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MUST
WE ENFORCE EVERY LITTLE RULE?
By
Eric Glazer, Esq.
Published December 15, 2014
The top story in the
news the last week or two has certainly been the tragic death of
Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York.
Regardless of whether or not you believe the grand jury
did or didn’t make the right decision, it seems that everyone
is in agreement that it’s a shame all this originally came
about because Mr. Garner’s crime was selling some loose
cigarettes. Perhaps
the police could have asked him to stop, confiscated the
cigarettes, or simply looked the other way instead of attempting
to arrest him for such a petty offense.
Sure, technically he was committing a crime, but he
didn’t rob or steal from anyone or otherwise assault or batter
anyone. What he was
doing was simply no big deal.
On that day, at that very moment, there were certainly
other crimes occurring in Staten Island that were more deserving
of the attention and resources of several of New York City’s
finest.
Our
readers of this blog live in community associations throughout
the state, all of which have rules and regulations in place.
There is always a debate about whether or not the board
must enforce every single rule on the books.
Some bylaws say the Board “shall” enforce the rules.
Other bylaws say the Board “may” enforce the rules.
So, there is some discretion there, as long as all
residents are treated equally.
In other words there can’t be selective enforcement,
requiring some owners to comply with a rule while looking away
as to other owners who violate the same rule.
Are
there rules in your community though that while on the books,
simply lack any reasonable justification and shouldn’t be
enforced? On the
contrary, are there rules which obviously serve a legitimate
purpose but are not enforced enough by your Board of Directors?
Should there be some discretion or should all the rules
be enforced unless changed or removed by the Board or community?
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About
HOA & Condo Blog
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Eric
Glazer graduated from the University of Miami School of
Law in 1992 after receiving a B.A. from NYU. He has
practiced community
association
law for more than 2
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decades
and is the owner of Glazer and Associates, P.A. a seven eight
attorney law firm with offices in Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and
Naples.
The
firm also has satellite offices in Tampa and Fort Myers.
Since 2009, Eric has been the host of Condo Craze and
HOAs, a weekly one hour radio show on 850 WFTL.
See:
www.condocrazeandhoas.com.
He
is the first attorney in the State of Florida that designed a
course that certifies condominium residents as eligible to serve
on a condominium Board of Directors and has now certified more
than 8,000 Floridians all across the state. He is certified as a
Circuit Court Mediator by The Florida Supreme Court and has
mediated dozens of disputes between associations and unit
owners. Eric also devotes significant time to advancing
legislation in the best interest of Florida community
association members.
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