Does your HOA have rules or guidelines in place surrounding holiday lighting? To prevent your HOA from getting into a tangle with holiday decorations this season, here are several tips to help residents get into the holiday spirit while also staying in line with the standards of the community:
- Be reasonable with your goals.
When it comes to residential property management, being reasonable in your approach is key. If your HOA is considering putting some rules in place surrounding holiday lights, determine what you want to accomplish with your goals.
Restricting holiday light displays within your HOA community altogether is unreasonable. However, If your goal is to prevent outrageous and obnoxious holiday lighting displays, create restrictions surrounding the size of displays. Being reasonable when establishing holiday lighting rules will help to keep the peace of your HOA community.
- Determine a timeframe for putting up and taking down holiday lights.
One of the biggest objections to holiday lighting in an HOA community is the timeframe that residents put up and take down holiday decorations. As a rule of thumb, our residential property management company suggests allowing holiday lights to be displayed no sooner than 30 days before the holiday and no longer than two weeks after the holiday.
- Set some parameters for the scope of holiday lighting displays.
Set parameters for the scope of holiday lighting displays that are in line with your architectural standards. For example, you may want to restrict excessive lighting along the roofline or surrounding windows.
You may want to also reserve the right for the architectural committee to approve (or disapprove) of holiday lighting displays in the event that a resident includes a feature that you never anticipated, such as holiday inflatables anchored to the roof.
- Choose your battles wisely in spirit of the season.
Yes, your HOA wants to retain its aesthetic integrity; however, holiday lights are only displayed 30 days each year (give or take). Instead of becoming a scrooge, ask yourself if creating an argument over a resident’s lighting display is worth it. Unless the lighting display is outrageous and offensive, it may be best to keep quiet and enjoy the beauty of the season.
Looking for more guidelines for how you should handle holiday lighting in your HOA community? Our residential property management company can help. We have more than 25 years of experience in managing HOA communities in Florida and can help you to establish holiday lighting guidelines that are agreeable to residents of your community.
Contact us at Vesta Property Services to learn more about the value that we can bring to your Florida HOA community.
