Ruleenforcementmayrequiremajorityvoteofdirectors

Our community has rules prohibiting ongoing rentals and parking restrictions. As a director, I feel it is the board’s duty to enforce these rules. Each time I bring up violations of these rules to the board, the board refuses to enforce the rules. What can I do? Most decisions are decided by a majority of the directors. If you, as the only officer who wants to enforce the rules, want to levy a fine or take legal action against an owner for violating the association’s governing documents or rules and regulations, you will need a majority vote of the board. However, the refusal to enforce rules may cause the association some havoc down the road. Let’s say that the board decides to enforce its rules against a new owner who is violating the rules. The new owner may raise a defense called “selective enforcement”, which means that the board is treating the new owner differently because the board allows other owners to violate the rules. This defense raised by the new owner could cause problems for the association because other owners may raise the same defense if any action is taken against those other owners. There are ways to fix the board’s selective enforcement problem. In this case, I would recommend the board seek legal advice from a community association attorney. Our bylaws state that no children under the age of 18 years old are allowed to reside in our condominium building, whether such children’s parents or legal guardians are owners or renters. We are not a 55- and- older community. Is the board’s enforcement of this rule in our bylaws legal? A federal law called the Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status or handicap. In addition to these “classes” of protected persons, state and local governments may add additional protected “classes”. The Broward County Human Rights Act adds the following protected classes: age, marital status, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity/ expression. The decision on whether to approve the occupancy of a family with minor children is a consideration based on familial status, a class protected under the Federal Fair Housing Act. Generally, a board may not refuse occupancy by a family with children under the age of 18 if the association is not a 55- and- older community despite the bylaws’ restriction on children under the age of 18. A 55- and- older community may not even prohibit children under the age of 18 living in the units if there are less than 20 percent of the units occupied by persons under the age of 55 and the association’s governing documents lack a prohibition on minor children.