With cooler temperatures now the norm, Sun City Home Owners Association officials call on residents to keep their yards in good shape, inclding clearing them of weeds.
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With cooler temperatures now the norm, Sun City Home Owners Association officials call on residents to keep their yards in good shape, inclding clearing them of weeds.
Conditions of property continues to be the top complaints handled by the SCHOA Compliance Department, according to Tom Wilson, SCHOA general mamager. Through the end of August, the department inspectors had 1,649 cases in that category opened for the year. At that time, 1,600 of those cases were closed.
Vehicles were the next highest complaint with 612 opened through the end of August and 541 cases were closed.
“One of our biggest issues right now are weeds,” Mr. Wilson said. “They are starting to come back, and they tend to grow quickly.”
The 2019 winter rains resulted in an extraordinary growth of weeds and the summer heat turned these green weeds to brown. Although they are dead, they still must be pulled and cleaned up, Mr. Wilson said.
“As those are cleaned up, others will pop up through the ground,” he explained.
Full-time and part-time Sun City residents are responsible for keeping their properties in good shape, according to Mr. Wilson.
“Even if you spray weed killer on the weeds, you are also required to remove those dead weeds,” Mr. Wilson said. “Most of our residents have generally been very good at having a neighbor or landscaper come in regularly to maintain their property and eliminate any weeds, if they are going to be gone any length of time.”
Now that winter visitors are beginning to return, residents are reminded to continue to keep their properties in good order, Mr. Wilson said.
Sun City is a deed restricted community and SCHOA is designated as the entity responsible for enforcing the covenants, conditions and restrictions. SCHOA has three compliance officers who serve the three phases of the community — Phase 1 south of Grand Avenue, Phase 2 between Grand Avenue and Bell Road and Phase 2 north of Bell Road. Mr. Wilson also helps with inspections as needed.
However, SCHOA inspectors do not patrol the community looking for violations.
“We are complaint driven, which means we are counting on the residents to keep us informed about potential violations,” Mr. Wilson said.
Residnts with concerns about a property, or a violation of any of the other CC&Rs, is encouraged to call 623-974-4718 or visit suncityhoa.org/cc-and-r-compliance-staff/ and speak to the SCHOA compliance officer who is responsible for their sspecific area. The compliance officer will then be able to contact the property owner to initiate an inspection.
“We also ask that vacant or abandoned houses be reported as soon as possible so we can initiate action,” Mr. Wilson said.
If it is determined there is a violation, SCHOA officials send letters requesting compliance. If that is not accomplished, SCHOA officials can seek administrative reimbursement for its efforts until the property owner complies. After a number of attempts, SCHOA officials will take legal action to gain complaince. They did just that this summer on a property on Balboa Drive. The legal costs for that effort were about $16,000, according to Joe Janos, SCHOA treasurer.
“Legal action is the last resort,” Mr. Wilson said. “We prefer not to go that far, but we will if we have to.”
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