Overview

Buying into a California HOA doesn’t make new homeowners responsible for the previous owner’s unpaid fines, but it can leave them responsible for the previous owner’s unfinished work. The Davis-Stirling Act splits the question by the kind of problem.

Money charged to the prior owner generally stays with the prior owner. The Davis-Stirling Act prohibits HOAs from treating disciplinary fines as assessments that can become a lien enforceable by sale of the property, which leaves those fines the personal debt of the individual that the HOA fined. Unpaid regular and special assessments operate under a different rule because HOAs can record a lien against the property for those amounts. Once a lien hits the county recorder, it becomes a public record and a cloud on title, and buyers take the property with what’s called “constructive notice” of it whether or not anyone read the title report. Escrow catches most of those liens, but when escrow misses one, the new homeowner inherits a cloud on title that has to get resolved before a future sale or refinance closes.

Physical conditions also transfer to a new owner. Maintenance duties under the Davis-Stirling Act attach to whoever owns the separate interest now, so new homeowners inherit the obligation to fix what the previous owners left behind (subject, of course, to legal defenses such as waiver or the statute of limitations). An unapproved patio cover, non-conforming paint, an illegal shed, an overgrown yard, and an addition that never cleared architectural review all become the buyer’s problem, and HOAs can enforce against the current owners even though the current owners built none of it.

Sellers owe buyers a defined set of HOA disclosures before the sale closes, including a written statement of unpaid amounts and copies of unresolved violation notices the HOA already sent. Buyers who discover an inherited violation after closing might therefore hold a claim against the sellers if the information was concealed, but that claim would run separately from whatever the HOA can demand.

This Fact Sheet explains which charges follow the property and which don’t, why unfinished violations become the new homeowner’s responsibility, what sellers have to disclose before closing, and how buyers can push back when their HOAs wrongfully come after them for someone else’s conduct.

Key Points

New homeowners who get a violation letter or a collection demand weeks after closing usually assume they’ve inherited someone else’s problem in full. The Davis-Stirling Act doesn’t work that way, because it treats money and physical conditions under separate rules, and the outcome turns on what the HOA recorded before the sale closed rather than on what the prior owner did. Buyers who understand that division can reject charges they don’t owe while dealing with the conditions they’re responsible for. The points below cover what transfers, what doesn’t, what sellers had to tell you, and how to fight a demand that reaches the wrong person.

• Fines the HOA levied against a prior owner remain that owner’s personal debt. Civil Code 5725 prohibits HOAs from characterizing or treating a monetary penalty for a governing document violation as an assessment that can become a lien against the separate interest enforceable by sale of the property. So the $500 the HOA fined the seller over an unapproved paint color follows the seller, not the property, and HOAs that add those fines to a new homeowner’s ledger are collecting from the wrong person. New homeowners who receive a statement mixing inherited fines with their own current dues should demand a written itemization identifying the date and the owner of record for each charge.
• Unpaid regular and special assessments follow the property once the HOA records a lien. Civil Code 5650 makes assessments, late charges, collection costs, attorneys’ fees, and interest a debt of the owner at the time of the levy. But Civil Code 5675 turns that amount into a lien on the separate interest (payable by whomever owns the property) from the moment the HOA records a notice of delinquent assessment with the county recorder. Recording puts the lien in the public record, which gives every later buyer constructive notice of the debt. Now, in the real world, escrow catches most of these. But if nobody does catch problem, then a buyer who close over a missed lien will inherit a cloud on title that has to clear before a future sale or refinance can fund. Before closing, therefore, buyers should demand that escrow provide them with a current title report showing every recorded encumbrance on the property, and they should ask the seller to produce the HOA’s written statement of unpaid amounts. [For more on how HOA liens get resolved in a sale, read my Fact Sheet, “HOA Liens and Short Sales: What Must be Paid to Clear Title.”]
  • HOA boards have to vote on every lien recording during an open meeting. Civil Code 5673 requires the HOA board itself to vote on whether to record a lien against a specific property, and that vote has to happen by majority vote in an open meeting and appear in the minutes of that meeting. Civil Code 5673 also prohibits HOAs from handing that decision to an agent, which means neither the management company nor a collection agency can make the call. Management companies and collection agencies record these liens routinely, and plenty of them do it without a board vote behind the decision. Buyers stuck with an inherited lien should request the minutes for the meeting where the HOA board approved that specific recording, since a missing vote gives them a direct attack on the lien rather than a fight over the underlying balance.
  • HOAs can’t foreclose on small assessment debts, but the recorded lien still clouds title. Civil Code 5720 bars judicial and non-judicial foreclosure for delinquent regular or special assessments under $1,800, excluding late charges, collection costs, attorneys’ fees, and interest, unless the assessments run more than 12 months delinquent. Before recording a lien in that under-$1,800 track, HOAs have to offer the owner dispute resolution and participate in it if the owner asks. While that limit might keep a buyer’s home out of foreclosure in a good number of inherited-lien situations, it doesn’t remove the lien or the cloud on title, so buyers still have to resolve the recorded lien itself.
• Recorded encumbrances are the real exception to everything above. A judgment obtained by the HOA against the prior owner and recorded against the property, or any other lien the HOA properly recorded before the sale closed, reaches the new homeowner through the recording itself rather than through any theory that the underlying obligation transferred. Civil Code 5725 separately permits HOAs to lien a separate interest for charges reimbursing the HOA for repairing common area damage caused by a member, a guest, or a tenant, but only when the governing documents grant that authority. That charge behaves like a fine while it sits unrecorded, meaning it stays the personal debt of the person whose conduct caused the damage. What controls a buyer’s exposure is whether the HOA recorded something against the property before closing, not what label the HOA put on the charge.
• Conditions the previous owner let fall apart become the new homeowner’s job to fix. Unless the CC&Rs provide otherwise, Civil Code 4775 assigns responsibility for repairing, replacing, and maintaining a separate interest to its owner, and it assigns maintenance of the exclusive use common area to the owner. That duty runs with ownership rather than with fault, so HOAs can direct current owners to correct an overgrown yard, a failed roof section, deteriorated exterior paint, or a broken fence the previous owner ignored for years. Nothing about these demands questions whether the condition is allowed, since a peeling exterior and a dead lawn violate the governing documents no matter who owns the property. New homeowners still hold every defense the previous owner held, including waiver from years of non-enforcement, selective enforcement, and the applicable statute of limitations. [The HOA’s years of silence can defeat the demand entirely, and I cover that in my Fact Sheet, “Can My California HOA Start Enforcing a Rule It Ignored for Years?”]
• Structures the previous owner built without approval raise a different problem. Civil Code 4765 governs HOA review of physical changes when the governing documents require approval, and the violation here isn’t neglect at all, since the patio cover, the shed, the second-story addition, the paved side yard, or the replaced windows might all be in perfect condition. What bothers the HOA is that nobody ever got permission to build the thing, so HOAs demand removal or changes instead of repairs, and new homeowners risk losing an improvement they paid for when they bought the home. Buyers should demand the HOA’s architectural file for the property first, because HOAs frequently approved the work years ago and lost track of it, and an approval in the file ends the dispute outright. When no approval exists, a retroactive application usually beats a fight, since Civil Code 4765 requires HOAs to decide in good faith, prohibits unreasonable, arbitrary, or capricious decisions, requires written decisions explaining any denial, and entitles applicants to reconsideration by the HOA board at an open meeting.
• Sellers have to hand buyers a specific set of HOA documents before the sale closes, and unresolved violations are on that list. Civil Code 4525 requires the owner of a separate interest to provide a prospective purchaser with the governing documents, a written statement from the HOA showing current regular and special assessments, any unpaid assessments, and any unpaid monetary fines or penalties levied on the owner’s interest, along with information on late charges, interest, and collection costs that can become a lien. Civil Code 4525 also requires the seller to provide a copy or summary of any notice the HOA previously sent under Civil Code 5855 that sets out an alleged violation still unresolved when the buyer requests the documents. That same provision states that the notice doesn’t waive the HOA’s right to enforce the governing documents against the owner or the prospective purchaser, so the Davis-Stirling Act contemplates enforcement against buyers directly. A disclosure package with no violation notice in it, however, isn’t too helpful by itself because Civil Code 4525 doesn’t require HOAs to inspect the property. Buyers should therefore confirm the property’s enforcement history in writing with seller (with a request that the seller pass that onto the HOA) before closing. [If you’d like to learn more about the nature of the required disclosures, read my Fact Sheet “Why Is My California HOA Charging So Much for Documents When I Sell?”]
• New homeowners stuck with an undisclosed violation have a claim against the seller who failed to disclose it. Civil Code 4525 required the seller to deliver the HOA’s written statement of unpaid assessments, fines, and penalties, along with a copy or summary of any unresolved violation notice the HOA had already sent under Civil Code 5855. If a seller fails to hand those documents to a buyer, as they’re required to by law, then the buyer has a claim against the seller. And in such a conflict, the HOA wouldn’t be part of that fight. The HOA can still enforce against whoever owns the property at a given point in time, so new homeowners generally have to resolve the violation and then pursue the seller for their losses.
• If your HOA is billing you for the previous owner’s fines or demanding that you fix something you didn’t do, call the HOA attorneys at MBK Chapman. The HOA attorneys at MBK Chapman are widely considered the best homeowner-side HOA attorneys in California, and we’ve spent decades dismantling collection demands aimed at the wrong owner, forcing HOAs to produce the records behind their liens, and defeating enforcement actions built on violations that were abandoned years before our clients bought the property. We handle inherited liens, retroactive architectural demands, disclosure failures by sellers, and every other problem that surfaces after a California homeowner closes escrow.

The Davis-Stirling Act draws its line at the county recorder. Fines and other unrecorded charges stay with the person who incurred them, recorded liens and judgments travel with the property, and physical conditions belong to whoever owns the separate interest today regardless of who created them. New homeowners who separate those three categories on the face of the HOA’s demand can reject most of what lands in their mailbox and negotiate the rest from a position of strength.

FAQs

About Michael Kushner

Michael Kushner is a California attorney with over 30 years of experience representing homeowners in disputes with their HOAs. He is widely regarded as California’s leading homeowner-side HOA attorney, and has built one of the state’s most prominent law practices dedicated to holding HOAs accountable under the Davis-Stirling Act and California law.

In addition to his law firm’s work, Michael is a recognized lecturer, author, and the host of the hit HOA HELL podcast, where he provides homeowners living in HOA-governed communities with clear, practical strategies for dealing with bad HOAs. He’s also the author of the best-selling book, HOA HELL | California Homeowners’ Definitive Guide to Beating Bad HOAs, which has become a go-to resource for both homeowners seeking real-world solutions to their HOA disputes, as well as those good HOA board members who are interested in doing a good job.

About MBK Chapman Fact Sheets

Homeowners searching for answers online will often come across articles that appear authoritative, but are actually written as search-engine marketing content rather than by an experienced HOA lawyer. These pieces tend to prioritize keyword density over clarity, accuracy, or legal context, which often leaves homeowners more confused than informed.

At MBK Chapman, our Fact Sheets are part of our HOA Law Library and are written by Michael Kushner, an HOA lawyer with decades of hands-on experience representing California homeowners. In fact, Michael Kushner is the HOA lawyer who pioneered the systems and strategies used by some of California’s most successful homeowner-side HOA law firms.

Each Fact Sheet is deliberately concise, statute-based, and designed as a quick-reference guide to help homeowners understand key HOA laws and enforcement rules at a glance.

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