Community rooms
Who actually controls how it's used, and what changes the moment you let outsiders in.
A community room is common area. It's governed the way any other amenity is: your declaration and bylaws first, board-adopted rules underneath. Those rules can't single out children under fair housing law, and if you ever open the room to the general public, even for one event, that use can trigger accessibility duties that member-only use does not.
Who actually controls the room
Reservation policies, quiet hours, capacity limits, and what counts as an approved use all sit at the bottom of a stack. The declaration and bylaws control first; a board-adopted rule can add detail but can't contradict what those documents already say. If your rules and your declaration disagree about who may reserve the room or what it may be used for, the declaration wins. Before rewriting a community room policy, check both documents, not just the rule you're used to enforcing.
Rules can't single out kids
Familial status, households where a minor lives with a parent or guardian, is a protected category under the federal Fair Housing Act. A rule that excludes children specifically from an amenity, rather than addressing the actual concern (noise after a set hour, or supervision) can be challenged as discrimination even when the board's intent was safety, not exclusion. Courts have taken this view consistently where a rule was aimed at age rather than at the behavior a board actually wanted to prevent. A rule that says "no unsupervised minors after 8pm" sits on firmer ground than one that says "no one under 12."
Opening the room to outsiders changes things
A community room limited to owners, residents, and their guests generally sits outside the Americans with Disabilities Act's public accommodation rules. Rent the room to an outside group, use it as a polling place, or advertise an event to the general public, and that specific use can convert it into a public accommodation for that event, triggering Title III accessibility duties. Check with counsel before treating any outside use as routine. The trigger is the public-facing character of that particular use, not a permanent label on the room itself.
Enforcing your own rules
A board that can fine members for common-area rule violations usually can't skip straight to the fine. Statutes that give boards fining authority typically also require notice of the violation and a hearing before the fine takes effect; the exact notice period and hearing procedure depend on your state's statute and your own governing documents. Illinois's Common Interest Community Association Act is one illustration of this pattern, not a rule that transfers to every state.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
Your board agrees to let a local civic group hold a fundraiser open to the general public in the community room, ticketed and advertised to non-residents. What does that create?
A board member proposes barring anyone under age 12 from the community room after 6pm, citing noise concerns. What is the legal risk?
A resident leaves the community room a mess after a reserved event, and the board wants to fine them at the next meeting with no further steps. What is missing?
Sources
- Fair Housing and Children: Keeping Your Rules Compliant, Fair Housing Institute; Clemons Richter & Reiss, P.C.
- ADA Requirements: Accessible Pools, Means of Entry and Exit, U.S. Department of Justice, ADA.gov
- Commentary on ADA Title III applicability to private residential clubhouses and pools, HOA Law Blog; Tarley Robinson, P.L.C.
- Commentary on the Illinois Common Interest Community Association Act, Rathje Law; Illinois Condo and HOA Law Blog
Amenities
Renting the room out to an outside group? Read Private events next.
Whether a specific use of your community room counts as open to the public, what notice and hearing your fining procedure requires, and how fair housing rules apply to any age-based rule all vary by state and by your governing documents.