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HI, The tenants that currently occupy my property have violated the HOA and so a fine has been charged. I have in the lease that the tenants are to abide by the rules and had them initial every page of the rules and regulations. The lease does not specifically say that they will be responsible for any fees charged but does say that breaking the rules of the HOA is a breach of the lease agreement. Can I make the tenant pay the fine? or have them move out if they fail to pay? Property is in GA.
HI, The tenants that currently occupy my property have violated the HOA and so a fine has been charged. I have in the lease that the tenants are to abide by the rules and had them initial every page of the rules and regulations. The lease does not specifically say that they will be responsible for any fees charged but does say that breaking the rules of the HOA is a breach of the lease agreement. Can I make the tenant pay the fine? or have them move out if they fail to pay? Property is in GA.
Out of curiosity, how much is the fine and have you talked to the tenants about them paying it?
There is a "sticky" in the forums about LL and tenant laws, you may be able to find something specific for your state.
The tenants that currently occupy my property have violated the HOA and so a fine has been charged.
Can I make the tenant pay the fine? or have them move out if they fail to pay? Property is in GA.
Subject to anything more specific in YOUR state law...
I suspect you're limited to dealing with this like any other unplanned expense due to the tenants actions.
Advise them of the incident and the fee and that you expect them to pay it.
If your lease is **worded correctly** when the next rent payment is received
and the extra is not included you advise them that they are behind in the rent
as the first $X paid was applied to the fine.
THEN... you can start the 3 day notice to cure or quit for unpaid rent.
We are only talking $100.00 but over the last 3 months the HOA has sent several warning letters about different things and they continued to break the rules so they finally imposed a fine. I have looked in the Landlord Tenant law workbook for Georgia and there isnt anything specific about HOA violations. I went by the house today and they still have not remedied the situation. I dont want to lose the tenant but I also dont want to have a lein placed on my house because of difficult tenants.
You can pass along the violation fine to the tenant so long as the lease states such fines can be passed along. GA does not specifically go into details of everything that can be passed along but makes it a general anything as a result of the tenant's negligence or failure to obey the rules but you must have infiormed the tenat that they can be held and are liable int he lease. If you omitted mentioning it or it does not met the state law requirment, youare out of luck.
As for the repeated violations, once again what doe the lease say? You mentioned that they signed the rules and regulations but is it specifically mentioned in the lease that they are required to obey them? Having them inital the rules and regulations is great but means nothing if the lease does not say they were to follow them. Also, does the lease say that violation of the rules and regulations of the association is a breech of the lease?
Yes the lease say specifically Rules and regulations are enforcable against a Tenant. "Tenant's and/or other occupant's failure to abide by the terms of the rules and regualtions shall constitue material breach of the lease." After each violation I notified the tenant of the infraction. The lease also says Tenant acknowledges they are subject to the terms of the rules and regulations and agree to comply with the terms.
The rules and regualtions state clearly that there would be a fine for a 2nd violation so they were clearly warned about the consequences.
The lease must specifically say that the tenants are responsible for any fines or assesments levied againt the unit for a violation of the rules and regulations. Itrs nto good enought hat the rules and regulations state tit, you must have included it int he lease. Most leases drawn up for the rental of a condo should have that clause in it along with everything else required by law to protect you. However a standard residential lease for an apartment may not have had the necessary items to address condo fines and assesments. A standard state specific soick lease for a house could have had a clause to adress this as HOA fiens and assemenets would eb considered the same. Was the lease prepared by a lawyer or was it a generic lease?
a generic lease with a rules and regualtions addendum. My only hope is that this line is good enough. "Tenant and all other occupants must follow all of the Association's rules and are subject to the penalties therein for any violations, including towing at Tenant's/occupant's expense.
That may be good enough and it all depends on how the courts have interpreted that. My reading of it is simply that you can not charge a tenant for any fines or assesmensts during the lease unless you informed the tenant and they agreed in the lease to pay these additional cost AND the cost were incured as a direct violation of the tenant. Sounds like its covered. Now the next step is to make sure you are notifying the tenant according to state law and following up in the manner outlined in the law to protect your rights.
I have emailed them and spoken with them about each violation. I sent a certified letter with a copy of each violation in it today. I know they have gotten the previous emails about the violations because they have responded to the email. They just happened to ignore/claim to not get the one saying a fine had been assessed. So now they will have a hard copy of all of the violations including the letter with the fine. I'm not sure how legal an email notification is but i know that a certified letter is as official as it gets. I really appreciate the help with this. Thank you!!
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