HOA wants to work with master association

Q: I have a question, likely of general interest, for your column. I am on the board of a sub-association for Summerlin South. We share rules and enforcement responsibility for the homes in our homeowners association with this organization.

We would like to be able to coordinate our enforcement activities with Summerlin South, but it refuses to disclose information about its activities with regard to our homeowners; saying that for privacy reasons, it cannot disclose that information. Coordination definitely would have benefits. For example, we don’t have architecture or landscaping rules in our covenants, conditions and restrictions, and thus delegate enforcement for those issues to Summerlin South. We do enforce rules concerning replacement of dead plants and landscape debris, but not rules about how many plants are required in the front yards.

Are there state laws that prevent sharing this information with the board and our management company? We share the same homeowners with Summerlin South, so this is not information about individuals not in our HOA. It seems to us that coordination would have significant value, speeding resolution of problems, or perhaps even helping our residents deal with Summerlin South regulations and enforcement. We wonder if “privacy” is simply being used as an excuse to avoid having to deal with us. Can we push back on this?

A: Technically, each association is a separate entity, a separate organization; consequently, there would be a privacy issue as to enforcement of the governing documents by the master association. Nevada Revised Statute 116.31085 pertains to the executive sessions held by association boards — in your case, the master association. Executive sessions are held primarily for alleged violations of the governing documents. Decisions are kept confidential and only provided to the homeowner who was subject to being sanctioned at the executive session meeting.

What I would suggest is that you ask for a joint meeting between the two boards and have a discussion about the typical violations that the master association hears in its executive sessions. Find out what its board would recommend to your board as to how those violations can be reduced. Your association not only could share that information with its membership, but could begin to revise its rules and regulations to make them more consistent with the master association.

NOTE: This from a reader last week. Just read your Aug. 7 column pertaining to storage of trash bins. I can’t speak for all waste or recycling companies, but Republic Services has three sizes of bins. They normally initially deliver the largest ones.

However, customers can call Republic Services and request that it exchange the large ones for one of the two smaller sizes. The smallest size is very easy to move around and may very likely fit in whatever location the homeowners previously were storing their old-style trash cans.

This worked very well for me, so I thought I would pass that along. If an association is receiving a lot of inquiries about storage of the large bins, it may want to put a reminder in its newsletter about the option to switch to a smaller size (presuming its servicing waste company provides that option).