What is the reasoning for having a separate Lease and Rules & Regulations? A Lease is going to reference the Rules & Regulations and tie them to the Lease, so why not just have one document? If there needs or should be separate documents, then what should go in the Rules & Regulations vs. the Lease? Thanks in advance.
Depending on the state, and sometimes local government, leases may be regulated to one degree or another by a governmental agency. Rules and regulations are usually only impacted by Fair Housing and ADA rules and regulations and are often less formal even though they are equally important to a well run community.
During an eviction process for non payment, the leases often become part of the evidence. There are many reasons why you might not want your rules and regulations subject to judicial review especially in “Blue” jurisdictions.
When our consulting company was still operating, whenever we created compliance manuals for community owners or retailers or lenders, each area of compliance received its own separate manual so that if someone was taken to court on a Safeguards issue opposing counsel or prosecutors did not have access to the community’s other compliance practices.
As to what belongs where, I would suggest you talk to your state trade association first, and then seek out an experienced consultancy or attorney to advise you.
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I was under the impression that the Community Rules & Regulations were to be displayed at the property. Maybe it was something in the property insurance application that asked if that was done at the property (I don’t recall). That way you only needed to display to the public those items that were specifically for running the community when you divided in that manner.
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I’ve found that a separation of lease and rules comes in handy when filing eviction. If the courts require you to file the lease along with the eviction paperwork. you will have to show up with a ream of paper that has to be sifted through. if you evict siting specific rules you just have to notate those rules rather than file a complete copy of the rules and regulations, which is fine, however it can be quite cumbersome. separation also allows you to change the rules with a notification to the tenant, rather than requiring all the tenants to sign new leases’
i would have a 5 minute conversation with my lawyer to confirm. but those are my quick thought
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