Are HOA Boards Required to Keep Member Complaints Confidential?
Overview Some homeowners assume that when they contact their HOA board or manager with a complaint, concern, or allegation, the HOA or its directors are legally required to keep that communication confidential. That assumption becomes even more common when the...
When the Business Judgment Rule Does Not Protect an HOA Board
Overview The Business Judgment Rule (sometimes referred to as the “BJR”) is often treated by bad HOA boards and managers as a sort of universal shield against scrutiny or negligent/bad faith actions. So, for example, when homeowners living in such associations...
HOA Water Intrusion Terms Defined & Why “Rules” Can’t Override Civil Code 4775
Overview Water intrusion (i.e., water leak) disputes in California HOAs rarely go off the rails because the law is unclear. They often go off the rails because bad HOAs skip the required analysis and rely on oversimplified shortcuts that the law simply doesn’t...
HOA Water Damage: What the HOA Pays, What You Pay, and Why
Overview After a water intrusion, California HOA members are often given quick answers that obscure rather than resolve the real issues. In a lot of HOAs, the board or management responds by opening an insurance claim and promising that coverage questions will be...
HOA Liens and Short Sales: What Must be Paid to Clear Title
Overview When a short sale stalls because of an HOA demand, the dispute almost always comes down to what the HOA can lawfully require to release its assessment lien and allow escrow to close. Homeowners are often told that every amount on the HOA ledger must be paid,...
HOA Water Damage: Who Is Responsible When Water Invades Your Unit?
Overview Water intrusions are among the most frequent and contentious issues facing homeowners in California HOAs. When water enters a unit, homeowners often assume the HOA is automatically responsible, especially if the water appears to have come from a roof,...
Can Your HOA Stop Your Short Sale?
Overview Homeowners attempting a short sale often encounter resistance from their homeowners association over unpaid assessments or a recorded HOA lien. That resistance feels real because, under Civil Code 5675 (which is part of the Davis-Stirling Act), an HOA has the...
California HOA Balcony Law: Correcting Misinformation About SB 326
Overview More than a year has passed since the initial compliance deadline for California’s “Balcony Law,” yet misinformation about what SB 326 required of HOAs continues to circulate. Unfortunately, that confusion does not come from obscure internet posts or outdated...
California HOAs and Short-Term Rentals: Coastal Commission Overrides Davis-Stirling Act
Overview For California HOAs located in designated coastal zones, authority over short-term rentals does not begin with the Davis-Stirling Act. It begins with the California Coastal Act. When an HOA adopts or enforces short-term rental (“STR”) bans, minimum-stay...
What Is the Business Judgment Rule in California HOAs?
Overview The Business Judgment Rule (sometimes referred to as the “BJR”) is one of the most frequently cited legal doctrines in California HOAs, and one of the most commonly misunderstood. HOA boards frequently invoke the BJR as a blanket defense whenever homeowners...
California HOA Manager Misconduct: What Homeowners Need to Know
Overview In many California HOAs, the most serious problems homeowners face do not come from hostile neighbors or rogue boards. They come from HOA managers who quietly, but perniciously, overstep their role inside weak or disengaged HOAs. When weak HOA boards fail to...
California HOA Crime and Security Duties: What HOAs Are Required to Do
Overview When crimes occur in HOA-governed communities, homeowners are often told that the HOA has no responsibility for crime or safety. That statement is wrong. While California HOAs are not required to act as private police forces or guarantee that crime will never...
California HOA Special Assessments: What They Are, When They’re Legal, and How Homeowners Can Challenge Them
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...
Can My California HOA Stop Me From Renting Out My Home or ADU?
Overview California homeowners frequently ask whether their HOA can prevent them from renting out their home, their ADU, or both. And before just a few years ago, the answer to that question was yes. But amendments to the Davis-Stirling Act changed that, and now the...
How to Handle California HOA Disputes Before Hiring a Lawyer
Overview When a dispute begins with your HOA, how you handle the early stages can determine everything that comes after. Most homeowners understandably feel angry, anxious, or overwhelmed when a board acts unfairly, ignores concerns, or issues questionable violations....
California HOAs: Can a Homeowner Demand Proof of Contractor Licensing and Insurance?
Overview Some California HOAs try to save money by hiring outside contractors to perform maintenance, repair, and replacement work on common area components (e.g., roofs, landscaping, plumbing, etc.). Those contractors may enter, cross, or work near individual homes,...
Which CC&R Provisions California Homeowners Must Read
Overview For many California homeowners, the CC&Rs feel overwhelming. That’s perfectly normal because they aren’t written for laypeople. They are long, almost always filled with outdated, legal jargon-filled language, and packed with technical provisions that seem...
California HOAs: How to Identify and Prove Conflicts of Interest on Your HOA Board
Overview Conflicts of interest often operate out of view until the damage has already been done. These are situations where an HOA director uses their position to benefit themselves, a friend, or a favored vendor. Homeowners usually discover the problem only after a...
HOA Architectural Review Committees in California: Civil Code 4765 and Owner Rights
Overview Understanding the role that an Architectural Review Committee (ARC) plays in a California HOA can be very confusing. For one thing, such committees are not always called ARCs. Sometimes you’ll see the term Architectural Control Committee (ACC), and sometimes...
How to Prepare for IDR With Your California HOA and What to Expect When You Get There
Overview California’s Internal Dispute Resolution process, known as IDR, is governed by Civil Code 5910-5915 and is part of California’s Davis-Stirling Act. HOAs are required to provide a “fair, reasonable and expeditious” process to resolve disputes between the HOA...
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