The four request types

A “request” in HomeHerald is the catch-all for any work item flowing through the community - questions, architectural changes, complaints, and neighborhood-wide concerns. There are four active types, and picking the right one matters because each routes differently.

The four types

Type	What it is	Who files it	Who handles it
General Inquiry	Questions, suggestions, board correspondence, anything not covered by the other types	Any resident	Board / admin
ARC Request	Architectural Review Committee request - approval for a property change	Any resident (usually the owner)	Architectural Committee or board
Complaint	A resident reports a covenant violation at another address (admins see it as Neighbor Complaint)	Any resident	Board / admin (never published to the community board)
Neighborhood Request	Community-wide concern or request, often about shared spaces	Any resident	Board / admin

The type drives the workflow. A Complaint can end in a warning or a fine. An ARC Request ends in an approval or a denial. A Neighborhood Request is the only type the board can publish to the community board. General Inquiry is the catch-all for everything else.

General Inquiry

The catch-all. Use it for:

• Resident questions about the community
• Suggestions for board consideration
• Questions about a specific charge or transaction
• Disputes about violations
• Anything that doesn’t fit the other three types

What happens:

• Filed by the resident, routed to the board’s queue
• Board responds in-thread
• Resolved when answered

General Inquiries are private between the resident and the board. Nothing escalates automatically - these are conversations.

ARC Request

ARC = Architectural Review Committee. Some communities call it Design Review or DRC. This is the request type for any change to the property that requires HOA approval per your covenants.

Common ARC requests:

• Painting the house a non-default color
• Adding a fence, pergola, deck, or shed
• Roof replacement (especially color/material change)
• Significant landscaping changes
• Solar panel installation
• Driveway extension or replacement

What happens:

• The resident describes the project and attaches photos or PDFs (plans, contractor quotes)
• The request goes to the board / Architectural Committee
• They review against your community’s covenants and aesthetic guidelines
• They approve, ask for more detail, or deny
• If approved, the resident proceeds with the work

A booking that needs board approval also lands in Requests as a Booking Request, where you approve or decline it. See Approval workflows.

Complaint

When to file: a resident notices a rule being broken at another address. Trash cans left at the curb past Tuesday. Unauthorized fence color. Holiday decorations up past the deadline. Whatever your covenants say.

What happens:

• Resident submits the complaint (or an admin files one on their behalf from Requests > New Ticket)
• The complaint is never published to the community board
• Board reviews
• If valid, the board resolves it with a Warning or a Fine, which sends a notice to the resident at that address (see Issuing a fine)
• If Herald Shield is on, it can do this automatically based on how many tickets that address already has (see Escalations)
• If there’s nothing to act on, the board can Quietly Resolve it - the reporter is told it was handled, and the address gets no notice

Key fields:

• Location of Complaint - the address the complaint is about, picked from your property list (not “the offender’s name”)
• Description - what’s allegedly happening, with photos if possible
• Reporter identity - shown to the board; the ticket view residents see and the notices sent to the address don’t show the reporter’s name

Common gotcha: the offender field is an address, not a user. Complaints attach to properties because the violation may be ongoing and span owners. A resident linked to that address sees the complaint in their own request history, with its description, photos and thread, and can reply to it. Nobody at the address is notified when it’s filed; they get a notice only when the board (or Herald Shield) issues a warning or fine. Write every thread reply on a complaint knowing the household at that address can read it.

Neighborhood Request

For community-wide concerns or requests that aren’t about a specific neighbor’s behavior. Examples:

• “We need a speed bump on Elm Street”
• “The community pool gate is broken”
• “Can we get more guest parking?”
• “Streetlight at the corner is out”
• “Drainage issue in the common area”

What happens:

• Filed by resident with a title, description and (often) photos
• The filer is automatically subscribed to updates
• Board moves it to In Progress so the resident can see it’s being handled
• The board can publish it to the community board so everyone knows it’s in progress
• Resolved when the underlying issue is addressed

Publishing is what stops five neighbors from filing the same broken streetlight. See Publishing to the public board.

Who can file what

Type	Who can file
General Inquiry	Any resident
ARC Request	Any resident
Complaint	Any resident
Neighborhood Request	Any resident

HomeHerald does not check whether the person filing an ARC Request owns the home. If a co-resident or tenant files one, verify with the owner before approving - they’re the one ultimately authorized.

How residents pick the type

When a resident taps New Request, what they see depends on whether your community has Herald Shield turned on:

• Herald Shield off - they pick a Request Type from four tiles (General Inquiry, ARC Request, Complaint, Neighborhood Request), then describe it. A Complaint asks for the Location of Complaint; a Neighborhood Request asks for a title.
• Herald Shield on - they just describe it. Herald sorts it into one of the four types, may ask a few follow-up questions, and shows its pick with Not right? Choose a different category so the resident can override it.

Either way, admins can change the type after the fact. See The request lifecycle.

Common admin actions

”A resident filed the wrong type”

Open the request and reclassify it. Common cases:

• Filed as Complaint, actually a question → change to General Inquiry
• Filed as General Inquiry, actually requesting a change → change to ARC Request
• Filed as Complaint, actually a community-wide issue → change to Neighborhood Request

The history of the request is preserved across type changes; only the workflow that activates changes.

”Multiple residents filed the same Neighborhood Request”

The board acts on the underlying issue once. Open a duplicate and use Add to existing ticket to fold it into the primary one, or reply on each with a pointer to the primary.

”A resident is abusing the request system”

If someone is filing dozens of frivolous requests:

• Reply with a board policy reminder
• Resolve the requests with a short reason
• In extreme cases, ban the user - see Removing or banning a user

Where to go next

• The request lifecycle - what happens after a request is filed
• Issuing a fine - when a complaint escalates to enforcement
• Publishing to the public board - making request resolutions visible
• Escalations and repeat offenders - how the system tracks repeat violations