On September 28, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 3182 into law. The new law amends Civil Code § 4740 and adds Civil Code § 4741 putting new rental restrictions on homeowners associations. Under the new law, rental bans will become illegal starting January 1, 2021. The change to the law also removes homeowners’ rights to vote on banning rentals. In addition, at least 25% of HOA neighborhoods can be used as rental properties. …
by Stanley Feldsott The COVID-19 pandemic has created a great deal of uncertainty in this country, including with homeowners associations. We have received several questions from associations regarding the current ‘Stay at Home’ order and how to properly protect members, staff, and service workers. These commonly asked questions will hopefully provide your association with answers and guidance during these trying times. Should we still be collecting assessments? Yes. Collecting assessments is a duty imposed on …
In an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19, on March 19, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom issued a mandatory Stay at Home executive order. The order requires all California residents with non-essential jobs to “stay home or at their place of residence” for the immediate future. It is important to fully understand the order, how it affects homeowners associations, and which services are considered essential and exempt from the order. The website cited in Governor …
by Stanley Feldsott “Save the Association $1,000 – No One Remembers Cost the Association $500 – No One Forgets.” I like to think that in the year 2020 that most HOA attorneys would not advise an association to use an unlicensed or uninsured contractor. Though attorneys are known to disagree with one another on a number of issues, this is one of those rare topics where there seems to be a general consensus. That …
by Stanley Feldsott This case involves Highland Greens Homeowners Association of Buena Park and was a suit brought by the Association against Maria A. Basave De Guillen. Although we currently only have a Westlaw citation (2019 WL 4034663), the case was decided by the Bankruptcy Court in our Ninth Circuit (Bk. No. 8:18-bk-10693-CB) on August 26, 2019. Without becoming enmeshed in a discussion of the Bankruptcy Court’s interpretation of the Davis-Stirling Act and the …
by Jacqueline Pagano, Esq. Feldsott, Lee & Nichter In a recent unpublished opinion, the Court of Appeals upheld the common practice of excluding tenants from disciplinary hearings and held that an association did not have to give tenants an opportunity to be heard before imposing fines on the landlord for the tenants’ nuisances and violations. In Harbor Island Condominium Owners Association v. Alexander (2019), two tenants rented a unit in a condominium project. Harbor …
by Jacqueline Pagano, Esq. Feldsott, Lee & Nichter Civil Code §4275 in the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act allows a community association to petition the court to confirm an amendment to the CC&Rs, despite the fact that the proposed amendment was not approved by the requisite number of members set forth in the CC&Rs. The governing documents of many common interest developments require the vote of a “super majority” of members in order to …