Navigating The Nuisance

Some days, operating a community association can feel a little bit like a dumpster fire. The pool is closed at the beginning of summer due to unexpected repairs, Ms. Smith has called for the umpteenth time complaining of her neighbor who chain smokes on the balcony and blares music all night long, Mr. Brown has emailed about his neighbor leaving her back patio lights on all night that shine directly into his bedroom window, and the asphalt contractor has failed for the third time to fill a pot hole in the community. Of all of the things that can and do go wrong with community association operations, handling alleged nuisance claims may be one dumpster fire that an association may avoid putting out by deeming it a neighbor-to-neighbor dispute.¹