Rules & Refereeing with Howard Perl, Becker & Poliakoff

Even as children, enforcing the rules that kept games playful didn’t always make you very popular with your peers. Association board members and managers will tell you that, when it comes to maintaining a community of adult homeowners, not much has changed since those playground days. Donna and Howard help association leaders embrace this unpopular segment of their service and outline best practices to successfully establish enough – but not too many – guidelines, enforce rules consistently despite a violator’s outrage or board position, and know how and when to escalate enforcement proceedings beyond the informal hallway/poolside chat. 

Additional topics include determining whether the board has rulemaking authority, performing a rules audit, resolving conflicts between rules and the governing documents, evaluating arbitration and mediation to resolve disputes, bracing for the most-used affirmative defenses violators employ during litigation, and so much more.