I’ve tried everything ?!! The dog still barks excessively in my HOA!
If you’ve tried all of the proactive approaches to curb dog barking (read our blog post 10 Tips to Stop Barking Dogs), and feel the need to take action, we suggest following the steps below:
Suggested Steps to Reporting Dog Barking Nuisance in your HOA:
1) Contact the Dog Owner: You may have done this already if you took the advice of our last “barking dog” blog post, but if you haven’t done so yet, the courteous thing to do is talk to the owner first. Share with them tips to curb dog barking. Discussing calmly with your neighbor can be the fastest and most effective way to handle the situation. Many owners tell animal control that they wished someone had talked to them first before calling in a complaint. If you are hesitant about speaking with the neighbor, animal control suggests leaving them a note on their door with your phone number to discuss the problem.
2) Contact the Homeowners Association: Well, speaking to the neighbor didn’t work. Time to contact the HOA to intervene. The association may have a nuisance provision in its documents or a rule prohibiting dog barking. If it does, the HOA can send a warning letter, notifying the owner of the problem. If the dog owner fails to comply with the letter, and the HOA CC&R’s have a nuisance provision, the owner now can be fined for the violation of it’s CC&R’s after the notice has been sent and an opportunity to be heard is given to the owner.
3) Lastly, contact your City/Town Animal Control: Some homeowners and/or associations have contacted the town animal control or code enforcement to have dog-barking conflicts resolved through mediation programs. For very extreme cases, or repeated problems with several attempts to mediate, owners and associations have called the police.
It’s an important question often asked by homeowners, and the answer is more complicated than you may think.
Generally, the association is responsible for repairing common, or shared, elements. The homeowners are responsible for maintaining their own homes.
But, there are two problems. Here is where it gets confusing:
1) Some areas are neither common nor part of your home. These are called exclusive or limited-use common areas and they are available only to one or few residents.
2) Ownership and responsibility for repair and/or replacement are not always the same thing.
So, how do we determine who is responsible in these scenarios?
Always refer to your Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (commonly referred to as CC&R’s). These should include a list of the HOA owned assets. Typically HOA owned assets are the responsibility of the association.
If your CC&R is silent on the issue, speak up! Request the information from your community manager. He/she has dealt with this question in the past and will be able to provide you with a clear answer?
Our best advice:
Don’t assume anything. If there is an issue with what appears to be a common element, then ask!
It is a common problem amongst HOA’s – barking dogs. Wether it be your dog, or your neighbors, please share these tips about how to quiet your furry best friend.
According to experts, there are reasons why a dog barks: boredom, changes to the dog’s lifestyle, hostile neighbors, lack of shade, possible health issues, or children teasing the dog, can all affect the dog’s mental health and cause it to bark in excess.
Owners and Homeowner Associations have used some of the following techniques:
10 Suggestions for Limiting Dog Barking
Insert a dog door and a “dog-proofed” section of the house that provides dog toys and enticements. Give the dog an option to come inside rather than bark at irritants outside.
Ask a dog professional to speak at your HOA Board meeting.
The complaining party could offer to walk the dog, while the dog owner is away at work.
Owners can limit the dog’s stimulation by restricting line of sight; cover the area at the bottom of fence or gate.
Doggy Day Care 2 – 3 times a week helps prevent doggy boredom!
Anti-Bark shock collars have proven helpful for many dog owners.
“Bark Free” systems responds to a barking dog up to 50 feet away by emitting high pitched tones that humans can’t hear, but the dog can!
The ultimate extreme: Debarking Surgery. This procedure is still considered very controversial, results are sometimes unsatisfactory, and veterinarians seldom suggest this as a solution.
Besides being a nuisance, uncollected dog waste is a serious problem for your association. Next time you’re tempted to leave your dog droppings on the lawn, please remember these facts:
5 FACTS about uncollected dog waste in your HOA
The Environmental Protection Agency is becoming aggressive about enforcing the Clean Water Act. Your association can be fined if dog waste isn’t picked up! (More fines, less reserve money, potentially higher dues….you see where this goes…..).
Uncollected dog waste may lead to a special assessment. If fined by the EPA, the association could face a potential special assessment that would be levied against all homeowners – not just dog owners.
The appearance and quality of common areas are known to affect home sales – not just wether and how much they sell, but how quickly too!
The more residents complain about dog waste, the more time a community manager spends on enforcement, rather than serving the association on higher priority issues.
Uncollected dog waste spreads disease and attracts rodents who feed on pet waste (EWWW!). Especially with summer coming around, more animals are going to be out and about…..do you want to attract them to your HOA community?
We hope you enjoyed our most recent blog post regarding homeowner rights in an HOA. With any right, we must also uphold our responsibilities in order to live in a successful and harmonious community.
7 Responsibilities of Homeowners living in an HOA Community:
Maintain your property according to established standards
Treat association leaders with honesty and respect
Read and comply with your communities rules and regulations and ensure your tenants do too. You should have received these upon purchase of the home. Contact your community manager if you have not received this information, asap!
VOTE in community elections!
Pay association assessments and charges on time (delinquent dues affect everyone)
Request reconsideration of material decisions that personally affect you
And lastly, make sure your association has your updated contact information at all times, so that you can receive all information from the community!
We hope you enjoyed our post on neighborhood block watches this month. They are beneficial towards neighborhood safety, but even better for establishing a feeling of community in your HOA.
We thought that to some, creating a neighborhood watch may seem daunting. The title alone may infer night watches and long hours, when in fact they don’e require that all (check out our 6 simple steps).
Nonetheless, we continue our effort to share with our HOA communities alternative ideas to establishing connections with your neighbors…..
4 Easy and Effective Strategies to Establish Connections in your HOA
Plan a neighborhood BBQ. BYOB, bring a dish to pass, or request each family bring the meat they want to grill. Don’t take on the expense yourself. Offer to host the event in your backyard or a common area. Set the date and time, go door to door, post event details on the community Facebook page, and ask your HOA board to announce the event at the next meeting and insert into upcoming communications.
Plan a children’s event. If there are a lot of children in your HOA, parents are more likely to attend an event their kids can enjoy. What parent doesn’t love when kids have neighborhood friends to keep them busy outside? Plan a kid-friendly event and make those connections! Try renting a “bouncy-house,” ask a local sports figure to attend (they love to promote their own community happenings), create obstacle courses and backyard games.
Plan a poolside cocktail hour. Picture this: signature cocktails, tranquil pool, an evening breeze. Sets up a nice environment for calming, relaxing, get-to-know-social time. We all have busy weekends, so pick a day during the week as people are more likely to find that extra hour to unwind from a busy workday. During the event, make sure to spread the word that the event will happen at the same time/place each week/month. You can plan this same event over coffee in the morning as well!
Introduce yourself. Ok, seems like the obvious answer, but it planning an event isn’t for you, go knock on a door (the old fashioned way). Approach the conversation with an offering. Maybe offer to watch their house when out of town, water the plants outside, or pick up their mail? Courtesy and kindness still goes a long way!
Ever wonder what happened to feeling like you are part of your HOA Community? How well do you know your neighbors? Wouldn’t it be nice to know that your neighbor had your back if you are out of town or in need some way? Be a solution to making this happen in your HOA. Here are 6 simple steps:
5 Steps to form a Neighborhood Block Watch Group
Talk with your neighbors to determine if they have interest
Ask two or three neighbors to assist you in becoming Co-Captains
Discuss neighborhood concerns
Advise that the Neighborhood Block Watch will NOT require frequent meetings or personal risk
Community is better prepared to respond to suspicious activity
Increase information sharing on issues impacting HOA neighborhoods
Get to know your neighbors!
Reduces fear of crime in your neighborhood
Creates a forum that allows for other community issues to be addressed
It’s really that simple! The benefits far outweigh the risk of not having a Neighborhood Block Watch. Forming a group will consequently form lasting relationships with other members of your HOA! Tell us what you think. What benefits has your HOA experienced since developing a Neighborhood Block Watch Group?
