Tens of millions of older Americans have chosen to live in age-restricted communities, specifically designed to meet the needs and preferences of individuals aged 55 and above. Such developments, despite allowing for age-based discrimination, are authorized by federal law. The community associations governing them have the power and responsibility to ensure that only persons of a certain age live there. An association’s failure to enforce its age-related covenants could constitute a violation of federal law, namely, the United States Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) and the United States Housing for Older Persons Act (“HOPA”). A violation of the FHA and/or HOPA could result in a community’s loss of its ability to ensure that only older persons live there.
Recently, Ansell.Law attorney Cathy Brennan successfully vindicated these principles on behalf of a Toms River adult community, obtaining an order removing an owner’s son, aged 38 years, who had repeatedly refused his mother’s, and the association’s, request that he leave.
Successfully Intervening To Enforce the Community’s Age Restrictions
Brennan represents the Toms River adult community (the “Association”). An Association owner, because she lived in Connecticut when she inherited the home, allowed her son to live in the Association home.
The son was not just too young to live in the Association, he was also a nuisance; so much so that a neighboring owner sued the owner, the son, and the Association, alleging that the Association wrongfully refused to enforce the age restriction.
Initially, the Association and the neighbor who started the lawsuit reached an agreement with the home’s owner to resolve the situation: the owner promised to take the steps needed to remove her son from the home. When her son refused to leave voluntarily, she filed a lawsuit against him, asking the court to eject her son from the home.
The Association was troubled and frustrated that the son had not yet been removed. It also needed to ensure the uniform enforcement of the age restrictions that were the community’s raison d-etre. In turn, Brennan, on the Association’s behalf, successfully moved to intervene in the homeowner’s lawsuit.
Brennan’s successful motion allowed the Association to effectively take over the homeowner’s ejectment suit and ensure the enforcement of the age limit. Following a hearing and witness testimony, the court ordered the improper resident son to immediately leave.
Brennan’s efforts allowed the Association to better protect the community’s quality of life and cohesiveness. The Firm congratulates her on this outstanding outcome for our client and the community it serves.