{"id":378503,"date":"2026-06-28T18:31:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T18:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/378503\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T18:31:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T18:31:06","slug":"hoa-fees-skyrocketing-a-california-bill-could-cap-them-but-democrats-are-divided","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/378503\/","title":{"rendered":"HOA fees skyrocketing? A California bill could cap them, but Democrats are divided"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0This story<\/a> was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up<\/a> for their newsletters.<\/p>\n

Robert Henricks reluctantly voted to increase monthly homeowners association fees in his San Diego County community, lifting them by $100 a month to $550.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the cost of living, the cost of projects, we\u2019ve put off raising the monthly assessment two years out of three,\u201d said Henricks, who sits on the board of his Rancho Bernardo HOA.<\/p>\n

But even he concedes he\u2019s now among the thousands of Californians feeling pinched by surging HOA fees atop unprecedented mortgage rates, utilities and insurance premiums.<\/p>\n

One solution is to cap the fee hikes. California lawmakers are considering a measure, Senate Bill 1007<\/a>, that would curb how much associations could increase members\u2019 dues each year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the latest bill targeting HOAs and how they levy fees in the Legislature this session in an attempt to address housing affordability. Although the crackdowns have been mostly successful and bipartisan, this biggest push yet to slow down rising fees has split some Democrats.<\/p>\n

The rise of the HOA<\/p>\n

HOAs are a near ubiquitous-phenomenon in today\u2019s housing market.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nationwide, 67% of all new single-family homes in 2024 were in HOAs, up from 46% in 2009, according to the U.S. Census Bureau<\/a>. More than a third of California residents live in one, including about 65% of all California homeowners.<\/p>\n

Californians also pay among the highest median monthly fees in the nation, at nearly $300 per month, according to the Census Bureau<\/a>. San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles owners can face even higher dues<\/a>, up to several thousand dollars a month.<\/p>\n

In an HOA, maintenance, repair and insurance expenses are divided among homeowners after elected board members determine annual budget costs. Some funds go toward routine upkeep for things like pools, clubhouses or golf courses, while others are set aside for major projects such as roof repairs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They\u2019re self-governing and controlled by residents who create and enforce their own rules, covering everything from which paint colors are allowed to what kind of trees can be planted.<\/p>\n

Under current law, dues can\u2019t increase by more than 20% each year.<\/p>\n

The new proposed legislation would cap annual HOA fee increases to no more than 8% without a vote by members of the HOA.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis bill is about providing information to a homeowner to understand how much they\u2019re gonna be paying,\u201d Van Nuys Democrat Caroline Menjivar<\/a>, the bill\u2019s author, said at a March hearing.<\/p>\n

\u2018Pay me now or pay me later?\u2019<\/p>\n

Consumer and realtor groups are championing the bill as a potential lifeline for low- and middle-income families already feeling squeezed by skyrocketing mortgage rates, gas prices and grocery bills.<\/p>\n

Supporters point to examples such as a Walnut Creek man<\/a> whose monthly association fees are $1,500. Those fees, along with his condo insurance and property taxes, now outpace his mortgage.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Housing Department and most financial planners agree that Americans shouldn\u2019t pay more than 30% of their monthly income on housing, and soaring HOA fees are getting in the way of people doing just that, said Marjorie Murray, president for the Center for California Homeowner Association Law, at the March hearing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is unsustainable. Even regular assessments raised by 20% will double in four years and triple in five,\u201d she said. \u201cNobody\u2019s salary or Social Security or retirement income goes up by those kinds of percentages.\u201d<\/p>\n

Exorbitant fines and retaliatory lawsuits have made HOAs polarizing for decades. But soaring costs amid an affordability crisis have sparked numerous efforts from state lawmakers to rein in their authority, including a new state law capping fines at $100<\/a> per violation.<\/p>\n

One billed as the \u201cHOA transparency act<\/a>\u201d would push them to act more like local governments<\/a> when it comes to open records and public meetings. Meetings would need to be more accessible for members and disciplinary actions could not occur out of the public eye.<\/p>\n

Another proposal would require associations to stash money in a savings<\/a> account to help stave off pricey one-time assessment fees to pay for major maintenance, an issue most common with older condominiums. Builders and realtors support it.<\/p>\n

Follow the money<\/p>\n

Under Menjivar\u2019s bill, homeowners could still raise fees by more than 8% a year to cover expenses, but they\u2019d have to do so by popular vote, California Association of Realtors lobbyist Sanjay Wagle said. The association has given more than $10 million to legislators since 2000, according to CalMatters\u2019 Digital Democracy<\/a> database. He argued that most people wouldn\u2019t let a leaky roof or faulty plumbing go unfixed, for example, because it\u2019d sink their property values.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe realtors trust the homeowners. They\u2019ll protect their investment,\u201d Wagle said.<\/p>\n

Building groups are more skeptical. They worry curbing fees too much would hurt HOAs\u2019 ability to keep up properties.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The divide became clear last month when six Democrats joined a majority of Republicans in voting against the bill during a Senate hearing, a rare public opposition in the Democratic-controlled Legislature where lawmakers typically opt to not vote at all<\/a> rather than against a colleague\u2019s bill. It advanced on a 24-13 vote.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The bill\u2019s opponents said it\u2019s unlikely that a majority of residents would agree to dramatically raise their own fees. This could lead to some downstream effects, such as banks being less willing to fund mortgages if HOAs are low on cash.<\/p>\n

And, one lawmaker defended HOA boards, saying skyrocketing energy and insurance bills are to blame for rising fees.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think the HOA board members are personally profiting or charging more than what they\u2019re trying to do,\u201d Encinitas Democrat Sen. Catherine Blakespear<\/a> said, who voted against the bill.<\/p>\n

Henricks, who lives in an 88-unit condominium with his wife and cat, agrees.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s worried a lower cap would become a \u201cpay me now or pay me later\u201d situation where expensive projects in his 1970s era two-story condo \u2014 such as renovating all five of the building\u2019s dated elevators \u2014 would become nearly impossible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is the basic number one expense that we\u2019re building our reserves to cover,\u201d Henricks said. He said lower fee hikes would lead to gradual, more frequent increases in the future rather than larger increases spaced out over a few years.<\/p>\n

CalMatters<\/a> is a nonpartisan and nonprofit news organization bringing Californians stories that probe, explain and explore solutions to quality of life issues while holding our leaders accountable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. Robert Henricks reluctantly voted to increase…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378504,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,208,153142,78746,35571],"class_list":["post-378503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-cost-of-living","tag-hoa-fees","tag-hoas","tag-homeowners-associations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}