Overview UPDATED ON 12/23/25 Here we are again. Another year, another round of new laws from our industrious hive in Sacramento. Every January, business owners, landlords, and HOA members brace for the latest batch of mandates, prohibitions, and procedural...
Overview Losing an HOA lawsuit can be frustrating and expensive. But if you think that the trial court got it wrong, and if the issue is important enough to you, then you’ll be glad to hear that just because a trial court issues a final judgment against a homeowner,...
Overview Assessments fund everything your HOA does, from insurance premiums and reserve contributions to landscaping, management contracts, and common area repairs. They come in two forms. Regular assessments are the recurring dues you pay monthly or annually, and...
Overview This Fact Sheet picks up where “California Neighbor Tree Disputes: Your Rights on Encroaching Branches and Roots” left off. That earlier Fact Sheet explained how to handle a neighbor’s encroaching trees and your rights to use “self-help” to cut back or...
Overview When something breaks in your HOA’s common areas (e.g., a leaking roof, a rotted balcony, or a burst pipe), the first question a lot of homeowners ask is, “Who’s responsible for paying for this?” The answer isn’t always what your HOA claims. Under Civil Code...
Overview Architectural guidelines are one of the most misunderstood, and frequently abused, tools HOAs from HELL (i.e., bad HOAs) use to control how homeowners modify their properties. These rules were originally meant to preserve design consistency and property...
