Overview

Few financial events hit California homeowners harder than a special assessment from their HOA. These assessments can cost YOU tens of thousands of dollars, often arrive with tight payment deadlines creating immediate financial pressure, and apply even when membership approval is required for larger assessments. Whether the amount is modest or substantial, a special assessment very often signals deeper structural or financial issues within the HOA.

Unfortunately, homeowners are frequently caught off guard because special assessments tend to surface at moments when deterioration can no longer be ignored, funding gaps finally come to light, or legally mandated common area maintenance, repairs, or replacements have to be carried out regardless of cost. In other words, special assessments most frequently become necessary because an HOA board failed to plan for predictable or legally mandated maintenance, repairs, and replacements.

Fortunately, California law allows special assessments, but only within a structured framework that: (i) limits when boards may impose them without membership approval; (ii) defines which emergencies justify bypassing member approval; and (iii) requires written notice before the assessment becomes due.

This Fact Sheet explains the statutory rules that govern special assessments, the role of reserve planning, the narrow scope of emergency exceptions, and the steps homeowners can take when an HOA wrongfully imposes a special  assessment.

Key Points

HOA members facing a special assessment should understand how these charges arise, what legal limits apply, and how predictable maintenance failures, inadequate reserves, and statutory inspection obligations influence an HOA board’s authority. The following key points explain why special assessments typically become “necessary,” when membership approval is required, how emergency exceptions work, and what warning signs indicate deeper structural or financial problems within the HOA. By understanding these principles, homeowners can better evaluate whether a special assessment is lawful, foreseeable, or the result of preventable board failures (i.e., negligence and/or breach of fiduciary duty).

• Special assessments are “one-time” charges imposed outside regular monthly dues. Most often, special assessments are imposed to fund major repairs, replacements, or legally mandated work that the HOA cannot cover with its existing operating budget or reserves. Sometimes they’re imposed to cover the costs of a new service that the board/members might want. But most of the time, they arise because an HOA board wrongfully deferred maintenance (eventually leading to structural issues). For that reason, in the absence of repairs/replacements following “act of God” events (e.g., catastrophic fire, earthquake, etc.), special assessments often signal deeper financial or governance problems within the HOA.
• Special assessments are directly tied to the HOA’s annual budget. Civil Code 5605 limits an HOA board’s authority by requiring membership approval when a special assessment exceeds 5% of the HOA’s annual budgeted gross expenses unless a valid emergency exception applies. This prevents really bad HOAs from shifting the cost of foreseeable work onto HOA members without at least giving them a say in the matter and while also putting the members on alert that something may be seriously wrong with their leadership. If you’d like to read a quick guide on when a California HOA can raise assessments without a vote of the membership, you can read my Fact Sheet titled, “When Can a California HOA Raise Assessments Without a Vote?”
• Many special assessments arise because negligent HOA boards failed to plan for predictable repairs. Many special assessments are triggered not by true unpredictable or unforeseen events, but by years of systemic neglected maintenance, underfunded reserves, superficial or fraudulently manipulated reserve studies, or the board’s failure to budget for legally mandated inspections and repairs. When deterioration becomes impossible to ignore, the resulting costs fall directly on homeowners like you.
• Underfunded reserves are the most common cause of avoidable special assessments. When bad HOA boards keep general assessments (i.e., regular dues) artificially low to avoid political pushback or fail to implement reserve study recommendations, the financial gap eventually forces large special assessments. A low percent funded ratio is a warning sign that major expenses are being deferred for future owners to absorb.  
• Manipulated or incomplete reserve studies disguise future financial risk. HOAs from HELL sometimes delay inspections, fraudulently delist major common area components, artificially manipulate “remaining life” estimates, and intentionally minimize replacement cost estimates in reserve studies to make the association’s financial condition appear healthier than it is. This is fraud. Unfortunately, when these components eventually fail (and at some point, they always do), homeowners are forced to absorb the cost through sudden, often extremely high, special assessments. [If you’d like to take a deeper dive into the way bad HOA boards wrongfully misuse reserve studies, read my article titled, “Everything You Wanted to Know About Reserve Studies.” Alternatively, you could read my Fact Sheet titled, “How California HOAs Manipulate Reserve Studies and What Homeowners Can Do to Protect Themselves.”]
• Failure to comply with Civil Code 5551 is a major driver of special assessments. Civil Code 5551 (otherwise known as California’s Balcony Law) requires visual inspections (or if necessary, invasive testing) of load-bearing components and associated waterproofing systems of any exterior elevated elements (e.g., balconies, decks, porches, stairways, walkways, or existing railings) made of or supported by wood. When boards delay or ignore these inspections, the eventual repair costs become far higher and often lead to sudden special assessments that could have been reduced or avoided with timely compliance. If you want to know more about the Balcony Law, you can read my in-depth article, “California SB 326 Balcony Law: Consequences for HOAs and Homeowners.”
• Emergency exceptions allowing boards to bypass a membership vote are extremely narrow. Civil Code 5610 permits this under three narrowly tailored instances: (i) if the expense is ordered by a court; (ii) the HOA needs to address an immediate threat to personal health or safety; or (iii) the assessment relates to a repair that could not have been reasonably foreseen when the HOA board adopted the budget. Predictable deterioration, reserve shortages, and required inspections do not meet this standard. For a deeper dive into board abuse of the emergency exception, see an episode of my podcast, HOA HELL, titled, “Emergency or Excuse? How HOAs Use “Safety” to Justify Illegal Emergency Assessments.” You can also read my full-length article, “Emergency or Excuse? How HOAs Use “Safety” to Justify Illegal Emergency Assessments.”
• Even emergency special assessments require advance written notice. Under Civil Code 5615, all special assessments must be disclosed to homeowners in writing at least 30 days and no more than 60 days before the amount becomes due, and the notice must state the total amount, the reason for the assessment, and the payment schedule. Under Civil Code 5610(c), the HOA board must also adopt a written resolution explaining why the extraordinary expense was necessary and why it could not have been reasonably foreseen during the budgeting process, and that resolution must be distributed to the members together with the assessment notice.
• Special assessments must be allocated fairly among owners. The CC&Rs typically dictate how assessments should be apportioned (e.g., on a pro rata basis or otherwise). Boards may not deviate from these formulas to favor certain owners or penalize others. Any deviation must have a legal basis in the governing documents.
• Nonpayment of a special assessment (even those that are wrongfully imposed) carries serious consequences. The Davis-Stirling Act does not allow homeowners to refuse to pay assessments if they dispute the imposition of those assessments. In other words, the law does not recognize a homeowner’s right to offset. Unpaid special assessments, therefore, are treated as delinquent assessments under the Davis–Stirling Act and may lead to late fees, collection activity, lien rights, and eventual foreclosure. Homeowners challenging an assessment should pay the assessments (whether “under protest” or otherwise) and then if they wish, take action to challenge the assessment. Paying an assessment does not constitute a waiver of any rights.
• A pattern of repeated special assessments often points to systemic mismanagement. When an HOA repeatedly (over time) imposes special assessments, the underlying issue is usually a failure of reserve planning, inspection obligations, or board oversight, or even worse, gross negligence and HOA board fraud.
• Understanding the statutory limits on special assessments gives homeowners leverage. Homeowners who know when membership approval is required, what qualifies as a legitimate emergency, and how to identify planning failures are far better equipped to question questionable assessments and protect themselves financially.
• Homeowners have several procedural tools to challenge improper special assessments. These include requests for reconsideration, IDR, ADR under Civil Code 5930, and filing an enforcement action in court. If a court finds that the HOA violated Civil Code 5605, 5610, or 5615, or otherwise wrongfully imposed the special assessment, the homeowner may recover attorneys’ fees under Civil Code 5975. But because improper special assessments are too complicated for laypeople to handle on their own, if you’re facing such a situation, you should call us at MBK Chapman. We’re experts in dealing with illegal or wrongfully imposed special assessments. We’ll consult with you about requesting records under Civil Code 5200, pursuing IDR or ADR, or when necessary, filing a lawsuit to challenge the special assessment. The good news is that if you prevail in your lawsuit, Civil Code 5975 entitles you to recover your attorney’s fees.

These principles give homeowners a clearer understanding of why special assessments most often occur, what legal boundaries apply, and how preventable HOA board failures often trigger expenses that could have been minimized or avoided. With this foundation, you can better evaluate whether your HOA board is imposing a special assessment lawfully, foresee warning signs earlier, and respond strategically when facing significant unexpected charges.

FAQs

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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