Renting Your Property? Tips on Establishing a Professional Relationship Between Landlord, Tenant, and Your Community Association

As professionals in the Homeowners Association (HOA) industry, we see more and more owners looking to lease their property to new tenants, which are governed by the Association rules and regulations they own in. Most associations allow for rentals, but some have a cap or percentage limit on number of homes within a community being rented. Additionally, many communities only allow for long-term rental leases and restrict short-term (Airbnb). You may be asking, can I rent my home, condo, or townhome on Airbnb? You will need to read your association governing documents to determine short-term lease restrictions before placing your home or condo online. Your Management Company and/or Board of Directors will also be able to provide you context to what is allowed or not when thinking about renting short-term or long-term.

The increase in rental desires across community associations stems from the many amenities and maintenance-free lifestyle it can allow for. While this is very attractive to most looking for a property to rent, it can be difficult on the owner to keep up with assessment payments, violation or collection fines, and ongoing communication that will affect your tenant.

Tips on maintaining the relationship with your association and tenant, while renting out your property:

1. Ensure the Association has a reliable association management company.

The volunteer and owner-elected Board of Directors is responsible for contracting with a professional management company to help govern the rules of the association, ongoing maintenance items, visual inspections for covenant enforcement, accounting, collection services, and much more. A professional management partner will better facilitate communications with tenants and offer technology to keep them informed. At RowCal, we go a step further in offering the Board a rental management service to monitor ongoing leases and tenants within the community! We want to ensure that everyone is in the loop on all things within your community, monitoring compliance with Association regulations while working with the individual owner.

2. Provide tenants all association documents and ensure they’re abiding the CC&R’s.

When a tenant is not abiding by the association regulations, it is typically due to a lack of knowledge or communication around those items. Owners need to ensure their tenants are aware of all the regulations in place at the community to appropriately follow them. Leverage your management company and board of directors to provide this information if you do not have it readily available while thinking of renting out your property. RowCal’s technology allows for tenants to have access to these documents and information so they can stay well informed on what’s allowed or required when renting within the community.

3. Pay your assessments on time.

Recurring assessments and one-time fees are a main point of concern with maintaining your relationship between HOA, Owner, and Tenant. Set yourself up on an automatic payment (ACH) to eliminate any assessments being delinquent or past-due. You can work with your community’s management company to set this up if you do not currently have it in place. While not actively living in the community, owners sometimes fail to follow up on fines issues for violations at their property and it is important you get these addressed at your property, and paid on-time before additional fines are assessed.

4. Communicate with Tenants regarding violations issued.

Although your property was in perfect condition when you first rented it out, someone needs to be responsible for ongoing upkeep of the property while tenant occupied. If the owner is not in charge of regular upkeep, you must keep your tenant informed of all violations issued and work to resolve the item out of association compliance. A lack in communication is the #1 reason tenants fall out of compliance with the association and can lead to lengthy resolutions of the issue, increasing fines assessed to the owner before it is resolved. Maintaining an aesthetically pleasing property will reduce these violation issues!

5. Stay Involved.

Although an owner might not be living in the community while it’s being rented, it is imperative to stay connected and be present for board and owner meetings. As the owner, it is your responsibility to stay informed on what is going on and keep your tenant in the loop on changes or upcoming items. Technology allows us to keep tenants informed on day-to-day items such as large projects, parking block off’s, utility issues, emergencies, etc. but the owner is ultimately the one responsible for who is occupying the home.

There are many benefits to renting your home within the HOA but the relationship can become strained while renting it out. Past issues or personal expectations can harm that relationship and these tips will have you on the right track to a harmonious partnership.

RowCal offers not only professional association management services, but our experienced team offers full property management (rental) services to owners. If you are thinking about renting your home, check out our website and get connected with us today!