A responsibility chart can be a valuable tool for keeping your HOA organized and making sure your members know who to contact when they need assistance. Here is an overview of what a responsibility chart is and how it can benefit your community!
What Is an HOA Responsibility Chart?
Simply put, a responsibility chart outlines the tasks your HOA will and will not cover for your members. This document can help keep your board running smoothly and reduce frustration for your residents by making sure your responsibilities are clear and are detailed enough that they cannot be disputed in your members' favor if they attempt to insist on services you do not provide.
How Can a Responsibility Chart Benefit My HOA?
Helping your members understand what your HOA is and is not responsible for can make life easier for your residents and your HOA board in several ways.
Clearly Differentiate Between HOA's Responsibilities and Homeowners' Responsibilities
Understanding what types of maintenance, repairs, and other tasks your HOA is actually responsible for providing and which tasks homeowners are expected to handle on their own is key when it comes to making sure your HOA's time, money, and other resources are used responsibly.
Some homeowners may assume that paying to belong to an HOA means every need that could possibly arise will be handled by your board, but most associations only handle certain types of work requests that are relevant to the community as a whole.
Using a responsibility chart as a point of reference can serve as a helpful means of backing up your association when it comes to only approving funding for the right types of projects and denying those that are not your responsibility, and it can help to reduce requests for services your association does not cover in the future.
On the flip side, a responsibility chart can increase your homeowners' awareness of tasks you would prefer to have your HOA handle, which can encourage them to submit a request through the proper channels when the need arises instead of attempting to do certain types of work that could have a negative impact on your community if they are not done correctly on their own.
Increase Resources for Other HOA Responsibilities
Handling maintenance requests is only one of your board's ongoing responsibilities, and eliminating as many requests that your association was not designed to cover as possible can increase your capacity for working on other projects. When your homeowners know what types of concerns they should and should not contact you about, the majority of them will handle their responsibilities on their own, which will give your board more time to focus on finances, compliance, and other aspects of improving your community.
Improve Community Relationships
Making the types of tasks your association will and will not cover known well in advance of your homeowners encountering problems can significantly reduce frustration among residents because they will have a clearer idea of what they need to do to solve a problem before the need arises.
Homeowners that assume that your HOA will cover everything may become angry with your board if they find out that you cannot handle a repair or maintenance request that they are urgently in need of assistance with, which may decrease their opinion of your association, lead to conflicts between members, and cause them to lose interest in being part of your community.
Providing each new homeowner with a responsibility chart ensures that the majority of your members will avoid demanding repairs that your association is not equipped to provide.
Final Thoughts
At RealManage, we are here to help you manage your responsibilities as an board member as efficiently as possible, which starts with making sure your members know what roles you are willing to fill.
Contact us today to learn more about the benefits of creating a responsibility chart for your HOA or to get started!
Staff Writer
Camille Moore
Jennifer Harvey
