Covid-19: Executive Orders, Restrictions, and What HOAs Should Do

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 …

The Dangers of Using Unlicensed and Uninsured Contractors

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 …

An Assessment Collection Case

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 …

Court of Appeals Holds That Tenants Do Not Have a Right to Attend Disciplinary Hearings

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  Feldsott, Lee & Nichter                  In a recent unpublished opinion, the Court of Appeals upheld the common practice of excluding tenants from disciplinary hearings and held that an association did not have to give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 …

Court Holds Showing of Voter Apathy Not Required on Petition to Amend Declaration Despite Lack of Requisite Votes

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 …