Compliance and compliance reviews are essential for maintaining a well-managed community and protecting property values. Here's a friendly guide to explain the importance of compliance.

Members of community associations must adhere to all established rules, regulations, and legal requirements set forth in their governing documents. From the perspective of the association board and their management company, it means enforcing rules and taking appropriate action when violations occur. This is typically accomplished via drive-thru reviews of the Association called compliance reviews.

Here's a few reasons why association compliance is important.

Maintaining Property Values

Properties that enforce rules can ensure, preserve, and even increase property values.

Visual Curb Appeal

The Association’s guidelines help maintain the visual curb appeal by regulating paint colors, landscaping, and construction on the exterior of homes to create a more attractive environment.

Dispute Resolution

Having defined guidelines that the Association must adhere to fosters a sense of cohesion and shared responsibility, helping to resolve disputes more effectively.

During a compliance review, the inspector drives through the community to assess individual homes and ensure they adhere to the Association's rules regarding property appearance, landscaping, and other community guidelines. They will also check for structure integrity, cleanliness, and proper functionality. While conducting the review, they use software to track any compliance issues they may notice. This software will also allow the inspector to send a letter with the compliance issue, which recommend the required maintenance, repair, or replacement to become compliant with the CC&Rs.

Each visit they verify the status of any outstanding compliance issues. If anything needs attention, they will send another letter, add fines, or close out the compliance because it was corrected.

The exact steps taken during each compliance review depends on the rules of the Association, along with prior discussion with the Association's board.

Follow Rules and Design Standards

If you live in a community association, you should familiarize yourself with that association's rules, policies, and procedures. If you're a property owner, these can be found in your property owner account, and if you're a tenant, you can ask the property owner for a copy.

Violating these rules may result in fines.

Respond Timely

Respond promptly to any compliance letters to address issues before they escalate.

Submit Modification Requests

Inform the association via a modification request anytime you plan to make any exterior changes to the property.

• Stay Informed: Regularly review your association’s governing documents, including the master deed, bylaws, and covenants.

• Communicate: If you receive a violation notice, respond promptly and take steps to rectify the issue.

• Follow Rules: Adhere to the community’s rules and regulations to avoid fines and maintain a harmonious living environment.