Association Actions to Enforce Governing Documents Must be Fair and Reasonable

A homeowners’ association, acting through its board of directors, has a duty to enforce the association’s governing documents and if it fails to do so, members of the association can commence legal actions against the association to compel it to take appropriate action. The appropriate mechanism for enforcement, which typically consists of either imposing fines, suspending privileges, or commencing litigation, is left to the discretion of the board of directors. When it comes to deciding what course of action to take relative to the enforcement of its governing documents, the association’s directors should evaluate the anticipated cost of litigation, the gravity of the violation, and the likely outcome of the litigation, and make a good faith determination as to the enforcement mechanism that it feels is in the best interests of the association and in keeping with the fiduciary duties owed to homeowners.

When an association takes some form of action to enforce its governing documents the association must follow its own standards and procedures relative to the enforcement action, and the procedures that are followed must be: