Overview It’s close to axiomatic in California HOA law that only members may vote in HOA elections. Homeowner-side attorneys say it, HOA-side attorneys say it, and the Davis-Stirling Act says it. Yet a powerful exception cuts straight through that rule, and far too...
Overview Summer water bills climb, local watering restrictions tighten, and more California homeowners let a thirsty lawn go brown or replace it with low-water landscaping. Then the violation letter shows up, demanding that the homeowner restore a green lawn or face a...
Overview Your HOA announces a major special assessment. Perhaps there was a fire or another disaster, or perhaps there was some other major loss of the common areas. Regardless, every owner owes a large sum, and owes it soon. For many homeowners, that announcement...
Overview A homeowner with a claim against the HOA almost always wants the HOA to turn that claim over to its insurance carrier. And when an HOA refuses to do that, such homeowners frequently approach us to determine whether they can force that to happen. We’ve...
Overview When a California homeowner opens an HOA account statement and finds that the HOA has charged its legal fees to that account, the threshold question is whether the HOA had any authority to put them there. After all, it should go without saying that an HOA...
Overview Based on the volume of comments I’ve received from our Reddit account and listeners to my podcast, HOA HELL, who bluntly write things like “Fuck HOAs,” “You’re stupid to buy into an HOA,” “Who would ever live in an HOA community,” and “HOAs should be banned,”...
