Your HOA's Access

Our HOA needs to be able to communicate with residents.  It also needs access to observe how well buildings and lawns are maintained.  And it needs to leave notices at the door from time to time.  So the question comes up, can a homeowner declare their property off limits and threaten trespass sanctions if an HOA representative comes on their property while conducting HOA business?  It is a remarkable posture given that each of us shares a common wall with one or two neighbors.  We have chosen to live in a close community, and the tendency is to discover trespassing objections when a resident doesn't want to cooperate with HOA messages or operations.

At the end of Section 1, Article VII of the HOA Covenants (which are recorded in the county records and are binding agreements on each home) provides the following (click it to enlarge):

Also, a separate document, the HOA bylaws, provides a useful encouragement in Section 9.2:


Harmonious Use.  The members and their townhomes are in such close proximity that each member is called upon to preserve and foster harmony and to refrain from conduct or neglect that compromises the quiet enjoyment or value of any townhome; further each member is responsible for making all persons it allows in the subdivision to similarly comply and may be sanctioned for the noncompliance of such persons.  The Board of Directors shall take any and all measures it deems reasonable or necessary to enforce the use restrictions set out in Article IX of the Declaration and to publish Rules & Regulations to clarify such 
restrictions and other member duties set out in the Declaration.  Such Rules and Regulations may be established and revised by majority vote of the Board of Directors, they shall be published on 
the Association website and they are incorporated into the Association Bylaws by this reference.  Said Rules & Regulations are appended to these Bylaws