A landlord registers a new tenant and gets a bill from the association along with the confirmation. He calls the board and asks what the charge is for and who decided he owes it. The board's answer to both questions has to come from a document.
Registration fees, move-in fees and damage deposits all land on landlords, and they're easy to lump together.
The charges boards consider
- A lease registration fee, which covers the association's cost of processing a new tenant's registration.
- A move-in or move-out fee, which some communities with shared entries, gates or amenities use to cover the wear a move puts on common property.
- A refundable deposit, held against damage the tenant household or its movers cause to common areas.
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The regular assessments are a separate matter, and Do Renters Pay HOA Fees? explains how they work when a home is rented.
Authority comes first
Before the board sets any of these, find the clause that allows it. The declaration may authorize leasing-related fees directly, or it may give the board power to adopt rules and charge fees for specific purposes. Whether a new fee the declaration never mentions needs an amendment and an owner vote is a question for your documents and your attorney. Our guide to HOA rental restrictions covers how to tell a board rule from a change that needs the declaration.
State law can limit these fees too, and it varies by state. Check the declaration first, then your state's current law, then ask counsel before adopting any leasing fee.
A fee and a deposit do different jobs
A fee pays for something the association does: reviewing a registration, updating the records, issuing gate access. It isn't meant to be refunded, and it should be set close to what the work costs. A fee the board can explain line by line is easier to defend.
A move-in fee needs the same discipline. If the board charges one, name what it pays for: setting up gate or amenity access, a walk-through of the common areas the move will use, the volunteer time spent on it. Decide whether the fee applies to every move or only to moves into rented homes, and record the reason in the minutes. Landlords who pay a fee their owner-occupant neighbors don't may ask the board why.
Cornell's Legal Information Institute defines a security deposit in the landlord-tenant setting as "a payment required by a landlord to ensure that a tenant pays rent on time and keeps the rental unit in good condition," and notes that state laws "set specific rules for when and how landlords must return the deposit." The association isn't the landlord, so whether any of those rules reach a deposit it holds is a question for counsel. Either way, a deposit the association holds needs written terms:
- What it covers: damage to common property caused by the move or by the tenant household.
- How damage is documented: dated photos of the affected common areas before and after a move.
- When it's returned, and to whom: the owner who paid it.
- Where the money is held while the association has it.
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Record each deposit under the owner's unit: the date received, the amount, the before-and-after photos, and the date it was returned or applied to a repair. If part of it goes to a repair, send the owner the repair invoice along with whatever balance is left.
The same discipline applies to a clubhouse rental deposit, where a signed agreement and dated photos decide who pays for damage.
Insurance belongs to the owner
A deposit covers small damage to common property. It doesn't stand in for the owner's own insurance. The Insurance Information Institute's page on coverage for renting out your home says "Standard homeowners insurance policies do not provide any coverage for business activities conducted in the home," and that an owner renting a home out long term "will likely need a landlord or rental dwelling policy." It also points out that "Your tenant's personal possessions are not covered under your policy."
Whether the association can require a landlord to carry particular coverage depends on the declaration and your state's law. Where it can't, the registration packet can still remind owners to check their coverage.
Apply every fee the same way
Charge the same fee to every landlord in the same situation, post it to the owner's account, and record the board's adoption of the fee in the minutes with its amount and its purpose.
In HOA-OS a board can post a registration fee to a single owner's account as a Fee charge, filed under a category such as Form Fees, and the charge appears on that unit's ledger alongside the regular assessments. Owners pay online by card or bank transfer. Dues collection is part of the Community plan. You can try any plan free for 30 days without entering a card, and the plans are at hoa-os.com/pricing.
Related Reading
- Transfer Fees, Capital Contributions, and What Buyers Pay
- What Do HOA Fees Cover? A Line-Item Breakdown
- HOA Short-Term Rental Rules: What Your Board Needs to Know
If the board can't name the clause behind a charge and the cost it covers, the landlord who calls to ask has the better argument.