Fines
How the dollar amount, the cap, and the schedule actually get set.
A fine is the monetary penalty a board levies for a violation, imposed only after the required notice and hearing. There is no national fine amount: what a board can charge, whether it accrues per day or per violation, and whether a written schedule is required are all set by state statute and your own governing documents.
Where the number actually comes from
A fine only becomes enforceable after the formal notice and hearing your state and declaration require. Once that stage is cleared, the dollar amount itself comes from a three layer stack. State statute sets the outer limit, if it sets one at all. Your declaration grants the board the power to fine in the first place. A board-adopted, published fine schedule then sets the actual amount for each category of violation, within whatever room the statute leaves.
Two states are enough to show why the amount does not travel from one association to the next:
| Florida (example) | California (example) | |
|---|---|---|
| Cap | $100 per violation per day, $1,000 aggregate unless the documents say otherwise | $100 per violation, not per day, with a health and safety exception |
| Written schedule required? | Not addressed in this source | Yes, adopted and distributed to every member each year |
"An association may levy reasonable fines for violations of the declaration, association bylaws, or reasonable rules" up to "$100 per violation" per day, not exceeding "$1,000 in the aggregate unless otherwise provided in the governing documents."
Source: Florida Statutes section 720.305, State of Florida
"The board shall adopt and distribute to each member, in the annual policy statement... a schedule of the monetary penalties," which must be "reasonable," generally capped at $100 per violation, with an exception for health and safety violations.
Source: California Civil Code sections 5850 and 5855, State of California
Neither figure is a default. Find your own state's cap, if any, and check whether a continuing violation in your state accrues per day, per week, or per instance.
A fine only survives a challenge if it was applied consistently
A fine schedule that owners never saw does not do its job. Rule changes, including a new or updated fine schedule, are expected to reach owners through the association's regular channels before compliance is expected.
"The governing board or its appointed hearing panel should ensure that all violations of rules and regulations of which the association becomes aware are enforced in a consistent, uniform manner using common sense."
Source: Rules Development and Enforcement, Community Associations Institute
Fine the same violation unevenly across owners and you hand the fined owner an owner defense. Waiver and estoppel both turn on the association's own past conduct. Selective enforcement is narrower: it applies when the board tolerates a violation by one owner and then enforces the same violation against another, but it does not reach an unrelated rule the board is enforcing for the first time. How each defense is proven varies by state case law; that is a question for the association's attorney once a specific fine is contested.
A board can choose not to fine, if the decision is deliberate
Discretion over the timing and manner of enforcement is generally protected under the business judgment rule, the standard that shields a board's good faith, informed decisions from being second-guessed later.
"Covenant enforcement may require the exercise of discretion as to both the timing and manner of enforcement." Courts look at whether the board "properly investigated, acted in good faith," and whether it "acted arbitrarily or capriciously."
Source: Covenant Enforcement: The Role of the Business Judgment Rule, Altitude Community Law
The protection is for a considered decision, documented at the time, not for inattention dressed up afterward as a choice. Skip a violation without a reason on file and it looks, later, exactly like the inconsistency that feeds a selective enforcement defense. See When not to enforce for how to make that call on purpose.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
Your declaration is silent on a maximum fine, and you don't yet know what your state allows. What should the board do before setting an amount?
The board fined one owner for an overgrown lawn but let three other owners with the same violation go unfined for months. What does this hand the fined owner?
After investigating, the board decides a minor violation does not warrant a fine right now and writes down its reasoning. Is that decision defensible?
Sources
- Florida Statutes section 720.305, State of Florida
- California Civil Code sections 5850 and 5855 (Davis Stirling Common Interest Development Act), State of California
- Rules Development and Enforcement, Community Associations Institute
- Three Common Covenant Enforcement Defenses: Waiver, Estoppel, and Selective Enforcement, Becker & Poliakoff
- Covenant Enforcement: The Role of the Business Judgment Rule, Altitude Community Law
Covenant Enforcement
Next, see how a fine schedule turns all of this into a document your board can actually publish.
Fine caps, whether a fine accrues per day or per violation, whether a written fine schedule is legally required, and how a continuing violation adds up all vary by state and by your governing documents.