Association Rules for Documenting Complaints

Your community has adopted the following procedures if you wish to report a violation that Management are not likely to see during our regular inspection of your community.

This message explains the process, your legal responsibilities and your rights.

The minute it takes to invest your time in understanding the violation process will relieve you of much frustration and annoyance. Please bear with us. We really want to help but the process requires your on-going participation.

Your Association hired Vanguard Management Group to enforce the community’s rules. When we witness a violation, we are able to act on it without assistance from anyone in the community.

If you would like us to act on a violation, that we are unable to witness or observe, your association will require your participation reporting it.

Your Association requires that reports like this need to be put in writing. You may fax your report to 813-930-9615.

You may mail your report to our offices. Please address this to your community at: 9300 N 16 St, Tampa, Fl 33687.

First you should be careful, precise and be factual about what you report to us.

Specifics and details – dates, times and places ….all are critical to successful enforcement.

The first time we will send a violation letter based upon your written, documented and signed letter or fax to us. Thereafter, we cannot send further letters unless the letter is written, documented, and signed by two or more families.

Here are some important reminders –
Call the police each and every time there is loud noise or music violation

Get copies of the police or incident report right away.

Please double check the address of the violation before you phone it to us. We do not want to upset anyone by sending a letter to the wrong person.

Complaints are various. Their initiation and resolutions are discussed below.

Oral complaints are acceptable and may be relied upon for reference only if the problem would be visible to the manager at the time of their inspection. Examples of this are shrubs damaged, improper window coverings, indoor furniture kept on a porch or grass cut too low by, and the storage of or an accumulation of unacceptable items in one’s yard.

Oral complaints are not acceptable if the problem would not be readily visible to the manager. Examples are dogs being walked and curbed in unauthorized areas, excessive and sporadic instances of vehicles speeding or the playing of loud music or noise.

Management will act upon complaints that the manager will not witness at the time of inspection as follows:

The party reporting the violation must do so in writing, legibly signed, dated, and the event shall be adequately documented.

The complaint must also include a phone number with an answering device with adequate time to allows us detailed questions or to provide you with detailed information.

Documentation requires dates, times, descriptions of the event and the offending parties, an address of the offending parties and a signature, name and address and day time phone number of the writer.

Documentation protects the Manager, Board and the Association.

How can a manager identify the sincerity, validity, or the identity of a person on the phone?

Written documentation can protect the association against claims of harassment.

Written documentation provides a written history in the case of continuous violations, and support in the event a lawsuit is the only justifiable solution.

Written documentation provides back up support when memories fade and complaining parties change their stories.

Wrong addresses are a very common problem associated with oral complaints. Innocent people receive inapplicable letters because parties do not take extra care to investigate the correct address.

Typically only serious or angry persons will put their complaint in writing. This eliminates frivolity.

The Exception: Neighbor vs. Neighbor –

If you would like to report a violation about a loud or otherwise inconsiderate neighbor breaking the rules, here is how we can help you. But first, it is critical that you understand how your community works. By understanding the process, you better be able to help yourself and bring this situation to an end.

Your community has off-site management. This form of governance requires participation of the members in exchange for significantly lower management fees.

Your participation shall come from your written documentation – literally keeping a record book of date, time and details to adequately document the problems.

Once you document and forward the event to us; we will shoot off a strong letter.

We will send one letter based upon and once we receive your accurate written documentation of the event.

Legal counsel for your community will not allow the association to take any further action on a complaint that the Board or Management does not observe unless two or more families are affected and will sign and document the event.

This means that if you are still suffering your neighbors rudeness after a week or so, you need to get your good neighbor to sign a complaint form documenting the bad neighbor event themselves.

Our attorney then considers this to be an Association problem with adequate documentation rather than a he said – she said, neighbor vs neighbor problem.

This can be a lengthy disturbing process, but it is your home. If you help us we will help you.
If you can get three or five families to join in, that is very strong evidence and the community’s attorney has the backing to make things happen.

And in between the letters and while you are waiting:

Please call the police

Get a copy of each of the police report to help build a case.

You may fax the information or mail it to the address on the letterhead.