Archives: Model Tools

This Model Letter explains to renters important points that will help them enjoy community life and save you and the member-landlord from problems and potential liability later. The letter spells out how community associations operate, that both the member and renter must abide by the association’s rules, that rules violations are also lease violations, that…

Periodically remind members that they can prevent mold problems using simple maintenance tasks. Send them a letter like this one once a year. If your community is in a part of the country that experiences a rainy season, or a wet season due to melting snow, send the reminder shortly before the season begins.

Here’s a Model Letter that your board of directors can use to notify owners of a special assessment, the reason for it, and the consequences they’ll face if they don’t pay it. To make sure your letter includes any state and local requirements, show this letter to your attorney before adapting it for use at…

Here are two letters that you can adapt and send to members who fail to maintain their properties according to community standards. First, send the Polite Letter, reminding the member of his maintenance obligations and giving him a deadline by which to remedy the situation.

You can adapt and use this letter at your community to warn members of the presence of a sex offender there. Note that it provides two optional sentences that you can use to tailor it specifically for your community.

The following Model Pledge, which spells out a code of conduct, asks candidates for the association board of directors to abide by the association’s code of campaign conduct. And it recites the components of the association’s code of campaign conduct. Show this to your attorney before adapting it for use at your community.

Here are checklists that your maintenance staff can use to inspect and record the condition of your community’s air conditioning system before summer temperatures peak. The first checklist is for communities that use systems that work off central chillers with cooling towers; the other is for communities that use individual condensing units and are responsible…

Here’s a form your architectural committee can adapt to reflect the important points and requirements of your review process. The architectural review requirements for granting consent should be clearly stated in your community’s governing documents. Show this form to your attorney before adapting it for your own use.

If you clean up ice and snow on your property, here’s a letter you can adapt to send to members advising them of winter weather hazards. Check with your attorney about using a similar letter at your community.

If you are having your trained and certified maintenance staff perform renovation work that disturbs lead paint, be sure to have them fill out the checklist below and distribute copies of it to the residents of the building being renovated. This checklist demonstrates compliance with the EPA’s Renovation, Repair, and Painting rule training and work…