COLUMN: Barbara Holland

Q. Our association has several owners who rent their units through a management company (not the association's).

We have found that this company does not advise renters that they are moving to an association and does not furnish them with rules or covenants.

What is provided to them is a one-page set of rules, which is given to them only after they sign their leases.

This is a problem because tenants are destroying property and disobeying rules. When the tenants are informed of the rules, they claim that they did not know.

Do you have any suggestions? It appears the owners and managers are only concerned with collecting their money.

A. Many associations have a tenant registration program, consisting of the following: a fee, a registration form, a copy of the tenant application, a lease and any addendums to the lease. There should also be a certification that the tenant has received the regulations from his management company.

Some associations include a sample criminal check and drug addendum forms that a unit owner may want to include. Failure to provide the information within the time frames allotted would result in fines.

As for your more immediate problems, you may wish to speak to the property manager to discuss the violations you have observed. Violation letters should be sent to the tenant, management company and owner.

You will be surprised as to how many owners may not realize that there are legitimate problems with their tenants.

Even though a tenant may claim ignorance, most tenants are well aware of the typical rules that one would find at an apartment or association community.

Questions for Barbara Holland may be sent to Association Q. & A., P.O. Box 7440, Las Vegas, NV 89125. Her fax number is 385-3759.

Barbara Holland, Certified Property Manager, is president and co-owner of H&L Realty and Management Co. She is a member of the Institute of Real Estate Management and is the author of two books on the subject. Holland is a past president of the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.

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