Covenant Enforcement
Our firm is dedicated to helping your community preserve the integrity of your governing documents.
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Helping community associations with covenant enforcement
Rabin Parker Gurley has successfully resolved countless violation disputes on behalf of our clients.
Legal Considerations
Duty to Enforce
Boards have a legal duty to uphold and enforce the community’s governing documents, and the failure to take action to secure compliance may constitute a breach of that duty, thereby subjecting the association (and possibly the board) to potential liability.
Notice
Absent an emergency, associations must generally afford an owner sufficient opportunity to cure a violation before the association is permitted to commence legal action to secure compliance.
Arbitration
Enforcement disputes in a condominium or cooperative community may be subject to mandatory, non-binding arbitration before the association is permitted to file suit. The failure to satisfy this pre-suit requirement may jeopardize your case and, worse yet, may cause your association to have to pay the other party's attorneys' fees.
Mediation
Mediation is often required as a condition precedent to filing suit in a covenant enforcement dispute involving a homeowners association. Mediation also presents an opportunity for the parties to resolve a dispute short of protracted litigation.
Fines / Suspensions
In order to impose fines against an owner or to suspend an owner's use rights, communities must follow strict statutory requirements. If the proper procedures are followed, fines and suspensions can be an effective tools to obtain compliance.
Enforcement Litigation
Our firm’s primary goal is to help our clients avoid costly litigation whenever possible. However, sometimes it takes more than fines to secure compliance. When all other options have been exhausted, our seasoned litigators are prepared to aggressively pursue compliance through judicial intervention.