Pets are beloved across the world. Recent research shows that there are more than a billion pets worldwide. Pets may provide love and companionship to many, but they may frighten or pose a risk to others.
When running an HOA, it's important to be intentional about how you regulate pets in a community. How do you balance the joy of pet ownership and preventing pet disputes? Read on for the answers to these questions and more!
HOA Pet Restrictions 101
When coming up with your rules, you first need to consider the needs of your community members. There are common rules about keeping pets on leashes and cleaning up pet waste. Do you want to take it a step further and require pet DNA registration to help identify rule violators?
You'll also want to consider whether you want to restrict certain dog breeds within your community. Insurance carriers identified specific breeds with the highest bite risk, and they may refuse to cover homeowners with those breeds in their homes.
Finally, consider whether you want to limit the number and types of pets each home can have.
Draft Clear Rules
Once you have an idea about the needs of your community members and the HOA pet restrictions you want to put into place, it's time to draft your rules. This is typically the job of the HOA board members. If drafting rules isn't the forte of your board, you can also opt to retain a management company to assist.
The best rules are clear and easy to follow. They should not leave your residents unable to determine how to follow them.
Know Your Laws
Once you have your rules, you also need to be proactive about identifying potential exceptions to the rules. The most common exceptions you'll encounter are service animals and emotional support animals. The Americans with Disabilities Act and the Fair Housing Act carved out stringent laws that require qualifying individuals to have support animals as a reasonable accommodation.
Enforce the Rules Consistently
Now that you've added your rules to your governing documents, it's critical that you enforce them uniformly. Most pet owners do not want their pets to become nuisances, and take proactive measures to ensure the comfort and safety of their neighbors, but that's not always the case.
Be sure to take the time to create a plan of action for responding to violations, and consistently follow it for each violation.
Make Sure Pets in a Community Bring Joy, Not Stress!
When you're running an HOA community, you take on the difficult task of balancing the disparate interests of all of your residents. Regulating pets in a community is an incredibly important component of that task. Taking an approach that's supportive of pet owners, Fair Housing laws, and community safety is the best way to proceed.
Do you want to make sure that your Cypress, Texas HOA pet restrictions and regulations are up to snuff? One of the best ways to make sure that your HOA community is in line with best practices is by hiring a community manager to assist. Contact the experts at PMI Values Your Casa today to learn how we can help you!
