issue that they want resolved, and that sometimes will get the fines paid.

Andrea Rizen: Enforcement is to be every 14 days per the documents. If the enforcement has a break for 30 days, then the violation technically starts all over again? If not being consistent continuously, could that cause a huge issue for the HOA?

Kyle Banfield: Well, again, it’s really based on what the defined schedule says, right? And, so it’s unfortunate that sometimes you really go based on what the wording of the fine schedule is. And so if it says that there’s no violations for 30 days, then the fine restarts. Well, then, yeah, that’s unfortunate. That’s sort of the way that the documents have been drafted. The board could certainly explore the idea of amending it.

I know that one of the issues that frequently comes up is with RV parking, right? Somebody comes and parks their RV on a Friday, and it’s a violation then, but then they don’t – you know, they store it somewhere else, and then it’s not until a while later about them parking it again. Right? So, you know, that’s something we can engage with in counsel in terms of showing a recurring violation, you know, and building that evidence of the compliance or ongoing noncompliance. But by looking at the violation from a holistic perspective, the violations fine schedule may reset itself, but a frequent ongoing non-compliance issue, whether it’s under the fine schedule, or whether it needs to have an EDL from our office to sort of address that issue, you know, that’s something you can work with counsel on.

Andrea Rizen: If their rental policy says 30 days, and they’re advertising 30 days but renting for weeks at a time, how can they regulate that?

Kyle Banfield: Could you repeat that?

Andrea Rizen: The Airbnb is advertising for 30 days, but renting for only weeks at a time. How do they regulate that?

Kyle Banfield: So one thing that I’ve seen some some associations do is they require a tenant registration form. So that’s a a document that the association can create as a part of this policy in terms of short term rental enforcement and putting an obligation on the owner of the property to fill out a tenant registration form, and how long they’re staying at the property. And you can ask, you know, you can ask for sort of who’s staying at the property, and for how long? And then you can use that to sort of identify whether or not there’s ongoing violation. You know the fine schedule is also a good way to identify that. You know, in terms of making sure that the fine is is clearly defined and things like that. But I think the tenant registration form is a good is a good way of identifying potential violations to the extent that they’re they’re listing it on Airbnb in a different way than what the properties actually being used for.

Andrea Rizen: How should you enforce CC&Rs that contradict themselves, and one part of the CC&Rs states that “For Rent” signage can’t be placed for 24 months after initial conveyance, and later it states for rent signage can’t be placed for 12 months after initial conveyance.

Kyle Banfield: That’s a tricky one. I’d have to actually read the provision itself. But you know, in terms of you know, when you there’s a conflict in the governing documents, I mean, usually, that’s that’s why I have a job and so it’s really interpreting those specific provisions and what the wording says, because there may be a little bit of a nuance in there (that is) subject to interpretation. So I really have to look at the actual documents themselves in order to provide a better answer on that one.

Andrea Rizen: They have an owner whose legal address is 5 miles away. He has periodic residences, 6 to 12 months, but claims he lives there. He comes and goes and (says) they’re his guests. So he refuses to provide ids and age verifications. How can they assert that he’s renting?

Kyle Banfield: I would check Airbnb and Vrbo, that’s always a good look. I mean, when I’m looking at whether or not there’s violations of a short term rental restriction, I look at the actual mapping itself. He’s advertising it somewhere unless – I’ve seen it where, let’s say, for instance, like a nurse right? A nurse is renting a property, and she’s rents to other nurses, and so there’s a a word of mouth issue. That becomes a little bit more of an issue because it’s not really an easily identifiable violation because she’s, you know, relying on people to tell each other, “Oh, yeah, I you know I stayed with this one person. She’s great. You should go with her to.” But, checking the Airbnb and looking on the map, look at where your community is. They have a map on Airbnb and Vrbo where the properties are located. Look at your area of the community and see if the listing is up there and how it’s being advertised. I think that’s the best way to sort of identify whether or not you can identify a violation and have some evidence to support that, is looking at those reviews and looking at the map.

Andrea Rizen: Another one says, I thought you could ask for a tenant registration form, but cannot require it. Is it different for Airbnbs?

Kyle Banfield: Again, it depends on the documents, right? So, some associations have documents that allow for the Board, and most do, to adopt reasonable rules and regulations. Well, it’s a reasonable rule and regulation – to the extent that there’s an ongoing violation – to create a tenant registration form to address that issue.

And, so, that would be my recommendation. Which is, look at what the governing documents say. Does it say that it can adopt rules and regulations specific to common elements? Does it say that it can identify rules and regulations with respect to generally general violations? That sort of thing, and then, you know, use the documents that identify whether or not a tenant registration form is something that you can do.

Kyle Banfield: No more? Well, I think that’s it’s exactly 10 o’clock. Well, 3 min over. I think. One more question?

Andrea Rizen: Pursuant to ARS sections § 33-1260.01 and § 33-1806.01. It’s a requirement that attendant registration form be fully executed and returned to the management company, correct?

Kyle Banfield: I guess my point is the tenant registration form is a good strategy to identify those short-term rental violations. You know, again, if the documents allow for it. But again, =those statutes and some of the other ones, they’re town specific – I recently did a presentation on this for for our firm – there are certain types of information that you can require of a renter within the association. It’s like, for example, the city’s appraisal allows for you to require insurance information, the names of the tenants, then there’s a list of things. But it can be town specific. So, to the extent that you’re having an issue with this, look at your town specific ordinance. They usually – I mean the state of Arizona has given towns the ability to regulate and ask for certain types of information. But whether or not the actual town of Gilbert, or the town of Surprise, or Buckeye, actually adopted those things is a whole other story. So, because the statute allows them to ask for that information on a tenant registration form, but whether or not that specific municipality or city actually put in place a requirement, that’s a whole other story.

Well, that’s all I have for you guys today. If there are any other questions feel free to reach out. I have my nice bald head on a last slide there, and Lex you know, if you have any questions reach out to us about anything enforcement related. Thanks. Thank you all for being here today and, hopefully, we’ll see at the next one.