Anatomy of a Good HOA Support Request

From time to time, you may encounter the need to submit a support request to the HOA or property management company. Whether it’s an emergency or a maintenance issue, your HOA should have a process in place to receive these requests. 

From the standpoint of the board, they want to ensure that your request is clear, concise and to the point so they know exactly what action to take or where to get more information. 

There is nothing worse as a board member than to get a support request without any detail. The endless back and forth to get the right information can be time consuming and frustrating for all parties involved. 

In this article, we will cover the basics of a good HOA support request. 

How to submit a request: 

Your HOA or property management company should provide you with a process and potentially a website to submit the request. Find out from your HOA how to access the system. If there is no system, make sure you find out how the board will accept both emergency and non-emergency requests.  

It is not recommended that you email, text or call the board with a request, unless it is an emergency. This is the only way to streamline the process, provide visibility to the board and ensure that requests don’t fall through the cracks. 

The details to include: 

First and foremost, put yourself in the place of someone else trying to solve the issue based on information in the case alone. That means put as much information as you can into the case, so that the association can work the issue without having to follow up for more details in the beginning investigation stages.  

Description:  Fill in the description as precisely as possible stating only the relevant information. 

Depending on the type of your issue, provide the appropriate items: 

• Date the issue started 
• When the issue occurs (for example: every morning at 5am) 
• Duration of the issue  
• Photos and/or videos of the issue 
• Actions requested 

Be as specific as possible. The board will need to ensure they have all of the details so that they can properly route the case.  

Priority: High or normal

Hearing back from the board or property management company:

Review the HOA documentation to see how long the response time should be to hear back from the board or property management company. 

If you don’t hear back in a timely manner, you can bring up the support request at the next board meeting. 

Lower My HOA Guides

Gain visibility into the HOA, increase property values and lower your HOA fees.