Owners often question whether they can enforce their HOA’s CC&Rs on neighboring owners in the event that their HOA is either unwilling or unable to do so. Owners also question whether they can recover any attorney’s fees that they expend in bringing such an enforcement action. The recent, unpublished opinion…
Our “2012 Legislative & Case Law Update” newsletter is now available in our library! The 2012 Legislative & Case Law Update provides an overview of the new legislation impacting California Homeowners Associations (“HOAs”) and the community association industry professionals who service them. The new legislation includes, among other things, bills…
*Asked & Answered Asked – Our Board wants to grant homeowners exclusive use of our Association’s common area storage closets and also charge a fee to such homeowners wanting exclusive use. May they do this without membership approval? Answered – Probably not. Civil Code § 1363.07 substantially restricts an Association’s…
I read an interesting article today that discusses the potential legal problems that could arise for Community Associations that contain members of the aging “baby boom” generation. The article references a program, presented in Virginia at a CAI sponsored event, called “Aging-in-Place: The Boomer Community.” One of the program’s co-presenters…
Several clients have recently dealt with situations requiring them to consider the feasibility of borrowing from their reserve accounts in order to satisfy various financial obligations. California law authorizes Association Boards of Directors to borrow from reserves to supplement monthly operating expenses under certain conditions. Such borrowing is usually done…
Property owners in a partially-built Northern California subdivision may be compensated by the State for flooding damage to their properties. A Sacramento County Superior Court ruling in April held that the state violated the constitutionally property rights of the property owners by allowing the local lake to flood the surrounding…
A recently decided case held that the California Occupational Safety and Health Act (Cal-OSHA) did not impose on a Homeowners Association (HOA) any duty to an independent contractor who was injured in a fall while servicing AC units on rooftops at the HOA complex. In Iversen v. California Village Homeowners…
In Coronado Cays Homeowners Association v. City of Coronado (2011), the City of Coronado (“City”) appealed a judgment in which the court determined the City, rather than the Coronado Cays Homeowners Association (“Association”) is responsible for the maintenance of a berm that provides lateral support to bulkheads located on Association…
A HOA may not be responsible for the entire cost to repair damage if the owner was slow to disclose the situation to the HOA. The heavy rains that hit Southern California this winter have unfortunately resulted in many instances of leaks and water intrusion. If a Homeowners Association (“HOA”)…
New legislation limits a HOA’s ability to fine recent purchasers of foreclosed properties for failing to maintain those properties… Homeowners Associations (HOAs) have encountered problems with recent purchasers of foreclosed properties that have failed to maintain those properties. Existing law imposes a fine of up to $1,000 per day on…