Associations have a duty to exercise due care for the safety of residents and can be liable for failure to take reasonable steps to protect residents from foreseeable criminal activity.
Frances T. v. Village GreenHTML clipboard. Members must also take reasonable care to protect themselves from harm.
Boards should consult legal counsel when criminal activity occurs in the development. Issues to consider involve (i) notification of residents of the activity, and (ii) appropriate steps for the association to take to stop the activity.
The discovery that a registered sex offender lives in the development is a separate issue that needs careful consideration in light of
Megan's Law restrictions.