Overview

The Governor has signed five new laws that change the rules for California HOAs and the homeowners who live in them. Four of them expand homeowners’ rights to build accessory dwelling units (ADUs), overhaul how HOAs must fund their reserves, change the notice deadlines HOAs must meet in board elections, and limit HOAs’ power to block homeowners from replacing their windows. The fifth gives Los Angeles County HOAs a way to revive CC&Rs that have expired.

• AB 956 extends the Davis-Stirling Act’s protection against HOA restrictions on ADUs and junior accessory dwelling units (JADUs) to lots in any zone that allows single-family homes, and it doubles the number of detached ADUs that cities and counties must approve. It makes the same zoning change to the general California law that voids ADU restrictions in deeds and other recorded documents.
• AB 2050 turns the reserve study from a planning document into a funding mandate. Starting in 2032, HOAs must update their reserve studies every year, fund reserves at no less than a minimum level the study sets, and, when the study projects that reserves will run out, transfer a fixed share of the budget into reserves and levy special assessments to close the gap.
• AB 1892 changes how far in advance HOAs must notify homeowners before seating board candidates without a vote, changes who must receive notice of electronic ballots, and clarifies when HOAs must restore interrupted utility services.
• SB 908 voids HOA restrictions that keep homeowners from replacing their windows with windows that meet California’s energy code, limits the restrictions HOAs can still impose, and sets a deadline for HOAs to act on window applications. It also requires cities and counties to approve qualifying window replacements without a hearing.
• AB 2692 gives Los Angeles County HOAs a way to revive CC&Rs that have expired to help communities rebuild after the 2025 Palisades and Eaton fires.

This Fact Sheet explains what each law changes, which provisions of the Davis-Stirling Act and related statutes each one amends or adds, when each change takes effect, and which questions the new laws leave unanswered.

Key Points

This year’s new HOA laws touch almost every part of HOA life, from what homeowners can build on their property to how HOAs fund their reserves and run their elections. Two of these laws expand what homeowners can do with their property, two change the rules HOAs must follow, and one is designed to help Los Angeles County communities damaged in the 2025 Palisades and Eaton fires rebuild. Below, I take each law one at a time and explain what it changes, which statutes it amends or adds, and when it takes effect. Where a new law leaves an important question unanswered, I’ll tell you that, too.

• AB 956 expands homeowners’ right to build ADUs and JADUs. Civil Code 4751 voids CC&R provisions and other governing document provisions in planned developments (single-family homes) that effectively prohibit or unreasonably restrict ADUs and JADUs. Until now, that protection covered only lots zoned for single-family residential use. AB 956 will extend it to lots in any zone that allows single-family homes, including zones that also allow multifamily housing. Civil Code 4751 still applies only to planned developments, and Civil Code 4175 excludes condominium projects from that definition. When it goes into effect in 2027, AB 956 will make the same zoning change to Civil Code 714.3, which voids ADU and JADU restrictions in deeds and other recorded documents affecting any interest in real property. Neither statute bars reasonable restrictions, meaning restrictions that don’t unreasonably increase the cost to build, effectively prohibit construction, or extinguish the ability to build an ADU or JADU. Civil Code 714.3 adds that reasonable restrictions can’t include fees or other financial requirements. AB 956 also amends Government Code 66323, which lists the ADUs that cities and counties must approve when an owner’s application meets the statute’s requirements. On lots with a proposed or existing single-family home, cities and counties will have to approve two detached, newly built ADUs instead of one, and they won’t be able to require side and rear setbacks of more than four feet. They will also still be able to limit each of those ADUs to 800 square feet of livable space and impose height limits. In exchange, cities and counties will no longer have to approve a JADU on a lot where the owner has built two detached ADUs under that rule. AB 956 takes effect on January 1, 2027. [One question remains open. Government Code 66323 tells cities and counties what they must approve, not HOAs, and Civil Code 4751 doesn’t say whether HOAs in planned developments can still limit owners to one detached ADU now that cities and counties must approve two.] [To learn more about the limits on HOA restrictions, read my Fact Sheet, “Can California HOAs Block ADUs? What the Law Says About HOA Restrictions on ADU Construction.”]
• AB 2050 turns the reserve study into a mandatory funding plan. Civil Code 5550 currently requires HOAs whose major components would cost at least half of their gross budget to replace to inspect those components and prepare a reserve study at least once every three years, and to review that study every year. AB 2050 leaves that version in place through December 31, 2031. Starting January 1, 2032, a new Civil Code 5550 will require HOAs to update the study every year, not just review it, and to adjust how they fund their reserve accounts based on that update. The new reserve study will also have to state a minimum reserve contribution level, meaning the amount needed to keep the projected reserve balance from falling below zero at any point over the next 30 years, and notify the HOA of the funding duties that come with that projection. The new Civil Code 5550 will also drop the language that excluded the reserve account from the gross budget when deciding whether an HOA must conduct a reserve study at all. Likewise, a new Civil Code 5552 will then require HOAs to fund reserves every year at no less than the minimum reserve contribution level stated in their most recent study. If the study projects that the reserve balance will fall below zero at any time within 30 years, HOAs will have to transfer at least 15% of their gross annual budgets to reserves every year until the projection no longer shows a negative balance. If HOAs can’t reach the minimum level through their gross annual budgets, they will have to levy a reserve funding special assessment, subject to the same Civil Code 5605 rules as any other special assessment. If the cap on special assessments without a vote keeps that assessment from reaching the minimum level, HOAs will have to put the excess to a membership vote. All money collected through a reserve funding special assessment will go into reserves, and HOAs won’t be able to levy one more than once every nine years. [AB 2050 leaves three questions open. It doesn’t say what happens if the members vote down the amount over the cap, it doesn’t define “gross annual budget,” and it doesn’t say whether the 15% transfer overrides the 20% limit in Civil Code 5605 on raising regular assessments without a vote.] [To learn more about the legalities of special assessments, read my Fact Sheet, “California HOA Special Assessments: What They Are, When They’re Legal, and How Homeowners Can Challenge Them”]
• AB 1892 will change notice deadlines in HOA board elections and clarify when HOAs must restore utility services. AB 1892 will change notice deadlines in HOA board elections. Currently, Civil Code 5103 allows HOAs to seat board candidates by acclamation, meaning without a vote, when the number of qualified candidates doesn’t exceed the number of open seats by the date of the nomination deadline. To use acclamation, HOAs must first send homeowners an initial notice of the election and the nomination procedure. Today, HOAs must send that notice at least 90 days before the nomination deadline. AB 1892 will cut that to 30 days. This means that homeowners could get as little as a month’s notice once this law goes into effect. The nomination deadline is homeowners’ last real chance to run. Civil Code 5103 applies even if HOAs’ election rules allow write-in candidates or nominations from the floor of the election meeting, so once the deadline passes without enough candidates to force a vote, HOAs can seat the existing candidates without giving anyone else a chance to run. HOAs must also send a reminder notice. Today, the reminder must go out between 7 and 30 days before the nomination deadline. AB 1892 will require HOAs to send it at least 10 days before. AB 1892 will also change Civil Code 5105, which governs HOAs that hold elections by electronic secret ballot. Today, those HOAs must send all members notice of the electronic ballot, with instructions for accessing the voting system and casting a vote, 30 days before the election. Under AB 1892, they’ll have to send that notice only to members who vote electronically, and no later than 30 days before the election. AB 1892 will take effect January 1, 2027.
  • AB 1892 will also reword HOAs’ duty to restore interrupted utility services. Civil Code 4775 makes HOAs responsible for repairs needed to restore interrupted gas, heat, water, or electrical service even if the problem extends into homeowners’ separate interests or exclusive use common areas, unless the CC&Rs say otherwise or a utility provider must make the repair. Today’s wording ties that duty to services “that begin in the common area,” which can be read to cover any utility line that starts in the common area, no matter where it fails. AB 1892 eliminates that ambiguity by clarifying that the duty depends on where the interruption begins. If the failure starts in the common area, HOAs must restore service, even if the repair extends into a unit. If the failure starts inside a unit, this rule won’t make HOAs responsible, even if the utility line itself starts in the common area.
• SB 908 will limit HOAs’ power to block homeowners from replacing their windows. SB 908 will add Civil Code 4754 to the Davis-Stirling Act, which will void any provision in CC&Rs, other recorded documents, or other governing documents that effectively prohibits or restricts homeowners from completing a residential window replacement project, or that imposes any requirements on windows that comply with the California Energy Code. The new rule will cover windows in homeowners’ separate interests, windows that are exclusive use common area, and windows that the governing documents call common area but that serve only one home. Government Code 65850.73 defines a residential window replacement project as one that replaces existing windows with windows of the same size in the same location, involves no other changes to the building beyond what installation requires, and complies with California’s building codes, including the energy code. SB 908 will take effect on January 1, 2027.
  • HOAs will still be able to impose some restrictions on window replacements, but only within strict limits. HOAs will be able to impose reasonable installation restrictions, but only if those restrictions don’t increase the project’s cost by more than 10% or reduce its energy efficiency by more than 10%. HOAs will be able to impose reasonable aesthetic restrictions only on windows that change a building’s exterior appearance, and only in multifamily buildings with more than 20 units and no townhomes. Even then, the aesthetic and installation restrictions together can’t cross either 10% threshold, and no restriction can require materials that would make the windows non-compliant with the energy code.
  • SB 908 will also control how HOAs review window applications. If HOAs’ governing documents don’t contain reasonable restrictions on window replacements, HOAs won’t be able to require design review or any other approval at all. Where HOAs’ governing documents do require approval, HOAs will have to process window applications the same way they process other architectural applications under Civil Code 4765, and they’ll have to approve every application that complies with the permitted restrictions. HOAs will have to approve or deny applications in writing, and any application they don’t decide within 45 days will be deemed approved (unless the delay results from a homeowner’s failure to provide information the application required).
  • SB 908 will impose extra conditions on windows that are part of, or installed in, the common area. The extra conditions will apply to windows that are exclusive use common area, windows the governing documents set aside as common area for one homeowner’s exclusive use, windows the governing documents treat as common area even though they serve only one home, and windows the governing documents treat as part of a home but that are installed in a common area building structure. For those windows, homeowners will need HOA approval, and HOAs will have to give it if the homeowners agree in writing to: (i) follow any permitted aesthetic and installation standards and inspection rights in the governing documents; (ii) hire a licensed contractor; (iii) obtain any required permits and provide proof of them to the HOA; and (iv) pay for the installation. After installation, those homeowners and every subsequent owner of their homes will be responsible for maintaining, repairing, and replacing the windows, for any damage the installation causes, and for the cost of removing them. They’ll also have to tell buyers about the windows and those responsibilities. HOAs will be able to record a notice of these responsibilities against the homeowners’ titles, at the HOAs’ own expense, and require installers to cover any loss or damage the installation causes the HOA. Separately, Government Code 65850.73 will require cities and counties to approve qualifying window replacement projects without a hearing or discretionary review. They’ll be able to deny one only if they find in writing that it would cause a specific harm to public health or safety that can’t be avoided. [And that rule won’t apply to buildings designated as historic resources before the homeowners apply unless a local register designated the building mainly because of its age.]
• AB 2692 lets Los Angeles County HOAs revive CC&Rs that have expired. Some CC&Rs last only for a set initial term and expire automatically if the members don’t extend them. AB 2692 adds a new statute to the Davis-Stirling Act, Civil Code 4276. This new statute allows HOAs in Los Angeles County reinstate CC&Rs that expired in that way. Reinstatement requires approval by the same percentage of members the CC&Rs required to extend their term, or by a majority of all members if the CC&Rs don’t specify a percentage. HOAs must conduct the vote under their governing documents, the Davis-Stirling Act, and other applicable law, and they must make a reasonably diligent effort to let every eligible member vote. The reinstatement takes effect only after the members approve it, an officer designated in the CC&Rs (or, if none, the HOA’s president) certifies the approval in a signed and acknowledged writing, and the HOA records the CC&Rs with the county recorder. Reinstated CC&Rs last for the length of their original initial term or 20 years, whichever is shorter. Within a reasonable time after recording, HOAs must deliver a copy of the reinstated CC&Rs to every member by individual delivery under Civil Code 4040, along with a statement that the HOA has recorded them. The Legislature passed AB 2692 to prevent displacement and help communities damaged or destroyed in the 2025 Palisades and Eaton fires rebuild, but the statute applies to any HOA in Los Angeles County whose CC&Rs expired at the end of their initial term. AB 2692 took effect immediately when the Governor signed it on August 24, 2026, and it will expire on January 1, 2028.
• If you have questions about these new HOA laws for 2027 and how they’ll affect you and your HOA, call the HOA attorneys at MBK Chapman. Each of these 2027 HOA laws turns on details that vary from one community to the next, from how a lot is zoned and what kind of development it sits in, to what an HOA’s CC&Rs and election rules say and how its reserve study measures up. The HOA attorneys at MBK Chapman can review your governing documents against these new laws, tell you whether your HOA’s restrictions on ADUs or window replacements will survive them, and help you hold your HOA to the new election notice deadlines and reserve funding requirements. If your HOA is in Los Angeles County and considering reinstating expired CC&Rs, we can explain what the reinstatement vote requires and what it will mean for your home.

AB 956 and SB 908 give homeowners more control over their own property, limiting HOAs’ power to block ADUs, JADUs, and energy-code-compliant windows. AB 2050 and AB 1892 change what HOAs must do, from funding reserves at a minimum level starting in 2032 to meeting new notice deadlines before seating board members without a vote. AB 2692 gives Los Angeles County HOAs a narrow path to restore expired CC&Rs. Knowing what each law requires makes it far easier for homeowners to spot when their HOAs fall short.

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.

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