Violations let leaders document community compliance issues and notify the affected household. Residents can view violations that affect their property, add comments, upload files such as proof of compliance, and pay any fine that has been assessed. Leaders can manage the full lifecycle: creating violations, updating their status, discussing them privately, mailing physical letters, and assessing fines.
Creating violations requires the Create Violation permission. Leaders with the View Community Violations permission can see all violations across the community. Residents without that permission see only violations that affect their own household, filtered on the server. Editing, completing, deleting, and assessing fines each require their own permission. Some options may be unavailable or appear differently depending on your level of account access.
Log in to Communitrak at https://app.communitrak.com.
Click Violations in the main navigation menu.
A badge on the Violations menu item shows the number of pending violations, and a dot appears when one has activity you haven't seen. The Violations module must be enabled in your community's preferences for this menu item to appear.
Tabs across the top of the page filter violations by status. Each tab shows a count of matching violations.
Pending: Open violations awaiting resolution.
Completed: Violations that have been resolved.
Deleted: Violations that have been removed.
Unlike architectural requests, violations do not have Approved or Rejected statuses.
Use the search bar to find violations by title, description, ID, or target. Click the filter icon to open the filter panel:
Target: Filter by All Targets, Property, or Amenity.
Past Due: Show only violations that have passed their compliance deadline.
Watching: Show only violations you are on the watchlist for.
New activity: Show only violations with updates you haven't seen yet.
Use the Sort by dropdown to order results by Newest First, Oldest First, Title (A-Z), or Title (Z-A). Long lists are paginated, and you can show 12, 24, or 48 violations per page.
Creating a violation requires the Create Violation permission.
Click New Violation in the top-right corner of the Violations page.
Enter a Title for the violation. This field is required.
Under Select Impact Area, choose Household and pick the affected household, or choose Other and enter an Area Name for a violation that isn't tied to one household. The Amenity option available on requests does not appear for violations.
Add an optional Description using the rich text editor. Describe the compliance issue and any relevant details.
Optionally set a Compliance Deadline to indicate when the violation should be resolved.
Click Create Violation.
When you select a household, the members of that household are automatically added to the violation's watchlist and will be notified.
Open a violation by clicking its card. The detail page shows the full violation information and a set of action buttons.
Complete: Mark the violation as resolved. Requires the Complete Violation permission.
Edit: Update the title, impact area, description, and deadline. Only available while the violation is pending. Requires the Edit Violation permission.
Delete: Remove the violation. Only available while the violation is pending. Requires the Delete Violation permission.
Reopen: Return a completed or deleted violation to pending status. Requires the Complete Violation permission.
Send Letter: Mail a physical letter to the household. Only appears on pending violations that target a household.
You can charge a fine directly from a violation. The fine becomes a charge on the household's account, payable from their payments page like any other charge.
Assessing a fine requires the Assess Violation Fine permission, the Payments module must be enabled, and the violation must target a household.
In the Fines section of the violation detail page, click New.
Enter the Amount.
Enter a Description, up to 70 characters. This is what the resident sees on the charge, for example "Unapproved exterior paint."
Set a Due Date. Past dates cannot be selected.
Optionally add a Note with additional details for the resident.
Click Assess Fine.
The household is charged and notified. Each fine appears in the Fines section with its amount, description, due date, and a status of Unpaid, Past Due, Paid, or Voided. Click a fine to see its full details, including when it was assessed and paid.
To cancel an unpaid fine, click Void on the fine, enter a reason (recorded on the charge), and confirm. The resident no longer owes it. Voiding cannot be undone.
The affected household sees the Fines section in read-only form, with a Pay Fine button on anything unpaid or past due that takes them to the payments page.
For violations that target a household, you can mail a physical letter via USPS directly from the violation detail page. This requires the Edit Violation or View Community Violations permission.
Click Send Letter on the violation detail page, or click New in the Mailed Letters section.
Review the pre-filled To and From addresses. The recipient address is pulled from the household record, and the sender address from your community's profile.
Enter a Subject line, for example "First Notice."
Write the letter body using the rich text editor.
Review the cost summary. Each letter is sent USPS First-Class in black and white for $2.25, charged to your community's payment method on file.
Click Send Letter.
For five minutes after sending, the letter entry shows a live countdown and a Cancel button. Canceling within that window stops the letter and refunds the charge. Once the countdown reaches zero the letter is on its way and cannot be canceled.
Sent letters appear in the Mailed Letters section, each showing its status, subject, who sent it, and the expected delivery date once USPS provides one:
Queued: The letter has been submitted and is inside the cancelation window.
Mailed: The letter has been printed and entered the mail stream.
In Transit: The letter is being transported by USPS.
In Local Area: The letter has arrived at the local post office.
Out for Delivery: The letter is out for delivery.
Delivered: The letter has been delivered.
Re-Routed: The letter has been re-routed by USPS.
Returned: The letter was returned to sender.
Failed: The letter could not be delivered.
Canceled: The letter was canceled during the cancelation window.
A PDF link is available once the letter has been generated, so you can see exactly what was mailed. Letter milestones are also recorded in the Activity timeline. The affected household sees their own letters in read-only form.
Below the public comments, leaders see an Internal Discussion card outlined in amber. Notes posted here are never visible to the household the violation is about.
To take part, you need the Manage Violation Internal Comments permission and you must be on the violation's watchlist. If you have the permission but aren't following it, click Join on the watchlist to unlock the thread.
Violation recipients are always excluded, even if they would otherwise qualify.
Click the member count in the card header to see exactly who can read the thread.
The Watchlist section shows everyone who can view the violation and receive notifications about updates. Everyone on the violation can see this list, including the resident.
Household members of the targeted household are added automatically and labeled Violation Recipient.
The person who created it is labeled Violation Creator. Everyone else is a Collaborator.
Click Join to follow the violation yourself, or Leave to stop. Joining requires the Join Violation Watchlist permission.
Click Add to search the member directory and add one or more members at once. This requires the Manage Violation Watchlist permission.
The violation creator and violation recipients cannot leave or be removed.
Everyone on the watchlist, including the resident, can add comments. This is how a resident responds to a violation or reports progress. Each comment shows the author, avatar, and timestamp. You can delete your own comments at any time. Leaders with the Manage Violation Comments permission can delete any comment.
Everyone on the watchlist can upload files, up to 10 MB each, which is how residents submit proof of compliance such as photos of completed work. Supported types include PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, text, CSV, and common image formats. Image files display a thumbnail preview. You can delete your own files at any time. Leaders with the Manage Violation Files permission can delete any file.
The Activity timeline shows a chronological log of all changes: opened, updated, completed, deleted, reopened, comments added or deleted, files uploaded or deleted, watchlist changes, fines, and letter milestones.
When a violation has changed since you last opened it, a blue banner at the top summarizes what's new. Click Jump to it to go straight to the new comments, files, or fines, which are highlighted in blue.
If your community has AI features enabled, use Summarize above the comments to generate a short summary of a long violation thread.
Residents can view violations that affect their household. They see the same detail page layout, including the status, description, meta grid, comments, files, watchlist, and activity log, plus read-only views of any letters mailed to them and any fines assessed. They do not see the leader action buttons (Complete, Edit, Delete, Reopen, Send Letter), cannot create violations, and never see the internal discussion. They can add comments, upload files, and pay a fine.
The Violations module must be enabled in Preferences for the Violations menu item to appear.
Violations do not have subtypes (General, Maintenance, Architectural) like requests do. All violations follow the same workflow: Pending, Completed, or Deleted.
Violations can target a household or an "Other" area. Letters and fines are only available when the target is a household.
The Fines section is hidden entirely if the Payments module is disabled for your community.
You cannot assess a fine on your own household.
The $2.25 per-letter charge is billed to the community's payment method on file when the letter is sent, and refunded if you cancel within the five-minute window.
If your community's account is read-only because of a billing issue, the action buttons are disabled until the account is back in good standing.
If you have questions or need help, chat with Communitrak Support from any page using the messenger icon in the bottom-right corner.
