Our condo complex has only four units. The homeowner who managed the financial and clerical aspects of our HOA died a few months ago. When her family put her condo on the market I made sure they were aware of the section in our CC&Rs that states "The Units shall be occupied and used by the respective Owners only for private single-family residential purposes. Units are not to be leased or rented. Units are to be Owner occupied." I gave copies of that section to the family and the listing agent.

This afternoon the soon to be new owner called me to chat and in the course of our conversation I discovered that the woman I though was the buyer was in reality going to be renting it from her sister.

Since the woman who is buying this condo is going to be using it as income property what’s to keep her from renting to someone other than her sister? We like the woman who is going to be renting, but we don’t want to set ourselves up for future problems. Should we have the buyer sign something stipulating that she is aware that the unit is to be “Owner occupied”, that the HOA is granting her a one time acceptation that she can rent the unit to her sister and if her sister chooses to have a room mate she can. But, if her sister no longer resides there, the unit must revert back to “Owner occupied” or do we insist that the woman’s name be on title?

I believe the unit is closing escrow tomorrow or Monday.

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Hello 38:

In my view, you are trying to put toothpaste back in the tube. No matter what documents you come up with, all they can say, is that, after this time, you're not going to do it again.

That's all well and good, until the next unit is sold to somebody who wants to rent it, and is going to sue the HOA to let them. They might win too.

A HOA is a quasi-government. Therefore the rules, AND the administration of them, must have some relationship to law.
Government agencies must follow their own rules. They cannot decide which ones to follow and which ones not. They can't decide to let someone violate a rule, because they like them. That's arbitrary and capricious. It means the rules don't really mean what they say they do. If they do that, the next person, whom they DON'T like, has an excellent chance of beating them in court.

If the HOA caves for the renter, the rules they WANT to keep, may be gone forever. Or they might win. Or the fight may never happen. But, why open the door?

Of course, I could be all wet. I'm an exconvict, for crying out loud.

excon