Seven Problems That Keep HOA and Condo Boards Up At Night

February 6, 2025 — Condo and HOA Boards face a daunting list of challenges these days. Insurance, aging infrastructure, and new government regulations are just some of the issues. But just as difficult are the many tricky situations that arise when a group of people share spaces and common property.

Last week Topretirements attended a conference held by Becker, a law firm that has a specialty in community, condo, timeshares, and HOA law. The presenters covered explanations of the many complex new requirements that communities must follow. But the most interesting part of the meeting were the non-stop questions from members of the audience. It was abundantly clear that these boards are being put to the test by many difficult situations.Those attending were mostly HOA and condo board managers with a mix of Community Managers too. The questions gave a good picture of the tough challenges that condo and HOA board members have to deal with everyday.

Top 7 Condo and HOA Problems

Living together in a shared environment is different than owning or renting your own home. In a condo or community associations you usually share walls, roads, amenities, and common spaces, Human nature being what it is, there have to be some rules to ensure the public good. Here are the top 7 problems that emerged in this meeting – things that make being a Board Member a bigger challenge than most people signed up for. Boards that handle them correctly usually get a good resolution – those that make a misstep often find themselves in court.

What can you do when an owner falls behind in their payments. This is not as straightforward as you might think. If your documents and rules allow, you may restrict or prohibit their use of amenities (with proper notice), and eventually file liens. But you can’t deny them access to common elements like roads and elevators.

Non-owners and renters living in the community. Owners don’t usually like non-owners having the same privileges as they do. Enforcing rules, like how many guests you can have, or a dress code coming from the pool, or what happens when people get rowdy can get tricky. Owners that rent and those that don’t can often get into conflict.

Angry and aggressive owners. When problems arise (usually around money or leadership) things can get tense quickly. One condo association at the meeting said things had gotten so bad that they were thinking about hiring an off-duty officer to attend their meetings. One thing that can help is having specific rules about participation (length of time and when in the meeting they can speak). Giving owners regular updates on important issues helps too.

Owners asking for other owners contact info. This can get tricky, but the best answer is – don’t give it out. But you could say, “the office will send that person a message that so and so is trying to contact them”.

Social Media. Facebook and other social media accounts can provide lots of trouble, particularly if officially sanctioned. What can you do about malicious or non-factual comments? Official sites are generally not a good idea. Starting by the end of 2025, Associations must have password protected websites with a range of information available to owners.

Parking. What do you do if someone parks in the wrong space? Or has a giant vehicle, trailer, or camper that doesn’t fit under the community rules. You have to have clear policies in place for what is not allowed, and prescribed remedies.

Electrical chargers. The popularity of e-bikes and scooters has come along with an increase in fires arising from their chargers. One question at our meeting was what to do with someone who has parked in a non-authorized spot and tapping into association power. Do you have an obligation to provide or allow charging stations?

Not to Mention New Regulations and Requirements Galore

As if problems arising from owner conflicts wasn’t enough, HOA and Condo Boards also follow a challenging set of regulations. While Florida communities have the strictest set of regulations of any state, the issues behind them are endemic to 55+ or active adult communities everywhere. In a future issue we will cover the most important of those new regulations (in the interim, see New Florida Laws…). Whether you are on a board, or a property owner concerned with making sure your organization is being properly run and following the law, you need to be aware of them.

What Problems Does Your Home Owners Association or Condo Have?

The list of problems covered above just came from one meeting. We’re pretty darn sure they don’t represent all the issues that exist in your community. Please add your issuess in the Comments section below.

For further reading:

Meet Your New Boss – The HOA